This is the sequel to Tithe, which me and Mailyn both reviewed last year.

Valiant by Holly Black
Rating: 3/5
Pages: 313
Genre: Faerie Tale/Fantasy/Young Adult
Published by Simon Pulse in October 2006

When seventeen-year-old Valerie Russell runs away to New York City, she's trying to escape a life that has utterly betrayed her. Sporting a new identity, she takes up with a gang of squatters who live in the city's labyrinthine subway system.

But there's something eerily beguiling about Val's new friends. Impulsive Lolli talks of monsters in the subway tunnels they call home and shoots up a shimmery amber-colored powder that makes the shadows around her dance. Severe Luis claims he can make deals with creatures that no one else can see. And then there's Luis's brother, timid and sensitive Dave, who makes the mistake of letting Val tag along as he makes a delivery to a woman who turns out to have goat hooves instead of feet.

When a bewildered Val allows Lolli to talk her into tracking down the hidden lair of the creature for whom Luis and Dave have been dealing, Val finds herself bound into service by a troll named Ravus. He is as hideous as he is honorable. And as Val grows to know him, she finds herself torn between her affection for an honorable monster and her fear of what her new friends are becoming.

Bestselling author Holly Black follows her breakout debut, Tithe, with a rich, harrowing, and compulsively readable parable of betrayal, abuse, friendship, and love.

Well, I hate to say it, but the more time that goes on, the less I am impressed with either of Black's books. Tithe was good when I read it, but now that I think back on it, this series is just okay. I was actually rather glad to see the end of this one. It just did not really call to me like I had hoped, maybe because I have read other books along the same line lately that were better. I am not sure, all I know is that I did not really care for this book.

I actually was not really looking forward to writing this review, I really do not know what to say. It is a pretty predictable book. I never really was surprised with anything that happened. There was a romance angle that was cute, and even though it is pretty apparent that good is going to win again evil, it was a redeeming quality to watch this romance play out. It is a good book for teens because it shows that looks should not matter. The male part of the romance was not the most attractive faerie creature in the world, so it was good. But, just, this book... I start to think it should have got less than a three. It just did not do anything for me. I mean, normally if I do not like a book I can at least vent about it, but this book just left me with nothing. A cute romance... that's about it. I doubt I will read the third book, but I might change my mind when it is released.

Sorry for the dull review, but it was just a dull and forgettable read.

2 comments:

Oh man! That sucks that you didn't like this book. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Tithe and Valiant. Tithe is my favourite. I really struggled with Val's "drug"-abuse in this novel. But loved Ravus. :P

I really liked this book as well and got both for my mum. SHe struggled more with Valient (again the drug side of the tale), but liked Tithe. She has another out soon called Ironside I think.

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Since I was a little girl I have been fascinated with books. Early photos show me with a book in hand, even if it was not exactly my reading level... My first word was a made-up word meaning 'book', actually. I suppose I had my priorities at an early age... Over the years my interest in books has become one of the defining features of who I am as a person. You can probably call me a bookworm. While I have other interests, reading will always be the one I talk about the most, even if I am not focusing on it as much as I used to.

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