Time for Mini~Reviews.....where I get out a few thoughts on a bundle of books or series Ive read.......this week Im talking about Holly Black's Modern Faerie Tale series, the three books being Tithe, Valiant and Ironside.


Black is not your puppy dog tales and sugar romance type of author, she's not the next Sarah Dessen or Stephenie Meyer, if you've read her stuff you know shes dark and very gritty for YA...Id say she crosses the line in whats acceptable considering most of her readers range from 13-17. Going into this series, I knew that and in the end disturbed by just how dark Ms. Black went.

TITHE

In Tithe we meet Kaye, a sixteen year old who travels around with her dead-beat mother and spends most her time in bars, smoking cigarettes and fending off creepy old dudes that want to see under her shirt. Kaye has a bucket full of crap called a life, but before you cry any tears over poor Kaye you'll be thrilled to learn that she's really an ugly pointy eared faerie pixie who when rolling around in grass and clovers can shed her human skin. One minute you're a screwed up teen, the next minute you're telling weird faerie dudes named Roiben to kiss your ass, in which he twirls you over pulls down your jeans and really kisses your ass.......

After the ass kiss Kaye winds up falling in love with Roiben {which I must admit the two had perfect chemistry} finds out shes an actual changeling and winds up smack-dab in the middle of a faerie war, lots of Seelie/Unseelie trivia, fights and pointy ears later, Kaye winds up having to rescue her new lover boy by saving his tush from an unseemly death. By the end we find out what fate will bring Kaye and Roiben and how the two will rule the Faerie courts forever and ever.

This was ok, the plot moved along pretty fast and the reading was simple, to the point and fueled with ugly, dark situations that normally tend to make my skin crawl. This isn't your grandma's Tinkerbell, this is black eyes and green skin and tree branch fingers....{ugh}....its also vulgar language, adult content and things not appropriate for young readers.

3/5- YA-Paranormal- {Paperback- 332 Pages Borrowed- Published 2004 by Simon & Schuster}

VALIANT

Valiant takes a deep nose dive straight off a cliff, having really nothing to do with Tithe's story but revolves around immature emotional Val who mistakenly comes home early one day to find her mother having the shag Olympics with her {Val's} boyfriend.. er...or should I say finds her boyfriend munching on something that wasn't carrots!?

This betrayal makes Val see red and without a second thought she turns around, hits the subway and becomes homeless. (!!!)  Overnight we have popular happy La Cross playing Val turn into a homeless dirty piece of crap.....suspending disbelief even for fiction sake didn't work for me on this one to be able to accept that happening.

In a twisted, freaky version of beauty and the beast, Val then finds solice in a group of teen runaways who live under the subway and begins taking a fairy drug called Never. A potent liquid that they shoot into their arms with needles to get high, causing terrible hallucinations, very similar to a street drug called heroin. After becoming a full out junkie and drug dealer, Val then falls in love with a troll...(yes a real ugly beastly troll who makes the drugs shes addicted to) and then has some freaky drugged out dirty sex with one of the homeless dudes who looks like another dude, never finds her way home and go's off in a happy ever after at the end with troll boy.

What this sad story had anything to do with the other story....not sure, but I can say as a parent I would never want my kids to read it. Black presented drug use in her book with utter carelessness... making drugs and homelessness out to be fun, orgasmic and a thrill ride. At first my instinctive knee jerk reaction to Valiant was anger, due to the horrible message in it for teenagers, however with the space of time between me finishing this and reading Ironside, my overall reaction is I feel sorry for the kids who are going to pick this up and get the message that getting high is ok and that it will solve your problems.

Novels aimed to influence children in negative ways with drugs and sex don't sit well with me. If this had been an adult novel, obviously I wouldn't judge it so harshly, but you can find it in the kids section in a public library. For SHAME, that this book promoted illegal graphic drug use to minors.

EPIC FAIL.

0/5- YA-Paranormal- {Paperback, 319 Pages- Borrowed-Published 2006 Simon & Schuster}


IRONSIDE

In Ironside we are back to the original plotline, no junkies lurking about...just messed up ugly fearies sitting around not doing much of anything......except I guess Kaye gets to go on a cool mission to help new king Roiben not lose his throne to witchy faerie queen lady. Im not sure why I read this third one, perhaps to see what becomes of Kaye? To see if it could redeem the previous turd I had read? All in all I was just more annoyed then really getting into the book........

Meh, a crappy ending to an overall crappy series.

2/5- YA-Paranormal {Paperback- 323 Pages-Borrowed- Published 2007 by Pulse}

Rating

While I would never recommend this series to kids, Modern Faerie Tale is suitable for mature teens and adults (17&up) and contains: Graphic language, graphic sexuality, disturbing drug use, life on the streets, illegal activities (stealing, crime, murder) and violence.