Valiant (Modern Faerie Tale)
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Product Description
Product Description
When 17-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-coloured 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, 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 working, Val finds herself bound into service by a troll named Ravus. He is as hideous as he is honourable, and as Val grows to know him, she finds herself torn between affection for him - and fear of what her new friends are becoming because of him.
About the Author
Holly Black spent her early years in a decaying Victorian mansion where her mother fed her a steady diet of ghost stories and faerie tales. An avid collector of rare folklore volumes, spooky dolls, and crazy hats, she lives in West Long Branch, New Jersey, with her husband, Theo. Together with illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi, she is the creator of the bestselling Spiderwick Chronicles series of children's books.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
First of all, I was surprised that this book held only a small appearance of one of the characters who was introduced in Tithe. I expected this to continue that story, but it didn't though the faerie realm was the same. Whilst I was disappointed that the plot from Tithe wasn't continued, I found this book to be more accessible and an easier read thanks to the slight improvement in writing - it seemed to flow a lot better. I don't think that the plot was exciting as Tithe but I did prefer the characters in this one. I don't feel that Black was trying too hard to portray a teenager, like she did with the previous book. Overall, I preferred the plot of tithe but the characters and writing of Valiant. An easy to follow read.
Format:Paperback
Don't read this if you like cats. I wish I hadn't. Plus,there isn't really any character development or depth to the characters. Personal taste maybe or maybe you have to be under 15 to enjoy this.
Format:Paperback
I wasn't sure if I was going to like this novel at first. Val running away from home and immediately taking up with alternative street kids seemed a little too cliché for me. Also, the life Val slips into, sleeping in the New York City sewers, is so filthy and squalid that I found it pretty unpleasant to imagine.
However, I was intrigued by the glimpses I was getting of the magical world beneath the surface and where the story finally got me was when Ravus was introduced. I thought the haunted troll, banished from the Seelie Court, was a great character and I totally bought Val's feelings for him. Pairings either work for me or they don't and this one just worked for me. The blurb describes it as Beauty and the Beast and that description works if you think of Val as the beast - she's the pissed-off one who wants to fight back at the world and Ravus is the one who calms her and loves her, flaws and all.
The fairy-tale details that Holly Black decorates this story with are just beautiful to picture (presumably the squalor of the sewer-life is done deliberately to contrast with this). Ravus tells Val about his past by creating images from the smoke of a candle, there's a harp that's strung with strands of hair from the dead, and their ethereal voices can be heard when a strand is plucked. These were my favourite moments in the book; gorgeous and heart-breaking.
The plot kicks into high gear in the last 100 pages and it was then that I found I couldn't put the book down until I finished. And I got an ending I liked - it's not too prettily tied up and there are consequences for the characters, but it was happy enough to leave me with a smile on my face.
However, I was intrigued by the glimpses I was getting of the magical world beneath the surface and where the story finally got me was when Ravus was introduced. I thought the haunted troll, banished from the Seelie Court, was a great character and I totally bought Val's feelings for him. Pairings either work for me or they don't and this one just worked for me. The blurb describes it as Beauty and the Beast and that description works if you think of Val as the beast - she's the pissed-off one who wants to fight back at the world and Ravus is the one who calms her and loves her, flaws and all.
The fairy-tale details that Holly Black decorates this story with are just beautiful to picture (presumably the squalor of the sewer-life is done deliberately to contrast with this). Ravus tells Val about his past by creating images from the smoke of a candle, there's a harp that's strung with strands of hair from the dead, and their ethereal voices can be heard when a strand is plucked. These were my favourite moments in the book; gorgeous and heart-breaking.
The plot kicks into high gear in the last 100 pages and it was then that I found I couldn't put the book down until I finished. And I got an ending I liked - it's not too prettily tied up and there are consequences for the characters, but it was happy enough to leave me with a smile on my face.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Absolutely excellent.
Steadfastly and resolutely sitting in my top 3 favourites. Not to be thought of as a sequel, but rather a parrallel to the world explored in Tithe. Read more
Published 15 months ago
Valiant (Modern Tale of Faerie) - Excellent
Enjoyable read! Excellent for teens! The story runs alongside Tithe and Ironside - but tells the story of Luis and his brother Dave. Read more
Published on 6 Feb 2010 by L. Herbert
it was good
it was a very good book, if you liked it you should read tithe, by holly black. wicked lovely by melissa marr or my personal favourite city of ashes by cassandra clare.
Published on 20 April 2009 by Elsa Brittain
Valiant
I absolutely love the description of the city setting in this book - it really does leap off the page and I can see it right in my mind's eye. Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2009 by myrmidryad
Thin plots continue to let Black down
I continue to enjoy Holly Black's gift for imagery (which this book gives full rein to) but whilst there is more story to this book than there was to Tithe, it does suffer from the... Read more
Published on 20 Jun 2007 by quippe
A good continuation of the faerie tradition
Black's books are about faeries of the not so cuddly kind. Like many others, she sees the faery world pretty much as the human one, a mix of good and bad people, with most being a... Read more
Published on 31 May 2006 by bookaholic
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