I absolutely loved the way that Holly Black did these stories. I thought that this story was supposed to be continuing Tithe. But to tell the truth i was gettin bored with the characters by the end of the book. So i was happy to find out that this book was not about the same characters. This book is also a pretty quick read. ( )

Black's writing improved dramatically between Tithe and this book. I liked the character of Val much better than Kaye. The story most takes place in the tunnels of New York and I thought Black did a very good job with her descriptions. After finishing this book, I grabbed Ironside almost immediately. ( )

In this book, Holly Black returns to the world of faerie with a new group of characters and a new city. While Roiben from Tithe makes a guest appearance and the Unseelie and Seelie courts are mentioned and briefly seen, this book centers around those living in exile in New York City. Surrounded by iron, they are forced to survive amongst the iron that can poison them in an uneasy alliance where the desire to live trumped old court alliances.

Black brings us her version of exiled human characters - street kids. Our main character, Val, runs away after discovering the mutual betrayal of her mother and boyfriend and finds herself taken in by a group of teens that include one with a special gift - the ability of true sight. This allows him to see the faeries in exile and has made him the errand boy for a troll for a year. Through a series of misadventures, Val finds herself similarly indebted for a month to the same troll.

But this is no simple story of indebtedness. Black has woven a really tight story of the nature of friendship, exile, running away, vengeance, mystery and finding one's true abilities in a book filled with broken characters. She's continued to draw rough-edged characters who are not shy about matters of sex, drug use or betrayal, but in this story, it adds authenticity to the actions. ( )

This was a wonderful book, the man characters strength and valor were encouraging and her tom-boy-esq style and personality were refreshing. ( )

Readers Annotation:
After Valerie finds out her mother is sleeping with her boyfriend she runs away to New York City. She meets up with three other runaways and sleeps with them in the subway. When she goes to make a delivery with them she finds out that not all drug dealers are human.
Plot Summary:
Valerie finds out her mother and her boyfriend are sleeping with each other and she runs away to New York. Her new friends introduce her to Ravus a troll who brews potions for fairies, including the drug Never. Never makes it possible for the fairy people to live in our world without being poisoned from exposure to iron. When humans use never it makes them feel, and act, like the fairies. They can even do magic. One problem with Never is that it is addictive. Val works for Ravus as a runner for his drugs to his fairy customers and she becomes addicted and steals from him. Ravus’ customers are getting murdered and he is a suspect.
Evaluation:
I loved Holly Black’s Spiderwick Chronicles series for children. I was very excited when I found out that she had these fairy books for teens. It is not a series with the second book having completely different characters and plot from Tithe. She creates edgy, dark fairy characters and settings. She is very good at starting a story with a shocking opener that gets the reader hooked on the story. She portrays a perilous world of fairies, one where humans can be used up and spat out, where the inhabitants are beautiful and deadly. This book is about betrayal, homelessness, and addiction. It's about making decisions and living with the outcome. I didn't plan to read about addicted kids, but this book has a powerful message. The message is about how people get addicted to something, anything, without realizing that they're getting addicted. It doesn't have to be a drug, it can be another person or a way of life. I loved the strong protagonist she portrays becoming addicted to “never” a substance that acts like heroin on humans and how she overcomes her addiction. Ages: 16+/Interests: Fairies, Magic, Drug Addiction ( )