Tithe (Modern Faerie Tale #1) by Holly Black 331 pages
16-year-old Kaye returns to her childhood home in urban New Jersey after spending most of her teen years on the road with her mom, a wannabe rock star. Struggling to fit back in with her best friend Janet and the other kids her age, Kaye finds herself pining for the faerie companions she knew as a little girl. They don’t show up, but one night she helps a faerie knight named Roiben out of a tough spot, and soon finds herself in the thick of a plot by one fae court to bring down another.
Book Review
I had forgotten that as a child, I was pretty obsessed with faeries, but reading this book brought it all back, and now I am obsessed again. This is a well-written book although it sometimes tries too hard to be gritty (clearly the author was inspired by Bordertown) when it should just stick to being magical. There are also brief moments when the action goes from a point A to a point D with little or nothing in between, leading to brief bouts of confusion on the part of the reader. None of that is a deal-breaker though, and the main character Kaye is engaging enough that you want to know what happens to her, even long after you’ve finished the book. Luckily there are sequels!
