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Books
Books I have completed reading since January 2021:

1. The Enchanted - Rene Denfield
Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale. A review.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Title: Tithe: A Modern Tale of Faerie
Author: Holly Black
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Romance & Fantasy
Rating: 3.8/5

Synopsis

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 them back to her childhood home.

To the place where she used to see Faeries.

They’re still there. But Kaye’s not a child any more. This time she’s dragged into the thick of their dangerous, frightening world. A realm where black horses dwell beneath the sea, desperate to drown you… where the sinister Thistlewitch divines dark futures… and where dashing Faerie knights are driven to perform acts of brutal depravity for the love of their uncaring queens.

Once there, Kaye finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival Faerie kingdoms – a struggle that could end in her death …

Review

If you are an avid reader of my blog, you must have seen through me that I have a fetish for supernatural beings, regardless I like it or not. So I’m not surprise seeing myself picking up this book. In fact, I have read a lot of books on fantasy and always hungry for romance books except for pure romance stories where lovers roll from the bed to some lake.

But to be honest with you guys, I actually bought this book on impulse. I was in this bookstore to collect my birthday voucher but cannot!!! I have to collect it within seven days after my birthday. How dumb is that? And I was there 3 days before my birthday. So determined to get something before I leave, I randomly pick a book from the fantasy shelf. Oh… don’t worry this is not my first time doing so.

As usual, I was attracted to the cover because it exudes some gothy feelings with this sort of dead preserved butterfly or moth on the cover. It feels good in my hand too. Yes I know I’m very shallow. To show I’m not that easy to be cheated, I got this book also because it was a nominee for a Mythopoeic Award. No idea what award is that.

I like how Black spins the story. From the first page you read until the end, it is a flow of logic and short and sweet descriptions about the main characters and the events. Rich enough for you to drift into fantasy.

The main characters are - I have to admit they are nothing new – fey creatures. Of course, you don’t expect to see an alien with two big bulging blue eyes and greet you “I come in peace from Uranus” in a fantasy realm, right? The male protagonist is a knight elf, Roiben, who works for the bad queen and main female is a pixie, Kaye, clad in human glamour.

Kaye is a kind of a girl that some people might term weird because she could see fey. No one believes her. What’s more is she didn’t see any more fey when she was nomad-ing in the bigger city, where she console herself she has lost her innocence. As a school drop out, she works in a Chinese restaurant to support her mum and involves in activities a normal teen would venture – smoking and drinking. I feel Black has successfully captured the lifestyle of a teen like Kaye and also her feelings and mindset of every event flows in the story including the scene of her falling in love with Roiben. Oh well, which girl doesn’t fall in love with a handsome gorgeous elf even if he’s just a gardener?

The way Black writes about Roiben could make me imagine how he looks and I didn’t drool over him. Gosh… Who ever said that? But you can see that Black emphasizes more on Kaye’s characteristics and personality than Roiben. So Roiben’s past is still a shrouded mystery to the readers. One thing I’m a little confused with Roiben is of a page. Black explains that Roiben keeps on recalling how he threw Kaye to the floor and freezes the reaction image of her face over and over again. And then he kisses her when he met her the next time. Ha? You fall in love with a girl with a shocking expression? What an uncommon way to fall in love. But my point is … thinking back of that image doesn’t mean it is love or rather he’s simply confused over why Kaye has that expression? Usually people reminisce over something because we don’t understand that something. Could that something give birth to love? I need to forward this question to Black.

When you discovered Roiben also likes Kaye… you would surely go “OMG OMG” especially fans of gorgeous supernatural beings. How did it end? Did they manage to get together? Woah … calm down girls. The ending gives you a 100% satisfaction so no fretting over this weird couple.

Overall, this is an enjoyable Young Adults fiction that I don’t mind reading it for the second time. Warning: there’s part two.

Theory
In my blog, I said I would spit out my theory on why Black didn’t win the award. Let me iterate this. This is just my theory.

I have read a few winning award books before especially YA. The common trait of all those story winners is you get a lesson out of the story. A lesson that makes you think back of your life or leaves some very not comprehendible impression and also makes you to apply critical thinking.

For this story, it is just another happy-ending fey story. All well ends well.


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