Tithe

We got another nice snow last night--probably 5 inches. It is really pretty out. I like the way the snow looks before it has been all tracked up and dirty. It is pretty as I look out the library windows and see snow on the top of the buildings and on the tree branches.

I am not a huge fan of fantasy books. I usually purchase them for the library because of good reviews and then never read them. However, many of the library’s patrons really like fantasy and every once in a while I will find a book that I really should read. Tithe: a modern faerie tale by Holly Black was one of these books. It has been very popular so I thought that I would grab it and see why everyone was reading it. And, like all the fantasy books I read which isn’t many, I enjoyed it.

Tithe is a strange, but a good read. Debauchery, despair, deceit, and grisly death-what more could you ask from a fairy tale? 16-year-old Kaye has always been considered a freak. Part of that is because she has spent most of her life in seedy bars with her mother’s struggling rock bands. But part of it is also because of her childhood memories of being friends with fairies. When Kaye meets Roiben, the wounded and incredibly good lucking elven knight, she is unprepared for what happens next. Her childhood friends return to tell her that Roiben serves the evil Unseelie Court and that Kaye has been designated as a tithe, a mortal sacrifice that binds the courts together. But what if Kaye isn’t really mortal? You will enjoy reading about Kaye who is a clever, courageous heroine with an appealingly wry voice, and Roiben who is a gloriously damaged and darkly noble tragic hero. This book is a fantastic example of urban fantasy. And, of course, there are a couple of sequels.