Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie (edition 2009)

LOVED this. I love James' sarcastic voice; I love how he reacts to Nuala; I love the development of their interactions...all the characters were real and distinct and usually funny. The plot was twisty and eventful and satisfying (although the end...I had some quibbles with some of the machinations and motivations of the climactic scene, but there was a slight reveal and a bit of unexpected humanity in one of the characters that made up for it).

The only real problem I had with it was that I didn't get Dee at all; I read all of her unsent texts, but I still don't see how she's the same character from LAMENT. I think I heard Maggie say (write) somewhere that she envisions this as a five-book story, so, even if those books never become tangible, I feel better knowing that there IS an explanation and justification for her un-(to me) Dee-ness.

***
For the record, I don't rate books at all unless they are unequivocally five stars–books I would stand up for, possibly get involved in light fisticuffs in their defense. Books like The Outsiders and Chronicles of Narnia and A Wrinkle in Time. Otherwise, I just let my review (or lack thereof) speak for itself.

by Maggie Stiefvater

I think I am probably the only person in the whole world who didn't LUURRRVE this book, and I'm sort of cringing over even admitting it at all. Unfortunately, I happen to be someone who is really turned off by multiple-character narration 99% of the time. That is, I realize, completely and totally a personal quirk which I should not hold (and don't hold) against Maggie Stiefvater at all. If that's the way she needed to tell the story, then that's the way she needed to tell it. Nonetheless, given that weird quirk, this didn't work quite as well for me as the cohesive narrative of Lament did.

I did very much enjoy James as a narrator. He's snarky and sweet and awesome. He also has moments of vulnerability which are hugely important. And he's just funny in general. I also liked Nuala a lot, especially towards the end of the story. However, I found the distance from Dee to be a little too great. I almost think (and this is weird, given the multiple narration thing) that having an actual chapter of her narration instead of the text-message format would have worked a little better. This is partly a personal thing, again. I'm an old fart and don't own a cell phone so I don't use text messages so that format was off-putting for me.

Sullivan is a great character--I hope if/when (please, when!) there are more books about these characters he makes a reappearance. I want to know more about his history.

Overall, I liked this book a lot and would recommend it to anyone who liked Lament and wants to continue the story. I just wasn't quite as wowed as I was by the first one.

book source: Western Washington University ( )

Sequel to Lament. Great series! ( )

I didn't like this one as much as Lament, and I guess the reason would be Nuala's character. I just didn't like her, and I didn't like James falling for her, and seeing as she's one of two (well, three, if you count Dee's text messages) narrators in the book, then I couldn't really like the book. It's too bad, because I LOVE James, he's exactly the type of guy I'd want to hang out with if I was sixteen again. He brings my rating up from 2.5 to a 3. ( )

The Sequel to Lament. James knows that Dee's heart belongs to Faerie and this upsets him but he still loves her and wants to help her find a way to live well. The two of them are now boarders at the Thornking-Ash School of music and while there's little the school can offer James in the way of music education he's still finding things to be interesting. There's a lot of faerie around and he's not sure who to trust, but he knows that he can't trust the woman who calls herself Nuala.

By the end of the story he will have to make some hard decisions and these will have repercussions.

Oh wow, I was a little reluctant to read this as I really enjoyed Lament. Sequels often don't work as well as the original story. Maggie Stiefvater really gets the musicians in this, I played music when I was younger and while I wasn't at this level I did meet some who were. Almost consumed by the music and needing to play as often as possible.

James wasn't as prominent in the previous story but this is his story, and it's a good one, he's interesting, and shows that he's learned from the past and will continue to learn.

I want to read more by this author. ( )