Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Stephanie

Holly Black spins readers an enchanting world in her brilliant debut dark fantasy novel, TITHE. Kaye Fierch and her musician mother Ellen move back in with her grandmother in New Jersey after Ellens boyfriend mysteriously tried to attack her. Now Kaye is back amongst the friends she had to leave six years agoboth the human and the faerie ones.

In the middle of the rainstorm, Kaye stops to help a wounded faerie knight named Roiben and attracts the attention of two warring faerie kingdoms, the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. The Unseelie Court has recently brought back the Tithe, a human sacrifice for the obedience of the solitary fey, among which are Kayes childhood faerie friends.

An even more shocking secret is revealed to Kayeshe is actually a faerie herself, disguised with some very strong glamour! Her fey friends want her to go along with her selection for the Tithe and then reveal her true faerie identity at the last minute, thus making it seem like the Unseelie Queen was trying to kill her own kind.

The trouble is that things dont go exactly the way they planned. Kayes involvement in the faerie war means endangering her human friends, not to mention falling for Roiben, whom her friends warn her to stay away from. Its hard to distinguish between friend and foe in this exciting world of faerie.

Holly Black is not one to waste words, and so TITHE is written succinctly but beautifully. The plot is sometimes hard to follow, and even after my tenth or so reading this time everythings still not all clear, but I think thats part of what makes this book so exciting for me!