Triple Shot Review: Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside by Holly Black

Title: Tithe (1st in series)

Author: Holly Black

Published: March 2004

Paperback: 331 pages

Reading Level: YA

My copy: Received via trade on paperbackswap.com

My rating: 4 out of 5 wicked stars

 

My thoughts:

Sixteen year old Kaye Fierch has bounced around from place to place thanks to her Mom always chasing success in band.  The only consistent home she had was when they lived with her Grandmother in New Jersey.  Thanks to her Mom's boyfriend trying to stab her Mom, the are out of a place to live and have to move home to New Jersey.  Kaye always knew she was different, and it was more than just her looks (she is half Asian)...she sees and talks to faeries.  Kaye hooks up with old friends but ends up walking home after a party by herself and stumbles upon Roiben, an injured faerie knight who is the perfect person to start explaining some things, firstly, why she is suddenly so important to the faerie realm.

This book was dark and gothic, it was a pretty intense look at faeries and how they are not all nice. Kaye gets wrapped up in quite a web of faerie lore and isn't sure who to believe.  This was actually my favorite book of the three. The author creates a dark and mysterious world with no shortage of people dying.  Some of it a bit shocking.  This was a good start to the trilogy.

Title: Valiant

Author: Holly Black

Published: September 2006

Paperback: 320 pages

Reading Level: YA

My copy: Received via trade on swaptree.com

My rating: 3 out of 5 wicked stars

My thoughts:

This book involved totally different characters than the first, with only brief meeting of these new characters with Kaye and Roiben towards the end.  It shocked me a little because I was expecting the continuation of their story, but instead we meet Valerie.  She runs away from home and heads to New York City when she catches her boyfriend and her Mother making out (uhh..yuck).  She befriends a 2 boys and girl and they let her crash at their "place", which happens to be in the tunnels of the subway.  One of these boys, Luis, has the "sight" and can see Fae as they truly are.  She gets wrapped up in delivering a drug to faeries, that was made by a troll, and this drug,Never,  helps solitary Fae (those that do not belong to a certain court) stand the iron in the city.  There is where she meets the maker...Ravus the troll and has to decide if she trusts him when Fae that take his drug start dying.

I have to give Holly Black a hand here, she made a troll seem hot in his own trollish way.  He seemed to be a sensitive guy deep down thru his crusty troll layers.  This book involved a lot of drugs and teens with zero supervision, so I am not sure if this set of books would be for kids too young.  I couldn't get involved with this set of characters like I did in the first book, just had trouble relating and connecting.  There is plenty of drama and death in this book, like the first one, but I was hoping more of a cross over of characters.  I do get that wish somewhat in the third book.

Title: Ironside

Author: Holly Black

Published: April 2007

Paperback: 323 pages

Reading Level: YA

My copy: Received via trade with swaptree.com

My rating: 3.5 out of 5 wicked stars

My thoughts:

The third book picks back up with Kaye and Roiben as he is about to have his coronation for the Unseelie (Dark) Court.  During the coronation, Kaye gets a bit sauced on the faerie wine and pledges herself to Roiben and his court and as rules go, he must give her a quest.  The quest given is almost impossible, find a faerie that cannot tell a lie.  Meanwhile, the Queen of the Seelie (Light) Court wants both courts and starts a war with Roiben to get it.  To add more drama to the mix, when Kaye realized that she was born a faerie, a pixie if you want to get technical, she finds out she was switched with a real human baby that is now growing up in the Seelie Court.  After telling her Mom, she realizes she needs to get this child back and find a way to find a faerie that can lie.

This book has the melding of characters from both books, but not in the way you would think.  The main characters from Valiant only show up towards the end and very briefly.  The main book 2 character is Luis, the boy with the "sight".  Ironside wraps up the story nicely even though there were a few things that were never really touched on, like who are Kaye's faerie parents?  It never even came up as a question, I guess pixies are born from cabbage patches, haha.

This was a dark and gritty trilogy that held my attention throughout.  I wouldn't recommend this for kids that are too young because of the violence, drugs and runaways.  If you are looking to getting swept away in faerie land and learn all their secrets, pick these up and give them a try.