Ironside by Holly Black (Modern Faerie Tales #3)

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy/Paranormal, Romance 
Publication Date:  April 24th 2007
POV: Alternating - Third-person, Past tense
My Rating: 3 out of 5

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In the realm of Faerie, the time has come for Roiben's coronation. Uneasy in the midst of the malevolent Unseelie Court, pixie Kaye is sure of only one thing -- her love for Roiben. But when Kaye, drunk on faerie wine, declares herself to Roiben, he sends her on a seemingly impossible quest. Now Kaye can't see or speak to Roiben unless she can find the one thing she knows doesn't exist: a faerie who can tell a lie.

Miserable and convinced she belongs nowhere, Kaye decides to tell her mother the truth -- that she is a changeling left in place of the human daughter stolen long ago. Her mother's shock and horror sends Kaye back to the world of Faerie to find her human counterpart and return her to Ironside. But once back in the faerie courts, Kaye finds herself a pawn in the games of Silarial, queen of the Seelie Court. Silarial wants Roiben's throne, and she will use Kaye, and any means necessary, to get it. In this game of wits and weapons, can a pixie outplay a queen?

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This wasn't as good as the first, but better than the second. It had an actual quest and adventure, like the first. But it focused mostly on Kaye, Corny, and Luis (a returning character from the second book), and not enough Roiben. He was around, but not prominent. And there was very little romance. No scenes like how the first book ended, or like when Kaye was enchanted and Roiben felt he took advantage of her. Its as if Black felt their romance didn't need to be focused on again since it got attention in the first book.

The most sexually charged scene was actually between two other characters, Corny and Luis. It was brief but you could tell it was heated. I wouldn't have been disappointed if I hadn't been misled by the fact that the first two books were fairly strong in the romance department. This book remains primarily a faerie adventure. In that sense it was very good. Lots of action and suspense and faerie politics.

I said in my review for Valiant that I didn't know whether or not Valiant was necessary to get the story of this one. Well, it wasn't. Although Luis was in this one, and a glimpse of Val and Ravus at the end, the story of the second was not relevant, and anything you would have to know about Luis was explained in this one. So you could read just #1 and 3, or just #2 alone.

“She knew what it felt like to tremble like that before touching someone -- desire so acute that it became despair.”

Valiant by Holly Black (Modern Faerie Tales #2)

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy/Paranormal, 

Romance
Publication Date: May 31st 2005
POV: Female - Third-person, Past tense

My Rating:  3 out of 5

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When seventeen-year-old Valerie runs away to New York City, she's trying to escape a life that has utterly betrayed her. Sporting a new identity, she takes up with a gang of squatters who live in the city's labyrinthine subway system.

But there's something eerily beguiling about Val's new friends.
And when one talks Val into tracking down the lair of a mysterious creature with whom they are all involved, Val finds herself torn between her new found affection for an honorable monster and her fear of what her new friends are becoming.

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This was rather disturbing at times, and I even considered not finishing it. But I knew that the romance had to start eventually, and when it did, I loved it.

I thought Kaye, the main character of the first book, Tithe, had a difficult childhood, but it was nothing compared to this. I wonder if Holly Black had a difficult childhood too. Most of the book follows the main character, Val, and her friends Lolli, Dave, and Luis, who live in a disgusting, abandoned subway station, while they get high on faerie drugs all day, which they use like crack. Val even starts acting like Alex DeLarge at one point when she breaks into a family's home. Lolli kills her cat because she is just tired of taking care of it. There is also cutting and casual sex among friends. Very disturbing book and far from YA IMO.

The only good part is Ravus, the troll Val falls in love with. Although the fact that he is a troll makes Val even less relatable IMO (I've personally never fallen in love with a troll and it's difficult to imagine), but Ravus is extremely sympathetic. It was hard to get an image of him in my mind because he wasn't describe well, but I gathered he looked basically human, except with slightly green skin and large teeth. Val's narrative never described him as handsome, but she did say he was tall and lean, with gorgeous yellow eyes and long, silky black hair. I really enjoyed his character, and he was way too good for Val.

I was hoping that the book would at least finish on an amazing high note, like Tithe. They did both end with the girl's romantic interest visiting her after she went home and they had been apart for awhile. Probably a few weeks. But while Tithe ended with an amazing kiss, Valiant did not. There was actually only one kiss. Although it was a really good one, it was before Ravus got mad at Val. A make-up make-out would have been nice. :P

Roiben (the romantic interest from the first book) was actually in this one for a bit near the end (also the only few minutes spent in Faerie), and Kaye was mentioned to be in the room, but we didn't see her. I know the next book, Ironside, is about Roiben and Kaye again, but I don't know how much of an impact the events in Valiant will have. This book can probably be read as a standalone.

“It demeans you to cover rotten meat with honey. I know what I am. What would you want with a monster?"
"Everything.”

Tithe by Holly Black (Modern Faerie Tales #1)

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy/Paranormal, Romance 
Publication Date: October 1st 2002
POV: Female - Third-person, Past tenseMy Rating: 4 out of 5

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Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother's rock band until an ominous attack forces the sixteen-year-old back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms -- a struggle that could very well mean her death.

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This was so much fun! I started out very unsure about it, since it was recommended to me by The Iron Fey fans, I was expecting something else. But Tithe is far darker than The Iron King. So much so, that I would hesitate to call it YA. I know I wouldnt let my kids read it if I had any. It was very thematic and I was thrown off by the heroine's heavy drinking, smoking, swearing, and shoplifting, a girl of 16. But once I got acquainted with its world I realized different is not bad (although I still don't like her lifestyle).

Kaye attracts the attention of a gorgeous fey of the Unseelie Court, a knight. But Roiben is very different from Ash. They both have the whole victim-of-circumstances vibe down, but I was actually a little scared of Roiben in the beginning. He seemed so evil and menacing. I was hesitant to start liking him, but eventually I couldnt resist him anymore. The romance was well played out, better than some YA.

Being only my second faerie series, it was interesting to see the similarities and differences from The Iron Fey. I was not previously familiar with ideas of faerie glamour, and the courts, and I didnt know how much was unique to The Iron Fey. So that was interesting and I now have a better grasp of it. I found the story very interesting and exciting with a lot of twists and turns. Although I will admit, I still don't fully understand what happened. It wasnt explained as well as it could have been. But the very best part is the end. It ended on such a great note I couldnt stop giggling. Here it is with hardly any spoilers, except the fact that Kaye gets Roiben, but thats hardly a spoiler. It is a YA romance after all!

"There is something of yours I would like to return to you." 

"What?" He leaned across the distance between them and caught her mouth with his own. Her eyes fluttered closed and her lips parted easily as she felt the kiss sizzling through her nerves, rendering her thoughts to smoke. 

"Um..." Kaye stepped back, a little unsteadily. "Why does that belong to me?" 

"That was the kiss I stole from you when you were enchanted." 

"Oh...well what if I didnt want it?" 

"You dont?""No, I'd like you to take it back again, please." 

"I am your servant," his lips a moment from her own. "Consider it done."