Shelly's Book Blog

Tithe, by Holly Black, is a YA fantasy novel. The heroine, 16-yer-old Kaye, lives with her would-be rock star mother, Ellen. When one of Ellen's band members tries to kill her, Ellen and Kaye move back in with Ellen's mother, in the house where Kaye grew up. Kaye soon reconnects with old friends, including a couple of faerie folk with whom she used to play. Of course, when Kaye was a little girl she did not really understand the significance of having faerie friends, but she soon discovers that she is, in fact, one of them -- a pixie.
This is a very dark novel, full of profanity and violence. As in Wicked Lovely, by Melissa Marr (see my April 28th post), many of the faerie folk in this story are pretty nasty creatures who revel in bloodshed and violence. Still, I found the book compelling, enough so to read it in one day. I cannot say that this is one of my favorites, but I think many teens would enjoy it. Black has written a sequel: Ironside : a modern faery's tale.