Darkest Mercy

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

First off, if you haven't read the first books in this series, do not start with this one. Trust me on this. Melissa Marr is an expert at building tension, at weaving hints and teasers into her stories, and at creating such a detailed world, you don't want to skip a second of it. And if you start with the last book in the series, you'll know too much and miss out on the delicious anticipation and wonderment that comes when you get to know a world and those who occupy it.

This story picks up right where RADIANT SHADOWS left off. War is on the rampage, Death walks the streets, Summer and Dark Courts are weakened, and Faerie is sealed to those who wish to enter--or leave. Bananach, fully enjoying her role as War, is more powerful than she show more has ever been, and the Courts are far too weak to defeat her on their own. It seems hopeless.

Throughout this series, we've been introduced to each Court and the major players in the world of the Fae. In DARKEST MERCY, all those players are in one place, manipulating each other, forming alliances, and fighting for the survival of their respective Courts and the fate of all the Fae. As I read, I envisioned Melissa Marr weaving her coiled skeins of threads together into a multi-layered story rich with details and color.

Tangled, twisted, and definitely bittersweet, DARKEST MERCY delivers as the final WICKED LOVELY book. show less

Ah! Sweet DARKEST MERCY. It was a bittersweet moment when I selected this book to read knowing that it would be the last in the WICKED LOVELY series. How does one say goodbye to a series that is so amazingly compelling? One that hosts the darkness that we cannot shy away from while revealing the promise of hope? I only know that once I began this concluding novel that I could not stop until the last word was consumed.

As the DARKEST MERCY continues we find old enemies, lovers and friends together again. Bananach has gained unfathomable strength and her agenda is WAR and she will stop at nothing until she gets it. Meanwhile the ruling monarchs are preparing for the inevitable battle as they try to strengthen their courts, protect their show more fae and face their own personal demons.

While reading the DARKEST MERCY I understood why this series is so dear to me. Simply put, I adore all if it's characters and the brilliant world that is their stage. I can never get enough of Niall and Irial (love them) and even the wicked Bananach for she is the ultimate bad ass. And Aislinn's final transformation from fragile human to a true faery monarch was captivating. While the introduction of the death faery's lent to the eerie wickedness that is hallmark to this series. The combination of all these fascinating characters and all their lives converging as the ultimate battle for blood and love is fought is one of the best stories I have read in a while. I could not be happier for how everything turned out but i will not go into details for I think everyone should experience this story on their own.

In the final installment to the Wicked Lovely series Melissa Marr has created a spell binding story that is beautiful and brutal, laced with heartache, despair and deception. But above all, she has written an unforgettable tale of love.

Thank you, Melissa for all the times your books have entertained and enthralled me. I am fan forever and cannot wait for whatever adventure you take me on next time. show less

I have mixed emotions about this series. I like the faery part and the different courts are cool. The first book I really enjoyed, but they kind of went downhill from there. There were a lot of MCs and the books shifted between narrators a lot. One character gets a lot of page time in one book and then isn't in the next book at all. It's a bit all over the place and the overall plot is muddled. There are a lot of rules in the faery world which made seemingly easy things really difficult. Like, there's a character who keeps killing faeries but they can't just kill them, because there will be all these repercussions. But then there's loopholes if certain things happen? I don't know. I was happy with how things wrapped up and who was with who.