Fragile Eternity

Title: Fragile Eternity
Author: Melissa Marr
Reading Level: Young Adult
Location: YA Marr

This review discusses major plot points from the first two books in this series. If you have not yet read Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange, you may want to skip ahead to the bottom line.

In this sequel to Wicked Lovely, Aislinn is attempting to balance her new status as fairy queen and her growing feelings for Keenan with her relationship with human boyfriend, Seth. Keenan still displays affection for the new Winter Queen, Donia, but still wants a relationship with Aislinn so that their court will grow stronger. Niall, the Dark King seen in Ink Exchange, grapples with his now more sinister nature while remaining a loyal advocate for Seth. While Seth broods over the complications and restrictions of being the mortal lover of an immortal fairy queen.

Since I enjoyed Wicked Lovely, I had high expectations for Fragile Eternity which really fell flat by the end of the book. Many of the characters make drastic changes from their original form in Wicked Lovely and the more interesting characters don’t get enough attention. As Summer Queen, Aislinn becomes melancholy, whiney, and naïve throughout most of the book. Seth also makes some extremely gullible decisions and never realizes this fact which does not fit with his character in Wicked Lovely. Melissa Marr spends half of the book trying to convince the reader that Keenan is evil but fails to sufficiently prove this fact through his own narration or actions.

There were a few characters that helped to make this book readable. Niall was a welcome breath of fresh air to the story. He is original and his unpredictability makes him a fascinating character. However, he makes too few appearances and has very little to do in this book. I really liked Donia. Her character begins to grow a backbone in this book and she becomes more defined throughout the story. Sorcha, the High Queen, was a welcome addition to the cast of characters but I don’t feel as though she should have took on a narrative role. Though Bananach, who represents War, was slightly disappointing in this book, I feel like she has a lot of potential for future installments. Unfortunately, the story itself lacks direction and a discernable climax which makes it far less exciting and less satisfying than Wicked Lovely. I like that the story takes place through the eyes of multiple characters but I think this occurred too often. For the next book, Marr might need to either cut out the narration of less important characters or make the book a little longer so the story can be more complete.

The Bottom Line: Fragile Eternity was not a terrible book but it fails to hold up the high expectations set by Wicked Lovely. If you read the first, you will want to read this one because the story has a lot of potential. The fallout from many of the things set up in this book should be very exciting to witness in the next installment.