Ashley B. (daredevilgirl013) reviewed Tithe (Modern Tale of Faerie, Bk 1) on + 746 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 12
Now that Harry Potter is done, we need a new series to read, and I have found it. I thought the book picked up rather quickly to start, and just kept right on going with keeping you hooked to the story. It was wonderful, full of action, adventure, and it wasn't told in a childish way that made you feel like you were reading a book for an 8 year old.
This is a darker tale, and it does have plenty of cuss words, and other adult situations. But this book is just AWESOME! I highly suggest it, especially for Harry Potter fans.
This is a darker tale, and it does have plenty of cuss words, and other adult situations. But this book is just AWESOME! I highly suggest it, especially for Harry Potter fans.
Pretty good urban fantasy, but a bit of a shaky start. Too much purple prose and silly poetry quotes. However, by about page 75, that all evened out and it became an interesting story. I'll be reading the sequel.
Helpful Score: 7
Pretty dark/angsty, sometimes excessively so. Still, an exciting read with a fun romantic subplot.
Helpful Score: 6
I really enjoyed this book. But, due to the frequent references to smoking, drinking, and drugs, I would not suggest this title for young adults even though it is marketed at a YA book. Aside from that, the story is imaginative and the characters are very easy to identify with.
Helpful Score: 5
(YA Catagory) Surprisingly really good....But....be forewarned it does contain scenes with drugs, language, and violence. That being said, I am looking forward to the next in the series.
Helpful Score: 4
Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother's rock band until an ominous attack forces Kaye back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdomsâa struggle that could very well mean her death.
When Kaye discovers she's actually a Changeling (changed at birth), her whole world starts to get really confusing, and some of the new friends she's met could possibly be her worst enemies.
I really enjoyed this book, which portrays the struggle between the Seelie and the Unseelie Court of Faerie. It is dark and suspenseful, and definitely doesn't refer to the light fairy which perches on flowers and flutters about. I'm anxiously looking forward to book 2, Valiant, which is also waiting here on Mt. TBR.
When Kaye discovers she's actually a Changeling (changed at birth), her whole world starts to get really confusing, and some of the new friends she's met could possibly be her worst enemies.
I really enjoyed this book, which portrays the struggle between the Seelie and the Unseelie Court of Faerie. It is dark and suspenseful, and definitely doesn't refer to the light fairy which perches on flowers and flutters about. I'm anxiously looking forward to book 2, Valiant, which is also waiting here on Mt. TBR.
Stephanie S. (skywriter319) -
Helpful Score: 4
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 Ellen's boyfriend mysteriously tried to attack her. Now Kaye is back amongst the friends she had to leave six years ago - both 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 Kaye's childhood faerie friends.
However, Kaye's 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. It's 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 everything's still not all clear, but I think that's part of what makes this book so exciting for me!
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 Kaye's childhood faerie friends.
However, Kaye's 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. It's 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 everything's still not all clear, but I think that's part of what makes this book so exciting for me!
Helpful Score: 3
I enjoyed this one. It was fast paced and edgy. A great young adult read.
Recommended
Recommended
Helpful Score: 3
I was quite excited to receive Tithe, because there has been quite a hype about it in the young adult literary world. I was getting a little apprehensive, though, when after three chapters I still wasn't at all interested in the characters or the plot. Kaye, the heroine, isn't particularly relatable or admirable. Her attitude is very angsty. She doesn't seem to have any values whatsoever. Her character just perpetuates society's general attitude toward teenagers.
In addition to an unlikeable heroine, Black threw in a lot of unnecessary language, drugs, and sexuality, seemingly for shock value. I am not prudish in my reading taste, but I found the negative content of Tithe to be excessive.
If you're looking for a good young adult fantasy, I suggest checking out Tamora Pierce, Harry Potter, and Stephenie Meyer.
In addition to an unlikeable heroine, Black threw in a lot of unnecessary language, drugs, and sexuality, seemingly for shock value. I am not prudish in my reading taste, but I found the negative content of Tithe to be excessive.
If you're looking for a good young adult fantasy, I suggest checking out Tamora Pierce, Harry Potter, and Stephenie Meyer.
Helpful Score: 3
Sometimes with urban fantasy it is hard for the magic to feel like it works combined with the real world. That was not at all a problem with this book. The world-building was so complete that I had no doubts about it all working and being "real." And although I didn't like Kaye very much at the beginning, she definitely grew on me and I liked her a lot by the end.
Helpful Score: 2
It's listed as a Young Adult/Teen book, but be forewarned it has a LOT of swearing and smoking and drinking. Surprisingly it doesn't have sex, but does have kissing and one episode of inappropriate touching. I liked the story and thought the world Black created was detailed and convincing. It's a good read, but not appropriate for kids or younger teens, in my opinion.
Helpful Score: 2
This book was pretty good, not exceptional and not horrible, just okay. It was more dark and twisted than I expected, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that it felt like the author was trying really hard to be shocking and edgy and it just fell flat for me. I didn't feel like a lot of the "darkness", at least not in the begining of the book, helped further things along. As we get into the land of the Seelie and Unseelie courts, that's when it started to make more sense in regards to the story and that's when I began to like the book. The first half of the book was slow and sort of choppy; it didn't flow very well and felt like things were just sort of thrown together haphazardly because a lot of the "shocking" things the author had happen came out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly. It was like she was trying to fit so much in the first half of the book that it was just too random to fit all together. However, don't let this scare you off. I believe the last half of the book more than makes up for this fact. I really loved little underlying romance going on, as well as the look we get into the Seelie and Unseelie courts. Because the last half of the book was so redeeming, I'm eagerly looking forward to reading the next book dealing with Kaye and her adventures.
I really injoyed this book. I was a darker more adult fantasy book that was good. I will probably get the other two books as well.
Helpful Score: 1
Highly derivative of Emma Bull's "War for the Oaks," and edgy for the sake of being edgy, rather than contributing to the story. NOT appropriate reading for anyone under 16 or so - the teenagers smoke and drink heavily, not to mention lots of sexual situations and gross descriptions of random sadism. That said, an extremely fast read that might be suited for the beach.
Helpful Score: 1
i just read this book at the recommendation of a number of ya writers i know. i'm afraid i have to say that, six months after i read it, i don't remember what it's about. the strongest element of the book is the romance between a teenaged girl and a faery or elf or something guy. by "strongest" i mean the part that stands out, not the part that's actually *good*. the romance was pure fantasy -- no resonance whatsoever. it was the stand out element in the book because it was the center of the plot and the solution to the book's central conflict. *yawn*.
engagingly, competently written, and something preteen girls will love, but not a particularly good book.
engagingly, competently written, and something preteen girls will love, but not a particularly good book.
Helpful Score: 1
I am not usually a faerie book person but this sounded interesting and had great reviews, plus I was looking for something to pass on to my younger sisters. I didn't get past the 3rd chapter.
Previous reviews mentioned some drug use & language, but they understated these two, in my opinion. I don't like a lot of cursing or graphic love scenes but for a good story, I'll skip over those parts. This book was quickly becoming every other word being the "f" word and worse. Besides, it wasn't very well written or catchy enough to tempt me to keep going...I quit mid-3rd chapter.
That said, I know that's not everyone's standard, so my review is for those with similar preferences. This is no light reading and the drug use/promiscuity/cursing is pretty prominent and frequent.
Previous reviews mentioned some drug use & language, but they understated these two, in my opinion. I don't like a lot of cursing or graphic love scenes but for a good story, I'll skip over those parts. This book was quickly becoming every other word being the "f" word and worse. Besides, it wasn't very well written or catchy enough to tempt me to keep going...I quit mid-3rd chapter.
That said, I know that's not everyone's standard, so my review is for those with similar preferences. This is no light reading and the drug use/promiscuity/cursing is pretty prominent and frequent.
Helpful Score: 1
Although this book is marketed as YA, it's more like adult nostalgic-for-youth wish-fulfillment fiction. The main character, Kaye, behaves badly (and talks badly), crappy things happen, weird things happen, and somehow things are okay in a completely contrived ending.
The only good things I will attribute to this book: original tone and mostly unexpected plot twists. Unfortunately, I wanted to know how it ended more because I was confused by the author's intentions than because I was interested in how things tied up.
The only good things I will attribute to this book: original tone and mostly unexpected plot twists. Unfortunately, I wanted to know how it ended more because I was confused by the author's intentions than because I was interested in how things tied up.
Helpful Score: 1
The book was okay. I bought it but it's not my type of book. It's a great book; a modern fairy tail, and it has great reviews. I lent it to a friend who absolutely LOVED it so she went out and bought her own as well as the sequels.
Wonderful tale of faerie.
LOVE IT!!!!!
I usually like these types of books but it was hard for me to relate to this and really hard to understand and follow, obviously its a darker style of a book. I read until the 2nd chapter and put it down, I can usually read anything but it was hard to get into this. Like I said the author didnt do a very good job of letting you know what the heck was going on.
I had to force myself to finish this book. I swear if I didn't know better I'd think it was written by a 5 year old. All of the characters are one dimensional. No one questions anything! ANYTHING! I'm been wanting to read this book for a year or so, now I'm sorry I wasted a day and a half of my life on it.
I was on the fence about this one. The writting was very gritty. I am used to reading something i can relate to, but this book was nothing of the sort. THe main character smoked, drank, toured with her mothers rock band, and was pretty much a wild child. This book dives head first into the fairy world, and i caught myself not understanding it there for a while. The romance was pretty good, and overall it wasnt a bad book. 3 out of 5
This book was okay, it had a different spin to it than other fae books I have read. Although it was YA it definitely had some very non-YA material in it. I don't think I will read any of the others as this read was a bit too easy for me.
I almost put it down during the 1st few chapters because it was so NOT what I thought it would be, and then POW! it grabbed me by the ears and wouldn't let go...it's listed as a YA title, but it was just as enjoyable for this grownup as any other book...If you're looking for a different paranormal series, I think this one is a great read. Can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the series.
The idea of dark sinister faerie folk was a little different. The book was a good book. I could have done without some of the language used by this 16 year old. The ending sort of leaves you hanging and I thought that the second book would take up where this one left off, but it seems that this is a story about a completely different girl. I am looking forward to reading it though too. I enjoy Holly Black and definitely get the next on in the series.
Very good realisitic, despite the fairies, young adult book. :)
A wonderful and engrossing book. The story is dark and gritty, which I really enjoyed, but it was difficult to imagine that the heroine was only 16. I'm looking forward to reading other novels by Holly Black.
I've read reviews,that complain about the foul words.Didn't bother me. Was a good story,found the characters interesting.I look forward to Valiant
Good urban fantasy novel.
I had a hard time getting into this one, but it had a strong finish. I find Holly Black's writing beautiful in one sentence and then utterly confusing in the next. I don't have a problem identifying her characters--just problems with their names. Corny?? I don't care if it is short for Cornelius, every time I had to read it, I chuckled.
A fun quick read
this series is my favorite series of books
Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother's rock band until an ominous attack forces Kaye back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms -- a struggle that could very well mean her death.
from the back cover,
"Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother's rock band until an ominous attack forces Kaye back to her childhood home. there, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms--a struggle that could very well mean her death."
"Debauchery, despair, deceit, and grisly death--what more could you ask for from a fairy tale?...A luscious treat for fans of urban fantasy and romantic horror." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother's rock band until an ominous attack forces Kaye back to her childhood home. there, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms--a struggle that could very well mean her death."
"Debauchery, despair, deceit, and grisly death--what more could you ask for from a fairy tale?...A luscious treat for fans of urban fantasy and romantic horror." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review
