Seven Black Diamonds by Melissa Marr – Review

Published: March 1, 2016

Publisher: Harper

Series: Seven Black Diamonds #1

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Pages: 381 (Hardcover)

My Rating: 3.0/5.0

Synopsis:

Lilywhite Abernathy is a criminal. Her father’s “unconventional” business has meant a life of tightly held secrets, concealed weaponry, and a strict code. But Lily’s crime isn’t being the daughter of a powerful mob boss. Her guilt lies in the other half of her DNA—the part that can coax ancient rumors from stones and summon fire with a thought. Lily is part fae, which is a crime in her world.

From the time before she was born, a war has been raging between humanity and fae. The Queen of Blood and Rage, ruler of both the Seelie and Unseelie courts, wants to avenge the tragic death of her heir—a death that was the fault of reckless humans.

Lily’s father has shielded her from the repercussions of her ancestry…until she is sent to the prestigious St. Columba’s school, straight into the arms of the Black Diamonds.

Mysterious, glamorous, and bound together in their mission but constantly at odds, Zephyr, Creed, Will, Roan, Violet, and Alkamy are a Sleeper cell of fae, planted in the human world to help destroy it from within. With covers as rock stars and celebrity children, the Black Diamonds carry out the queen’s war against humanity. And unbeknownst to Lilywhite, she’s been chosen to join them.

Now more than ever, Lily’s heritage puts her in peril, and even the romantic attention of the fae singer Creed Morrison isn’t enough to keep Lily from wanting to run back to the safer world of organized crime.

Melissa Marr returns to faery in a dramatic story of the precarious space between two worlds and the people who must thrive there.

---

I’ve had this book and its sequel on my shelves for a few years now and just hadn’t gotten around to reading them, however, I did a big shelf purge (to be donated) and I’m trying to go through and read all the unread books I decided to keep. I loved the Wicked Lovely series in my teenage years and decided this was a keeper and I 100% binge read this book in a single Friday evening! It scratched the itch for a cheesy YA fantasy with a thoroughly mediocre romance.

The plot of the book boils down to this – the Queen and King of Faerie are at war with humanity and have placed half-fae terrorist cells amongst them to carry out attacks and the story focuses on the Black Diamonds – the hand picked group. They’re all famous in one way or another – actresses, rock stars, children of politicians, etc. and they’ve located the elusive final member of the crew. Lilywhite Abernathy happens to be the daughter of THE preeminent crime lord and she’s been trained to take over his business one day, so she’s kinda tough as nails wrapped in a pretty package. I liked Lilywhite and for the most part I like the other Diamonds as well. The characterization was a little cliche, but I expected that going in. I was reading purely for pleasure and not for any sort of cerebral stimulation.

The whole eco terrorist cell thing was just a little ridiculous to me – yeah they go out and set stuff on fire and blow holes in ships but the half-fae all feel pretty bad about it. They must obey the Queen of Blood and Rage otherwise she’ll probably kill them. This part honestly felt out of place as part of the plot and became less important as the story progressed. Once Lilywhite entered the picture, she (and her relationships with the crew) became central and I was fine with that. I mean, it was practically the whole reason I read it anyway – I needed predictable YA romance and drama in life. 

Overall, this was an entertaining (but not quality) read. The overarching plot – the Queen’s hate for humans because their poisons killed her daughter – ended up sounding like a desperate attempt to get readers more concerned about pollution. Like, that’s not actually a great way to do it and many of us are already aware and concerned about pollution and the destruction it causes. Aside from this minor quibble, Seven Black Diamonds was an uncomplicated yet entertaining read and I picked up it’s sequel, One Blood Ruby, not long afterwards!