Book Review: Indelible by Dawn Metcalf

Indelible
by Dawn Metcalf
Publisher: Harper Teen
Date Published: July 30, 2013
Editions: print and ebook
Length: 384 pages
Source: Publisher via Netgalley & I won a physical ARC through a contest

Blurb: 

Some things are permanent.

Indelible.

And they cannot be changed back.

Joy Malone learns this the night she sees a stranger with all-black eyes across a crowded room—right before the mystery boy tries to cut out her eye. Instead, the wound accidentally marks her as property of Indelible Ink, and this dangerous mistake thrusts Joy into an incomprehensible world—a world of monsters at the window, glowing girls on the doorstep, and a life that will never be the same.

Now, Joy must pretend to be Ink’s chosen one—his helper, his love, his something for the foreseeable future...and failure to be convincing means a painful death for them both. Swept into a world of monsters, illusion, immortal honor and revenge, Joy discovers that sometimes, there are no mistakes.

Somewhere between reality and myth lies…

THE TWIXT

A_TiffyFit's Review: So...if you haven't figured it out by now, I really like stories on the Fae. Not just the pretty fairy stories and magically ever after stories, but the ones where they're tricksters, vicious, cruel, and yet this strange kind of innocent as well. They're human while being otherworldly; they're bound to tell the truth and yet cruelly choose their words so that they are not lying but misleading. They have this burning need to get involved. Notice that I am not talking about re-tellings of beloved fairy tales (although I freaking adore those, too), but stories about the FAE, the others, whatever you will call them. From Mercedes Lackey to Kim Harrison to Holly Black, I am utterly fascinated with the myths and legends of these creatures who cannot lie and yet lie the most through omission or tricky language, who delight in mischief as horrifying and gruesome as can be, who are human-like in their cruelty and yet have this strange streak of compassion, who are compelled/fascinated by us delicate humans. INDELIBLE is one of those stories. Naturally, INDELIBLE drew me in and held my attention.


We meet Joy Malone, the main character, when she is out with her best friend, the fun-loving, boy-crazy Monica. We immediately learn that Joy is heart-broken, feeling abandoned by her mother who ran off with some hot young thing and her brother, Stef, who has gone to college and seemingly has forgotten about her, and her dad, who isn’t openly affectionate although he loves her dearly. She is out dancing with her friend, letting loose some tension, when she sees a boy, a boy with all black eyes. He stares at her, approaches her, and stabs her in the eye, making her cry out and end up at the ER.

Shortly thereafter, she finds notes in her locker, is threatened by something that breaks the glass of her window while leaving her a message to “TELL INK.” And then we meet Ink, Indelible Ink and his sister, Invisible Inq.

At first I thought it was awkward that these siblings have identical names, albeit spelled differently. Ink & Inq apparently have different pronunciations, but I really didn’t worry about that or concern myself over it. I’m reading, not pronouncing it. You don’t even want to know how I first pronounced Hermione in my head while reading Harry Potter for the first time!

I liked the subtle differences in their work, why she is Invisible and he is Indelible. I liked how Joy seems special compared to others. Ink and Inq tell Joy that she has been marked with his signatura when he tried to cut out her eye, and that marks her as his lehman. Inq says the rough translation is love slave. I found this wording unfortunate as I think many people would pounce on it and interpret it the wrong way. I understood what it meant though ---- they are saying that Joy is Ink’s love interest, one who would be devoted to him and him alone. Joy gets to accompany Ink on his duties and learn what it means to place signatura on humans. The Fae claim humans in their “territories.” Lost in the woods? You’ll be marked by this fae. Drowning? This one gets you. Into orgies? This one gets you. All to stake claim and gather minute bits of power. It’s a protection of sorts, while keeping the humans unaware of the Fae/others.

Joy meets the Bailiwick, Graus Claude, an enormous frog-like creature with four arms that really sets off in her head that this is a whole other world. Despite his rough personality and obvious greed of being in a powerful position, Graus Claude demonstrates compassion as well when Joy gets hurt.

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more in The Twixt! I would love to read more on Inq and her love interest, as well as her little collection of lehmans, the cabana boys. I would love to see Joy manifest other powers or be granted them and have a job like Ink’s, preferably immortality as well of a sort so that they can remain together. I loved how this was our world and then there’s the veil of the others. That’s what makes modern tales of the fae so enticing…you just never know what is lurking in the shadows behind you!

INDELIBLE publishes July 30, 2013 and will be available in both ebook and print.