Welcome to Holly Black’s world of modern Fae, set amidst grungy New York and the burbs. Kaye is a misfit teen who follows her musician mother from gig to gig. She hasn’t been in highschool for a long time, and hasn’t lived in one place for more than a few months since she was a kid. So when she returns to her grandmother’s home, she’s surprised to find that all of her old fantasies have sprung back to life. Her imaginary friends are no longer imaginary, and she’s in touch with the alluring, dark world of the local Fae. She meets Roiben, a silver-haired Faerie knight, who enchants her. Thus begins her adventure into the dark and unseemly world of the sometimes cruel Fae, and eventually leads to the truth of her own beginnings.
Valiant, a companion novel, features Val, a teen whose mother is dysfunctional with a capital “D.” When she runs away after a fight, she finds herself deep into the underbelly of New York City, where exiled Fae still roam.
Finally, in Ironside, we see the culmination of Roiben and Kaye’s fight against the tortuously beautiful and dangerous Bright Court Faerie Queen. Will their love survive the war?
REVIEW:
I absolutely loved this series. It’s very dark, the Faeries are sometimes cruel and bloody, and the human characters are flawed and believable. This is not your Disney fairytale fantasy, folks. There’s definitely some language, some drug abuse (faerie drugs, but still) and some more questionable parent-child relationships. BUT I think any teen, especially an older teen, will not be shocked or surprised at what they find, nor offended. Adults will find the series a perfect fit.
The juxtaposition of grimy and murderous dark faeries against what we normally view faeries as (sweet, buttercup TinkerBells) is refreshing and really more true to folklore. The writing is fantastic, and Black sweeps us into this dark world easily and with great deft. She’s a fabulous writer (see my review of THE DARKEST PART OF THE FOREST). I really appreciate that she doesn’t pull any punches. This is as real and as gritty as you can get. I absolutely loved it! Thanks Maggie for recommending it!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED – Buy it for yourself for exciting holiday reading! And, lucky you, they are already out so you don’t have to wait, and can devour them in several glorious days.