Darkest Mercy

Darkest Mercy
by Melissa Marr
Wicked Lovely, book five

The Summer King is missing; the Dark Court is bleeding; and a stranger walks the streets of Huntsdale, his presence signifying the deaths of powerful fey.

Aislinn tends to the Summer Court, searching for her absent king and yearning for Seth. Torn between his new queen and his old love, Keenan works from afar to strengthen his court against the coming war. Donia longs for fiery passion even as she coolly readies the Winter Court for battle. And Seth, sworn brother of the Dark King and heir to the High Queen, is about to make a mistake that could cost his life.

Love, despair, and betrayal ignite the Faery Courts, and in the final conflict, some will win . . . and some will lose everything. (description taken from Amazon.com)

To be totally honest, each of the books in this series has elicited a different reaction from me. I loved some, felt "eh" about one, was slightly confused in one...Darkest Mercy was somewhat confounding for me.

I had a really hard time getting into the final book in this series. I couldn't connect to the characters. I felt like there was too much going on ...things were too disparate. I almost put the book down without finishing it, but it's the final book in the series and I couldn't abandon it!

So, I stuck with it. A few chapters at a time...and then I hit the last third of the book and it was like the whole world shifted! There again was the Melissa Marr that I loved in the original Wicked Lovely. There again was the gorgeous writing, the complex characters, the rigid and unforgiving faerie society that I missed.

I am sooo glad that I stuck with it. The end of the book, and the series, was beautiful.

Full disclosure: ARC received as part of a Book It Forward Blog Tour

Discord's Apple

Discord's Apple
by Carrie Vaughn

When Evie Walker goes home to spend time with her dying father, she discovers that his creaky old house in Hope’s Fort, Colorado, is not the only legacy she stands to inherit. Hidden behind the old basement door is a secret and magical storeroom, a place where wondrous treasures from myth and legend are kept safe until they are needed again. The magic of the storeroom prevents access to any who are not intended to use the items. But just because it has never been done does not mean it cannot be done.

And there are certainly those who will give anything to find a way in.

Evie must guard the storeroom against ancient and malicious forces, protecting the past and the future even as the present unravels around them. Old heroes and notorious villains alike will rise to fight on her side or to undermine her most desperate gambits. At stake is the fate of the world, and the prevention of nothing less than the apocalypse.
(description taken from Amazon.com)

Note: This is an adult title.

I love the storyline for this book. The idea of a magical, sometimes portable storeroom for the world's magic is fantastic. Containing all the items mentioned in the world's favorite tales... *Sigh* I would love to be keeper to such a place of wonder!

Evie, unaware that her father is keeper to the storeroom, comes home to take care of him during his terminal illness and becomes the keeper herself. Evie is a strong, complex character. I loved how Vaughn used her job, comic book writer, as vehicle to the freedom to move and take care of her Dad, to address the current political situations as war broke out around the world, and as a means for keeping in touch with the outer world. Very well done.

Sinon/Alex, her father, Hera, Robin, and the other side characters were also all well written. Sinon was exceptionally well fleshed out and managed to be both modern and yet true to his origins at the same time. His relationship with Apollo was very realistic.

This was one of the most realistic mythologically based books I've read in awhile. The threat of an impending Apocalypse felt imminent. Though it wasn't the happiest ending, Vaughn writes a pragmatic one...and I fully approve!

My only complaint about this book was at the beginning when the chapters are jumping from character to character, you cannot yet see the connections and it was a little disjointed. Once you delve deeper, though, you can see the pattern and it's very well done...