Melissa Marr

Harper Collins (2009)

ISBN: 9780007267194

Reviewed by Tehani Wessely

As the third book in this paranormal fairytale series marketed to a young adult audience, Fragile Eternity was a bit of surprise to me. I haven’t read the first two books (the equally beautifully packaged Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange), and I found this one read a lot more like a romance novel than an urban fantasy (well, except that, you know, faeries!).

Now queen of the Summer fairy court, Aislinn struggles to reconcile her relationship with the still human Seth with the demands of being a royal of the court, with a consort who is desperate to take full advantage of the power that would be available to them if Aislinn would accept him as more than just consort. Beyond that, the royals of the other courts scheme and there is still danger to Aislinn, Seth, and all those around them.

I’m a bit uncomfortable with this book being tagged as “Young Adult”, because the characters don’t FEEL like teenagers. Possibly my opinion would be different had I read the first two books, but by the third, the characters are acting as adults, in adult relationships and in adult roles, despite the age of the main character and the fact that she still (apparently occasionally) attends school!

Overall, Fragile Eternity was fairly uneven for me – the characterization simply wasn’t strong enough for me to care about the cast, the worldbuilding was quite vague, and the storyline was nothing new in paranormals. It might be a different situation for those who have read the previous book however, as those readers may have already become invested in the characters and have a better background to the worldbuilding, and would therefore probably not notice the same flaws I did.