Valiant by Holly Black

Publisher:  Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publish Date:  Sept. 5, 2005
ISBN:  978-0689868221
Pages:  336

I quite enjoyed TITHE and was looking forward to VALIANT. The first chapter or two almost lost me and then the Holly Black writing took off.  You know what I mean - the ugly beautiful damaged writing.

Val takes off to NY after she catches her mom and boyfriend making out.  She meets some street kids, Lolli and Dave and Dave's brother Luis.  The kids run errands for faeries.  Not the pretty sparkly ones, but the dangerous tricky ones.  The troll Ravus makes a drug called Never for the faeries, it helps them live in the city surrounded by iron.  But for humans...the drug is magical.  It allows them to do magic and to be more like faeries, it's also highly addictive.

The faeries are dying and Ravus is the prime suspect. But Val is falling for him and needs to figure out whose behind the deaths.  She also needs to conquer her addiction to Never.  We catch a fleeting glimpse of the TITHE characters toward the end, which was nice.

This story touches on so many important issues and is a hard hitting story.  Ms. Black hits on love and trust, addiction and the harm it does everyone it touches, betrayal and hate and living with our choices.  Well done!

Tithe by Holly Black

Tithe by Holly Black
Publisher:  Margaret K. McElderry
Publish Date:  March 23, 2004
ISBN: 978-0689867040
Pages:  336
Cover Illustration and Design:  Sammy Yuen Jr. 










At first I had a bit of trouble getting into this story.  I just didn't feel any connection with Kaye at all.  I put the book down for a couple of days and when I came back and started to read, it unfolded for me.  For me, the backdrop was something like The Crow movie. I immediately fell in love with it. 


Kaye Fierch is a 16 year old girl, she is part Asian and blonde.  She dropped out of high school to work and support her alcoholic rock-n-roll mom.  When the story opens, her mom's boyfriend is flipping out and trying to kill Kaye.  Kaye and her mom ditch out and go to live at Gram's for awhile.  Gram does not appreciate the fact that her granddaughter is a dropout, or a smoker, or wanders about all night.


Kaye leaves a party after a mishap with her friends boyfriend and a broken carousel horse.  She, quite by accident, finds the Black Knight Roiben and assists him.  Her journey with the Fey begins there.  The more time she spends with the Fey (the ones she thought she daydreamed as a little girl and Roiben), the more she realizes who she is and what she can do.  She is caught in the middle of a quiet war between the Seelie and Unseelie Courts - possibly as the human tithe to keep the underlings free for the next 7 years.


I read Ms. Black's newer books first, this one is just as beautifully written although completely different.  The characters are amazing: formed in your mind by a phrase here, a line there - it's an amazing skill to have.  If you haven't read TITHE, you should go back and pick it up.  It's a delightful story - if you liked Brenna Yovanoff's Mackie, you'll love Kaye!