Wicked Lovely rocked my face

Wicked Lovely made me start a new rule for myself: I will not start books just before I go to bed. I planned on reading a couple chapters and going to sleep, but it became “Marathon reading session until I finished the book at three in the morning.” In spite of my best attempts at willpower, I couldn’t stop myself from turning the page.

Reading this book forced me to suspend all the adorable notions of fairies I had from childhood stories and step into a much darker concept of a fairy world, lying alongside and wrecking havoc in our world. The very first scene threw me off balance, in a way that made me want to know more. Getting sucked into the story is easy, thanks to a realistic “real world” portrayal and amazing characters. I found myself sympathizing with Aislinn while being unbelievably intrigued (and disgusted) by Kennan. And Aislinn’s friend-but-maybe-more Seth…well, if Seth is real, I hope he lives in my town.

Knowing very little about the actual folklore of fairies (except what Sophie has written on this blog) I wasn’t able to compare the courts of the novel with traditional fairy lore. Even without all this background, there was a strong feeling of history in the reading. I really felt like I was watching a battle that had gone on for centuries.

So if you only like lovely stories of mischievous but still cute little sprites, I would not recommend Wicked Lovely. But if you have any sort of love of non-traditional fantasy with wonderful characters and a plot that gets thicker and better with each page, go grab a copy. Just don’t start it at nine PM.