first line (of the prologue): "The tree woman choked on poison, the slow sap of her blood burning."

first line (of the first chapter): "Valerie Russell felt something cold touch the small of her back and spun around, striking without thinking."

Holly Black pulls no punches. Her Faeries are not for the faint of heart. Nor are her humans, for that matter. Her characters -- and their relationships and motivations -- are gritty and complex. Still, though, there's magic in the world. And while that doesn't candy-coat all the nastiness, it does help the medicine go down. Valiant easily stands alone, but I still recommend reading it in conjunction with the earlier Tithe and subsequent Ironside. (Tithe and Ironside are "Movie A," as it were; Valiant is the "B Side"...though no less compelling for that.) ( )

This book was a lot of fun. It is 2nd in the series, following the novel Tithe .

What makes this book so good is that, yes, it follows in sequence the first novel but it has totally different characters who only relate marginally to those in the first. It is a sophisticated sequel that shows the author's depth of understanding of this imaginary world. I think it is a great book for the early teenage years. Just edgy enough without being worrisome.

It is the best of the 3. ( )

I found the idea of the story captivating. Faeries are real, and they walk among us, hidden by glamour from human eyes. And they aren't necessarily good faeries--like humans, some are good, and some are bad. 17 year old Val discovers this world when she runs away from home and lives under the New York subway tunnels. Through unforeseen circumstances, she ends up indebted to a troll, delivering potions to faeries. But faeries are being poisoned, and Val ends up risking her life to solve the mystery and protect her unlikely troll-friend.
It was a dark and exciting story.It had a modern upbeat to it but i wanted more, i wanted to know the other characters more(like what was lolli's story).I found myself drawn into the love story that unfolded between Val and Ravus, the troll, though it was kind of weird but sweet. Val finds her inner strength, learns for forgive, and stops running away from her problems. I love this book, my favorite character Roiben (from book 1 Tithe) had a little part in the story, showing his new status as the Unseelie King with my other fav character Kaye by his side Yay. Great book
can't wait to read Ironside ( )

http://books.moonsoar.com/archives/20... ( )

When seventeen-year-old Val runs away to the city, she becomes entangled with a community of faeries in exile.

It took me a little while to warm up to this book. It was instantly readable, but I initially felt it to be too dark and distanced. It read like Francesca Lia Block with all of the horror and very little of the beauty. I had trouble sinking into the world.

The book got much better as it progressed, though. It remains dark throughout, but Black manages to capture the beauty as well as the horror. She seems interested in exploring the darker side of faerie mythology, and it makes for some good reading. Things are rough, gritty and difficult, but there's also some gorgeous imagery and some wonderful moments between the characters. I really liked the love story, too, though I wish it had been built up a bit more.

Overall: an enjoyable read, though not an entirely comfortable one. While this is set in the same world as TITHE, there's very little overlap between the two books. ( )