Book Thoughts: Radiant Shadows

Title: Radiant Shadows
Author: Melissa Marr
Series: Wicked Lovely #4

**Potential spoilers for earlier books in series**

The Wicked Lovely series is about faeries. There's the Summer Court, the Winter Court, the High Court, and the Dark Court. There's a great cast of characters, and so far none of the books have had the same main protagonist (Aislinn was key in both Wicked Lovely and Fragile Eternity, but FE was really more about Seth...but if you haven't read them, then you don't know what I'm talking about, and if you have, then this is an unnecessary explanation, so. Moving on).

Anyway, the fourth book, Radiant Shadows, is about Ani and Devlin. Ani's a halfling. Her mother was mortal, and her father is Gabriel, the leader of the Wild Hunt. Ani is different because she survives on both touch, like the Hounds of the Hunt, and emotion, like the Dark Court. And she can feed from both faeries and mortals, which is pretty much unheard of. She's different. And she's not supposed to be alive.

Enter Devlin. Devlin was supposed to kill Ani when she was an infant, but at the request of Rae, a dreamwalker, he didn't, thereby betraying the two faeries who created him. He watches Ani, and struggles to fend off emotions that as High Court, he shouldn't feel.

Ani and Devlin's lives become intertwined, and...well...all sorts of interesting things happen. Don't want to tell you too much more because then you'll think you don't need to read the book (and you know how I detest spoilers). Radiant Shadows can pretty much stand on its own, I think, but I say this having read the other three books - and you won't want to read just this one because they're all so good!

It's a faerie story with courts and rules and a Faerie realm, and no mention of Titania or Oberon, which is a pleasant change. And the characters are just spectacular. And there is so much more to all of it than battle scenes and dark romance. There is plot. There is intrigue. There is humor. There are characters who are absolutely unforgettable. And there is a whole fictional world that you will just want to get lost in. It's a spectacular series, you guys. I'm not just saying that.