Black, Holly - Tithe
Wed, Jul. 6th, 2005 07:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterBecause I swear, I haven't actually forgotten that I blog about books here ;).
I read this in a gulp, and it probably belongs in the same vein of books as War for the Oaks and all those other books about Faerie. Ok, maybe it is not nice lumping it in with all the other books, but honestly, it is useful for comparison and for seeing what various people do to various Faerie tropes. I enjoyed the book, but something still niggles me a little about it.
Oh wait, yes, book summary would be helpful! Anyhow, as one can deduce from the title, the book is about the seven-year tithe to Faerie, which made me think that this would somehow be a version of "Tam Lin." It is not. Anyhow, the gist of the story is about Kaye, a girl who gets rather caught up in the politics of Faerie -- there is the Unseelie Court, the Seelie Court, and the solitary fae, all of whom want some modicum of control, which is what the tithe provides. There is a sexy faerie guy, too. Kaye's mother has dragged Kaye around from place to place; Kaye subsequently has had to grow up much faster than some people.
I particularly enjoyed the gritty background of the book and the mix of the urban and the magical -- Emma Bull did the same with her book, but Black takes it to another new (very gritty) level. However, the same problems I have with the book stem from this grittiness, almost as though Black were trying to be very urban fantasy and very turning-over-Faerie-is-gorgeous trope. And, I do buy it, but you don't particularly have to try very hard to convince me that Faerie is really freaky, and adding in a lot of blood and cannibalism is not particularly necessary on my part. Also, I guess it doesn't quite work for me because it's all the Faerie that isn't the Designated Love Interest. The Designated Love Interest (Roiben) has done bad, nasty things, but the stance of the book and the heroine seem to be that it is ok, because it was the mean Unseelie Queen making him do it. And well, yes, it wasn't his fault, per se, but I find it rather problematic to go forth and portray the amorality of Faerie and ignore Roiben's potential amorality, especially given how the book ends.
Links:
-![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
coffeeandink's review
-minnow1212's review
I read this in a gulp, and it probably belongs in the same vein of books as War for the Oaks and all those other books about Faerie. Ok, maybe it is not nice lumping it in with all the other books, but honestly, it is useful for comparison and for seeing what various people do to various Faerie tropes. I enjoyed the book, but something still niggles me a little about it.
Oh wait, yes, book summary would be helpful! Anyhow, as one can deduce from the title, the book is about the seven-year tithe to Faerie, which made me think that this would somehow be a version of "Tam Lin." It is not. Anyhow, the gist of the story is about Kaye, a girl who gets rather caught up in the politics of Faerie -- there is the Unseelie Court, the Seelie Court, and the solitary fae, all of whom want some modicum of control, which is what the tithe provides. There is a sexy faerie guy, too. Kaye's mother has dragged Kaye around from place to place; Kaye subsequently has had to grow up much faster than some people.
I particularly enjoyed the gritty background of the book and the mix of the urban and the magical -- Emma Bull did the same with her book, but Black takes it to another new (very gritty) level. However, the same problems I have with the book stem from this grittiness, almost as though Black were trying to be very urban fantasy and very turning-over-Faerie-is-gorgeous trope. And, I do buy it, but you don't particularly have to try very hard to convince me that Faerie is really freaky, and adding in a lot of blood and cannibalism is not particularly necessary on my part. Also, I guess it doesn't quite work for me because it's all the Faerie that isn't the Designated Love Interest. The Designated Love Interest (Roiben) has done bad, nasty things, but the stance of the book and the heroine seem to be that it is ok, because it was the mean Unseelie Queen making him do it. And well, yes, it wasn't his fault, per se, but I find it rather problematic to go forth and portray the amorality of Faerie and ignore Roiben's potential amorality, especially given how the book ends.
Links:
-
coffeeandink's review-
minnow1212's review
(no subject)
Wed, Jul. 6th, 2005 08:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Wed, Jul. 6th, 2005 09:03 pm (UTC)Let's see, the stuff I have read and liked would be:
Emma Bull, War for the Oaks, Bone Dance, and Finder
Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere
Er. I can't think of anything else, sigh! Um. Not actually books I really like, but the Lackey/Guon elves in LA books (I forget what they're called, sorry) are fairly godo examples of the general Faerie-in-cities thing.
(no subject)
Wed, Jul. 6th, 2005 09:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Thu, Jul. 7th, 2005 06:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Fri, Jul. 8th, 2005 01:36 am (UTC)