The Wicked Lovely books were some of my favorites in high school. I loved faeries and the world Melissa Marr created, but I haven't read them in years, so there were some details I forgot about. Keenan looked nothing like how I used to picture him. ( )

Nice artwork, I think you need to have read at least the first Wicked Lovely book, just so that you are familiar with the storyline, who Keenan is, and who Rika is. It is touched on in the story, but I think you get more appreciation if you already know about the Winter Girls. ( )

I don't know why I bought this. I know it was a used copy, and I think it was really cheap. That's still not a good explanation, because OEL manga adaptations of books don't generally have a good track record with me. Plus, I haven't even read any of Melissa Marr's books.

I thought this was an adaptation of Marr's Wicked Lovely, but then I spotted the “Desert Tales: Sanctuary” portion of the title and wasn't so sure. It turns out that it's actually a spin-off that uses characters from the Wicked Lovely world. The manga volumes were later turned into a novel, Desert Tales – not the usual way these things are done.

I don't know that I would have liked this volume any better if I had read the Wicked Lovely books, but, just in case, I'll start by saying that my review should probably be taken with a grain of salt. I had no idea who Rika or Keenan or Donia were, although apparently readers of the Wicked Lovely series would know. Character relationships and timelines were sometimes hard for me to follow. How long ago was Rika the Winter Queen (or whatever)? How long has it been since she was mortal? Who's Donia?

The story, as I understood it, was this: At one time, Rika loved Keenan, a faerie king. He convinced her to go grab some kind of scepter, something went wrong, and she carried the Winter Queen's chill (ice in her veins?) for...a while. I wasn't clear on how long. When the volume begins, it's been some time since Rika became free of Keenan and the ice. Now she lives in the desert and moons over a young artist named Jayce, who can't see her because she's an invisible faerie. The desert faeries threaten Jayce, because they hate Rika and she's shown an interest in him, so she reveals herself to Jayce in an effort to protect him.

I could not figure these characters out. Rika hated Keenan and swore she didn't need his help or protection. However, her life in the desert didn't seem all that much better. The desert faeries hated her and threatened her and Jayce, one of the two people she actually seemed to like. Then there was Sionnach. On the one hand, Rika seemed to view him as a friend and guardian. On the other hand, when he was away from her, it sounded like he might be the one arranging for the desert faeries to torment her. Was he a prankster with a wicked sense of humor, or was he a secret villain? And, if he was a secret villain, did that mean that, after having been tricked by Keenan years ago, Rika let herself be tricked by yet another faerie? Did her time with Keenan teach her nothing besides how to moon over and cry about boys?

Jayce was boring. Pretty-boy cardboard, basically. It didn't matter how much weird stuff happened around Rika, he barely questioned any of it. He just kept blindly following after her and doing whatever she asked. When, near the end of the volume, she told him she wasn't human, his only response was to kiss her some more.

The artwork was uneven. Some panels looked decent, some didn't, and characters weren't always consistently drawn. It definitely wasn't the worse-looking OEL manga I've ever seen, but it didn't look good enough for me to consider keeping the volume just for the artwork.

All in all, I doubt I'm going to continue with this series. If I ever read Marr's Wicked Lovely books and enjoy them enough to continue on, I think I'd prefer to read the novel version of Desert Tales instead.

(Original review, with read-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

It has been a long time since Rika has been human, mortal, but now as a faery Rika has chosen a life away from the cities, and not just because the iron and steel makes her sick. Rika has found a home for herself out in the desert, a sanctuary quite literally in the middle of nowhere. Rika has wanted to escape the politics of the Faerie Courts, but even out here as a solitary faery she can not escape her past.

Jayce lives out in the desert, spending his days unknowingly in Rika's company. While he draws the desert she paints him. Invisible to all but the other fay, Rika has come to love her time with Jayce, even if he doesn't know she exists. But when the desert fay becomes restless and hostile Rika will risk her freedom and her visibility to save him and her heart.

Sanctuary, the first in a three part adaptation into a graphic novel, is drawn expertly and beautifully portraying the depth of Rika's emotions and rapidly changing circumstances. As her quiet life is shattered and unexpectedly invaded, albeit happily, by the artistic and good looking Jayce, Rika will soon have much to worry about. But in the mean time she can find sanctuary in the arms of the one she loves. ( )

You would think by now I learned to stay away from Melissa Marr’s books but I thought “hey, I enjoyed the Vampire Kisses manga even though the book series kind of sucks, maybe it’ll be the same for Melissa Marr’s!”. WRONG! Wrong to the infinite suckage power.

Let’s start with the background information. Wait, opps we can’t! There was hardly any! The manga is designed that we have to have had read the Wicked Lovely, understand the court system, understand Keenan’s past, understand the whole “finding the ice queen” scenes for the reader to even get pass the first 10 pages! Even that I was willing to slide on some levels. Maybe, just maybe, the manga might explain some of that in the sequels to come.

My biggest issue is the “thing” between Jayce and Rika. Completely unbelievable. Rika practically stalks Jayce for some time before reveling herself. Even then Jayce somehow falls madly in love with her despite the fact that they’ve known each for oh less than 24 hours. They even smooch a little in the end! Someone must have answered my prayers and decided to add a little action in the end! (If you guys can’t tell I’m being super sarcastic then you should just smack yourself in the head).

The lines delivered were unrealistic. The fight scene in the club stupid. I mean so the faeries are invisible to humans but when they were trying to force Rika to speed things along with Jayce (by trying to kill them of course, that’s the answer to all of life’s questions) are they suddenly visible? Because Jayce clearly mentions one of them having a knife later on. And if they were visible, why was no one stopping the desert faeires from trying to kill them!? You’re in a populated club with people surrounding you, just starring! You would think someone would have screamed or cried out stop or something!
And let’s not forget the love triangle-ish. Yes ish because it might happen or Melissa Marr is just leading us on. *sigh* ugh. Let’s all I have to say.

The artwork is also kind of average. Some parts were weird since the head looked kind of squashed. The hair on Jayce—what the hell is that? Dreadlocks? An alien life form suctioned onto his head!?

Overall: I want my 20 minutes back. Might pick up the sequel if I’m in a nasty mood.

P.S. How the hell is the girl named Rika? When we first saw Keenan and Rika, they were wearing these Victorian outfits yet Rika is clearing a Japanese name. Is she an immigrant? Is she a mixed child? Or is Melissa Marr just trying to write a stereotypical manga with a stereotypical Japanese name? ( )