Tithe by Holly Black Review

"Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother's rock band until an ominous attack forces Kaye back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms - a struggle that could very well mean her death."

Well, Tithe is certainly an old book. That doesn't stop me from reading it. 2002 may be a while back, but books will always be the same. It is us, the readers, that change. Plus, this book is about the Fae and the power struggles between the two courts. (I'm pretty sure you guys all know my love for Faeries. You can all thank Julie Kagawa for that love).

Okay, I never read anything of Holly Black's before this book. That is my confession.

Well, I have to admit that some parts of the book is hilarious. The part about kissing butts is downright amusing. I had to read it a few times over to make sure I got it correctly. I thought I was reading it way wrong. I mean, wrong wrong. Double wrong. Inappropriate, I mean. Scandalous. It doesn't matter now, but I just wanted to mention Black's somewhat amusing sense of humor (even though it is a bit odd).

Kaye is a changeling. The real Kaye is somewhere out there, but that doesn't matter very much. Kaye is a pixie, who is on the side of the Seelie Court. However, she is in a power play between the two courts, meaning she is on the line and she will never be exactly Seelie or Unseelie until one Fae Queen wins out. Kaye is actually pretty intelligent, but she does have small "blond" moments. I will admit to you that it happens quite frequently. Needless to say, they are very annoying and so despicable. I hate those moments.

And Roiben is the love interest. It is pronounce the same as Robin as in Robin Hood, Robin Goodfellow, and all other Robins. He is a Knight of the Unseelie Court, once a Knight of the Seelie Court. Isn't that confusing? Well, easy to say is that he is one heck of a knight. I should also mention that he is one bit of a jerk, too. However, he does seem to soften up to Kaye as the plot goes on. That is all I can say.

The plot goes by really fast. I read this in a few hours, hungry for the next book. Soon enough, I read the synopsis for the next two books and couldn't get enough. And yes, Tithe is really that addicting. After all, who doesn't love faeries?

The way Holly Black wrote Tithe is a bit annoying, which is a slight downfall in this book. There are some parts of Tithe where it is a bit awkward, especially among characters. Then again, it might be because they are supernatural creatures, but I highly doubt that. It isn't my first time reading ugly books about the Fae. (Some are even nastier than this one; I actually consider the nasty level of Tithe to be fairly light).

Rating: Four out of Five