Darkest Mercy

The final book in the Wicked Lovely series, this book does a thorough job of wrapping up all of the sub-plots that were left hanging throughout the books. As with any decent book series, there were lots of what-ifs that I never got to see play out, but Marr's focus seemed to be on resolving the obstacles that blocked a number of romantic relationships within the series, such as Donia and Keenan's. Many of the main players made an appearance in the book, with quite a number of them exchanging point-of-view for the benefit of the reader. A few new characters were even introduced, such as the king of the water fey that Keenan sought out.
With the build-up to Aislinn deciding between Keenan and Seth in the previous books, her final decision show more seemed sort of anti-climactic, though I still liked her decision. I also really liked what followed, though I get the feeling that this series was more about female power, than a balance of power between male and female.
Reading about Niall's disconnection and madness was quite fascinating, though I believed for most of the book that it was for reasons other than what was revealed. I was quite thrilled when Leslie showed up, though her part seemed rather short and abrupt. Seth's part in the book also seemed stilted. For all his talk and potential, he is not allowed to do much due to poor circumstances, and I was really quite disappointed, as he has always been my favorite character in the series.
The final battle in the faery war was gruesome, but short and filled with more talk than necessary. The two faeries whose specialty was death seemed to have much potential for creating obstacles, but in the end they just seemed to have rather simple lives - even to the point of ignorance.
I actually would love for this series to continue, if only to focus more on the politics and power games, since this book seemed to be all about everyone's romantic happily ever after. show less

I have made no secret that the Wicked Lovely Series has been my favorite of all time. Wicked Lovely is my number one favorite book. It was the first novel I had ever read where the faeires were dark and mean and twisted and I loved it! No other book I've read has come close to capturing their world the way she has created it. That being said, there were some books in the series I liked better than others.

Wicked Lovely was my favorite, but it might be replaced by Darkest Mercy. This was a beautiful story that wove all the threads left behind from all the other books and tied the knot. Old characters came back, some new characters were added and the old battle with War final came to a showdown. The twists and turns while you saw them show more coming had twists and turns you could never see coming because you didn't know they could happen. But this is a faery tale and all things are possible. Even Keenan returning. (Grrr)! But he is a little more likable in this story. Seth is there in a predicament of his own. And Aislinn trying to keep things together.

The final showdown is so chaotic that I had to keep rereading to make sure I knew what was going on. Who was where and what had happened if anything to my beloved characters. The aftermath is bittersweet and surprising. This is where the stranger especially comes in to play. And that's it. It's all I'm going to say because I'm not going to ruin the story for anyone. It's amazing and very complete and must have been very difficult for Melissa to write. But she did such a great job and I am so happy that I didn't have to wait for my preordered copy to come. I will reread it because I got it yesterday and read it in one night. No way was I going to bed without knowing the ending. And the final pages were a huge surprise and so befitting who they were about I almost laughed except they were done out of love. I will say there is a lot more romance in this final book, but there would have to be because of the conflicts between Seth, Ash, Keenan and Donia. But it's not detailed, just very fitting.

I am such a huge fan of Melissa Marr's work. I know Graveminder comes out in June and I believe she has another trilogy she's writing totally unrelated to this series. I'd love to have her creativity and imagination. But, instead, I will settle for reading the worlds and characters she creates and the stories she weaves so magically. If you like faeries and haven't read this series, what are you waiting for? I think it sets the standard by which I measure all other stories about faeries. Oh, and the cover is much better when you see it in person! show less

There was a point during my reading of Darkest Mercy when I thought that Marr was going to take the 'final' part of this series a bit too seriously. Luckily, she shies away from going quite that far (which I suppose some might see as a cop out, but I definitely didn't). Instead, we get some fascinating insight into what's probably the best book in the Wicked Lovely series. Our main fairy characters finally come into their own, as does Seth. They become more well rounded than previously, probably because we get to see all three courts acting together and there's both conflict and resolution. I enjoyed this series, because the books were fun, and it was really rewarding to have Darkest Mercy be the final book in the series. Marr ends the show more series on a stressful, but high, note. show less

A wonderful, pitch-perfect ending to this great faerie series. I was left with the perfect mixture of sadness that it was over and joy that I was leaving the story satisfied that everything was going to work out all right.

After months of bloodshed, betrayal, and power shifts, the faerie courts are at last ready to enter into pitched battle with the mad queen of Discord, Bananach. There have been too many deaths, too many divided courts, and too many torn monarchs; something has to give. And lots of things do give in this novel...but that doesn't mean that their breaking is a bad thing.

The Summer King Keenan is searching for allies and preparing to lay down an ultimatum that will change his court forever, while his queen Aislinn show more struggles to inhabit the mantle of a true Summer ruler. Once-mortal Seth is pulled in every direction, realizing for the first time what being so many things to different courts truly entails. The Winter Queen Donia tries desperately to veil her emotions under a mask of frost as her season of power wanes. The former Dark King Irial lies mortally wounded, and Niall is slipping closer to madness without his court's balance.

Melissa Marr's wide and varied cast of characters all return, to my delight, to own the stage for this final conflict. All their personalities, relationships, alliances, loves, powers, and loyalties are showcased to the fullest, making you realize how intricate everything and everyone that's been building up this entire series really is.

And yes, some would probably argue that the ending "wrapped up too neatly", but I felt this was thoroughly a case of the characters earning their happy endings. I was smiling ear-to-ear throughout the last few pages as the characters I'd grown to love and admire were rewarded for their struggles and heartache...and it was well-written and believable to boot. Great close to the series. show less

Summary: War is coming to the Faerie courts, and the Death Fae already walk the streets of Huntsdale. The regents and their courts are in turmoil; Bannanach has alread killed some of her bretheren and mortally wounded others. The former Dark King lies on the edge of death, sending Niall into a spiral of grief and madness. Sorcha has sealed the walls of Faerie, isolating the High Court and creating imbalance in the real world. Summer King Keenan is still torn Donia between the fairy he loves but cannot have, and Aislinn, his Queen, who is herself torn between her duty to her court and Seth, the mortal-turned-fae that she loves. No one is best pleased, but they must learn to work together if they are to have any hope of defeating show more Bannanach and restoring a sense of order to the faerie world.

Review: In Darkest Mercy, Melissa Marr does the impossible: she manages to resolve all of the main plot points from the previous four books, in particular the love triangle (well, square) that seemed impossible to untangle, and she managed to do so in a way that was both surprising and satisfying. The various characters' choices were frequently unexpected yet organic to the story, and that led to a lot of very interesting moments. Marr writes grim and dark very well, but she's good about always infusing just a little bit of hope into the darkness... and conversely, of making sure even happy moments have a tinge of pain to them. I suppose that's fitting for an author whose worldbuilding is concerned primarily with balance among the various faerie forces, and it makes the Wicked Lovely books a bit more complex than the fluffy teen paranormal romance that they appear to be at first glance.

Unfortunately, I wasn't ever as involved with the story as I wanted to be. Perhaps it's because over the previous four books I got just a skotch tired of everybody (*ahem* Keenan) bitching about how unfair their situation was, without doing anything constructive to fix things, so when they finally started taking action in Darkest Mercy, it was too late. Or maybe it's because Marr was busily tying up everyone's threads, which meant that there was a lot of bouncing back and forth between various POVs, with no real focal character. In any case, while I certainly appreciated the ending from the perspective of the series-long story arc, it just wasn't as emotionally resonant for me as I could have wished.

I was also not crazy about the narration. I realize that Mr. Landrum has also been the narrator for the previous three books, but I read those rather than listened to them, so I hadn't grown accustomed to him as the voice of Marr's faeries. He was fine for the boys' parts, but his voices for the girls tended to get a little lispy, which made it hard to take them seriously. In a book with this many POVs, it would have made sense to get a second (female) narrator; Alyssa Bresnahan did an excellent job with Wicked Lovely, and I found myself missing her contribution.

Overall, I liked but didn't love this book, and thought it was a satisfying conclusion to a very enjoyable series, if not a particular stand-out on its own. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: This book will make absolutely no sense if you haven't read the previous books... and if you have read the previous books, you'll already want to read this one, too. I'd recommend the series as a whole to people who like paranormal teen romance but also like their heroines to have a brain and a spine, and those who prefer their fairies to exude power and menace rather than glittery fairy dust. show less

The series truly has been run into the ground for me. Where do I even start with this book? I should begin with the extreme repitition, everything we have already gone over a hundred times in the other books is gone over a hundred more, for example.

Ash: I love Seth but I know I should be with you for our court.
Keenan: You need to make a decision. I love Donia but I wanna do you, for the good of our court.
Ash: But it's soooooo hard.

Keenan: I actually love you Donia but we can't be together because I am the Summer King so I need to do the Summer Queen.
Donia: I hate myself for loving you. But I will be here whenever you want a booty call.

This irritating love-quadrant has been going on since the beginning and then halfway through this book. show more And then, it turns out, Keenan didn't HAVE to be the bloody Summer King and could instead be a Winter fey and thus actually be with Donia and allow Ash to be with Seth therefore making this whole bloomin' scenario a waste of time! Why didn't he just do that after the first 1000 rejections from ASH!!

The entire book felt completely stale to me, and maybe it's becuase I am not a tween but the teenage behaviour of not only the human/fey teenagers, but the CENTURIES old fey as well was pathetic. I felt like telling them all to grow up.

And then it ended in its pointlessness. show less

The journey is finally over for those of the Wicked Lovely series and Melissa Marr sure did let us go with a bang. Phew. I have to admit my reluctance to even read this final installment of the spectacular series. I couldn't come up with how Melissa would do it, tie it all up and keep me happy. I can be a bit hard to please when I form certain attachments to characters, especially when these characters are conflicting and I know there are losses to be made. Being the end of the series meant Melissa had one chance to do it and one chance to leave me feeling at least content with the final product. Well, she did it. Brilliantly.

Darkest Mercy kept pace with the other books in the series offering short moments of clarity and answers in show more between lots of action filled subplots. This had to be the most complex of all of the action I have previously seen. Yes, seen. I didn't just read Darkest Mercy, I saw it, like every book before it.

All of the characters of Darkest Mercy were as they were in the previous novels. Aislinn, Donia, Keenan, Niall, Irial, Seth and Sorcha, all still flawed, multidimensional and not without struggle. It is the previous struggles and the sometimes selfish acts of these characters that got them to where they needed to be. Aislinn's growth. Keenan's ability to earn Aislinn and Donia's respect. Seth's strength to stand against those who could have killed him and be the Faerie he was meant to be. Donia's attempt to push personal feelings aside to see where the greater good of her court and others lay. It was all there, for our taking and it lay the foundation for this final incredible installment.

Melissa Marr didn't only give us one more enchanting novel she gave us closure to a very meticulously woven story. Darkest Mercy in the end wasn't just fighting the battle of one or two courts. Darkest Mercy was a war of courts, emotions, and power of all of the courts and all of the main characters. Darkest Mercy can and does stand on it's own but I recommend you take a look at the previous books in the series if you haven't done so already. This is a tale that Melissa doesn't cheat us on and you shouldn't cheat yourself of it either.

Cover: 5
Characters: 5
Plot: 5
Re-readable: Yes!
Overall: 5+

On The Cover: All of the covers of the Wicked Lovely series are equally as pretty but this final cover is quite stunning. The girl, what we can see of what the girl is wearing, the flower in the palm of her hands. I love it! show less