Search - Valiant (Modern Tale of Faerie, Bk 2)

I finished this book, more or less, just to get through it and be able to move on to something better. What a miserable reason to read.

I had enjoyed Tithe, the first book in Holly Black's "faerie tale" trilogy, and had expected Valiant to pick up where that story left off. Unfortunately, like in Melissa Marr's (much better) Wicked Lovely series, the second book is a complete departure from the first -- although written in the same world -- and then the conclusion of book one is provided in book three. For that reason, I probably will seek out Ironside (Black's third book in the trilogy). But I hope to God none of these dismal main characters make the jump to that book.

In a nutshell, Valiant is the story of a directionless 17-year-old girl that runs away to New York City after finding her boyfriend and her mom in an, um, compromising position. She ends up sleeping in the subway tunnels under the city with a ragtag group of street kids, and eventually stumbles upon a world she didn't know existed. She becomes indebted to a troll (don't you hate it when that happens?) and inexplicably, from out of nowhere with absolutely no plot buildup, falls in love with him. He teaches her to swordfight. She and the street kids do a lot of illicit stolen faerie drugs, have random sex and steal. At one point, a kitten is deliberatly pushed in front of a moving subway. Getting the drift? There just isn't much to redeem this story. It lacks all of the magic of the previous novel in the series, and is just grim, dark, cringe-worthy, crass and kind of pointless.

I gave it two stars because I did think the premise was imaginative... but that fact alone just wasn't enough to redeem the book. [close]

The second "Modern Tale of Faerie" it is only loosely connected to the first (Tithe) and can be read independently. For older teens, as it deals with issues of drug abuse and sex. Less about faeries than about taking responsibility for your life and your decisions and about breaking addiction. I found it slow for the first half, watching Val slide into whatever happened to be in front of her, trusting everyone and generally being stupid. The second half picked up and was much better as Val decided to grow a brain. At the end you are left with the feeling that the best part of her story is ahead of her.

Like Tithe, Valiant has a dark tone and deals with some mature issues. I found the characters entertaining, and the plot reminded me of a modern Beauty and the Beast. A fast, fun read.

Recommended.

I didn't like this book as much as Tithe or Ironside. It's not because it tore away from the story in the first one, I just didn't like it as much. It didn't keep me as interested... But it was still a good book I suppose.

Great book.