Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Date: March 2004
Page Count: 331

BOOK DESCRIPTION: Welcome to the realm of very scary faeries.

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 Kaye 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.

MY REVIEW: Since I'm in a Fae reading phase I thought I'd go back and read some titles which have been recommended (I also took a break from reading THE POISON EATERS). Kaye, a blond Asian teen, has never lead a normal life. She's used to moving around with her aspiring rock star mom, but after a boyfriend attempts to kill her mom, they run to Kaye's grandmother's house in New Jersey.The same house Kaye was raised until her mom took her out on the road with her.

Kaye interacted with fairies as a child that town and when she returns she easily falls back into old habits. She sets out a bowl of milk with the hope of seeing her old friends. A chance meeting in the woods with a wounded fairy knight named Roiben sets up the storyline and romantic interest.

"She thought of the fairies she had known when she was a child--impish, quick things--no mention of wars or magical arrows or enemies, certainly no lies, no deception. The man bleeding in the dirt beside her told her how wrong her perceptions of Faery had been." (page 27)

TITHE is not a sugar-coated story about cute fairies in a land full of unicorns. These fey fight, deceive, use others (even eat them!) and are cruel. Kaye as a human is flawed, has a mouth, smokes, drinks and steals. These attributes are supposed to make her gritty and realistic, but I found it a tad overdrawn at times. I still liked Kaye. We learn she is strange for a reason--she's a 'changeling,' taken from the fey and raised as a human. Ironically, an imperfect teen discovers her childish fantasy world is not perfect at all and she is more a product of it than the human world. Once Kaye steps through the threshold into that other world, she becomes the offering (the TITHE of the book's title). It is up to Kaye to figure out how she can save her life, learn to use the magic in her own changeling body, and even fall in love.

I enjoyed TITHE. At times I enjoyed the descriptions, they were different and edgy and made me view the passage in a different way, but other times I felt some descriptions were forced and slowed down the narrative and the flow. I understand in fantasy there has to be a certain amount of world building, still some sections were a bit overdone. I also liked having the story move to the Jersey shore and thought that setting could ratchet up the creep' factor and possibly become a character (in a sense), but that did not happen.

RATING: +++

SERIES: Yes. VALIANT is Book Two, followed by IRONSIDE (Book Three).

FOR FANS OF: Contemporary YA fantasy.

REVIEWED BY: Laurie

BOOK SOURCE: Swapped.