I didn’t love ‘Tithe’ and I just couldn’t bring myself to enjoy it’s pseudo-sequel ‘Valiant’. Too much drug-induced fog, weird teenage promiscuity, and an odd relationship between a teenage girl and a troll that wasn’t exactly believable. A little too much angst and teenage disaffection for my liking. ( )

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. ( )