“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.
After returning home from a tour with her mother's rock band, sixteen-year-old Kaye, who has been visited by faeries since childhood, discovers that she herself is a magical faerie creature with a special destiny.”
I first read Tithe about four or five years ago and although I really enjoyed it, I found it a bit dark for my taste. Now that I’m older I can appreciate the story for what it is, a modern faerie tale. Kaye is a teenager that has been transplanted from life on the move to smack dab in the middle of the lamest state in the country, New Jersey. When she tries to find her friends, Loutie-Loo, Spike, and Gristle but doesn’t spot them anywhere she realizes that maybe they weren’t really after all. That is until she meets and saves Roiben. Once she saves his lives he allows her three truths from him which she saves for later. And it turns out that Louti-Loo, Spike, and Gristle were real and that Roiben killed Gristle and Kaye revenges Gristle by getting Roiben to tell her his full name, little does Kaye know that she now has full control over him. Loutie-Loo and Gristle inform Kaye that there is a faerie war occurring and that the sacrifice of Kaye is essential to end it. Oh yea, and she’s a changeling.
Although, like I mentioned above, I found Tithe to be a little dark the first time I read it, something that I thought was really cool was how Holly Black set up the series. The first book, Tithe, is in Kaye’s point of view but then when you read Valient, the second book, it is in the point of view of a new character, Val. Then Ironside is from Kaye’s point of view again and it’s not until this book that Val and Kaye cross paths. All three books are worth the read.
My rating for this book:
Holly Black is the bestselling author of multiple books for children and teens. She is one of the authors of the popular series the Spiderwick Chronicles that were made into a movie. She is good friends with Cassie Clare, author of the TMI and ID series is often spotted on books tours with her. To learn more about Holly Black and her work visit www.blackholl.com
If you’re in the mood for war, death, romance, secrets, and magic Tithe is your book. Are you guys going to check it out? Maybe you’ve already read it? Have any good faerie book recommendations? Let us know.
1 comment:
A modern faerie tale indeed. Welcome to "Tithe" written by young Fantasy writer Holly Black (the Spiderwick Chronicles)a book containing Beautiful and angst ridden knights, a fiesty heroine, blood, broken Glass, death, sacrafice and some very evil faeries.
Tithe follows the story of Kaye, an "asian blond" who, after she returns to her childhood home becomes back in contact with the "imaginary" faerie's she befriended as a child. Through these faerie's Kaye gets pulled into the dangerous world of the seelie court where she is forced to participate in the Tithe, a sacrafice held every seven years. Through this Kaye discovers she herself is a not a human, but a green skinned pixie.
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