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After a fairly long absence, Seven Black Diamonds signifies Marr’s return to the fae world, albeit in a somewhat different setting. Her debut series Wicked Lovely was about the fae and it was extremely successful. I can only assume it’s where she still feels most comfortable. Those who’ve read both Wicked Lovely and Diamonds claim that there are many parallels, which I can neither confirm nor deny. I can only say it wouldn’t bother me if both were successful, but Seven Black Diamonds is a far cry from Made For You, a paranormal thriller and the only one of Marr’s books I’ve truly enjoyed.

Seven Black Diamonds offers so many different points of view in such a brief time that it’s difficult to keep track of all of them and their stories. I felt so confused throughout the first half and I was forced to go back and look up some details just to confirm I wasn’t going crazy. It’s difficult to get attached to any of the characters when so many are pushed in front of you at once. To be honest, most of my focus was on trying to figure out who was who and what might be their agenda.

This was so obviously the first in a series, a ‘meet the characters� sort of deal. There really wasn’t much of a plot, nothing structured or tangible at least, and all of it was mostly about establishing complicated relationships. There was supposed to be one big revelation, but it was clearly visible from a mile away and it failed to bring any excitement into it. The weak love triangle that really wasn’t a love triangle at all (which made it all the more unnecessary) further complicated things.

I can’t really find much praise for Marr’s writing this time either. We could perhaps blame it on so many brief chapters told from different perspectives, but the narrative didn’t run smoothly and it lacked any real emotions. I wish I could have believed any of it, but it just wasn’t convincing. Seeing as I am a fan of at least one of her books, I can honestly say that Melissa Marr can do much, much better. Perhaps it would help to stick with one or two characters in the future, preferably Lilly and Eilidh (and just btw, it drives me crazy that they routinely call a heavily scarred girl Patches). Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll pick up the sequel and find out.