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Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale | 
 enlarge | Author: Holly Black
Publisher: Thorndike Press
Category: Book
Buy New: $22.95
New (3) Used (7) from $14.77
Avg. Customer Rating:  203 reviews
Sales Rank: 2721334
Format: Large Print
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.5 x 1.2
ISBN: 0786256494
EAN: 9780786256495
ASIN: 0786256494
Publication Date: August 2, 2003
Availability: In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
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Amazon.com Review
Sixteen-year-old Kaye Fierch is not human, but she doesn't know it. Sure, she knows she's interacted with faeries since she was little--but she never imagined she was one of them, her blond Asian human appearance only a magically crafted cover-up for her true, green-skinned pixie self. First-time author Holly Black explores Kaye's self-discovery and dual worlds in her riveting, suspenseful novel Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale. The book has its faults: it slips into shock-value mode; the descriptions are often overwritten (sunset on the water looks like the sun slit his wrists in a bathtub); the language is overly, unnecessarily explicit; and the writing often unpolished. Still, the story's pull is undeniable, and readers under its spell will be hard-pressed to put the book down. The novel begins in a bar in Philly, where Kaye's alcoholic rock-singer mother's boyfriend tries to kill her. For their own safety, mother and daughter quickly move back to grandma's on the New Jersey shore where Kaye grew up. This ugly turn of events was all rigged by the Faerie world, as it turns out, a world Black describes in deliciously vivid, if rather overblown, detail. Kaye, a drinking, smoking, foul-mouthed high school dropout in the land of mortals, soon finds herself embroiled--as a human sacrifice, no less--in a battle between Faerieland's Seelie and more malevolent Unseelie courts. The beautiful, mysterious knight Roiben, torn between worlds himself, falls in love with Kaye--the brave, clever changeling--against his better judgment. Throughout the electrifying journey to the horrific underworld of this modern faerie fantasy, teen readers will relate to a hard-luck tough girl who feels alienated, discovers her best qualities in the worst of circumstances, and finally finds a place between worlds where she can feel at home. (Ages 13 and older) --Karin Snelson
Product Description
A New York Times Bestselling Author
A YALSA Best Book of 2003 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 her back to her childhood home. There, against the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms. NOL
An Accelerated Reader title for ages 12 and up Available only in Young Adult 3 Series.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 198 more reviews...
 One of My ALL TIME Favorites September 29, 2008
I received Tithe as a gift soon after its publication and was immediately sucked in. Many books are hard to get into, with a lot of back story clumped at the beginning - Tithe is not one of them. There is plenty of action, emotion, danger and intrigue to keep you reading and guessing. The humans are real, the faeries are fantastic, and Black refuses to paint an unrealistic picture of either the human or faerie realms for the sake of keeping her YA literature innocent and candy coated. This is YA literature that respects its readers' intelligence, and we need more of it.
I love the way Black blends natural teenage emotion (feeling alienated, longing for the attention of the cool guy, struggling to keep your identity while fitting in SOMEWHERE) with grander, more pressing issues (love and hate, good and evil, war and resolution).
Tithe is urban fantasy at its best: enough of the real world to believe it, enough of the Faerie world to make you sad to leave it.
Black's writing makes me feel torn between harboring the book like a sacred secret, and shouting of its grandiosity to everyone I meet. Inevitably I settle for something in between, tolling its virtues to those who are worthy of receiving it.
 Torn September 25, 2008
I find it rather hard to choose what type of review I would like to write. Positive or negative. I suppose mine will be a bit of both.
On the one hand, I enjoyed the plot of this story and felt that is was original. The main character and narrator is certainly not like myself or any other heroine I have read about. She is strong and cunning, for that I am greatful. On the other hand, I could not identify with her in any real way. She was kind of trashy. Certainly not anyone I would look up to or befriend. Also, I found the writing style hard to enjoy. Lastly, I found the supposed love story with Roibin hard to swallow. It wasn't very believable and I felt that he was more in love with the Seelie Queen.
All in all, I did enjoy the story, but it certainly did not live up to the hype.
Amazing book, one of my favorites! September 19, 2008
I absolutely love this book. I've read it about 4398403 bajillion times. I think that it is very well written, Holly Black is so creative. I have to admit that I fell in love with Roiben. I strongly recommend reading this book!
The good, the bad and the ugly September 14, 2008
I'm going to start with the positives. First, the book has an interesting premise. It also has diverse characters, including a homosexual. I don't find the presence of homosexual characters inappropriate in young adult fiction because some young adults are gay and as entitled to representation in teen fiction. And finally, the book will draw you in if you can get past some of the more unexpected and oft-putting elements.
Now for the bad: Black tries way too hard to make her story hip and relevant, and in doing so, insults the intelligence of young readers. Before I said that a strength of the book was the diversity of the characters. Sadly, that ends once they open their mouths. Not all teenagers are foul-mouthed, sex-crazed brats contrary to what some earlier reviews might suggest.
The consistently irresponsible behavior of the characters also undermines the author's attempts of horror. Under normal circumstances the faeries might be terrifying but the human characters are so self-destructive, it almost doesn't matter whether they meet their death at the hands of a faerie or via STD or drug overdose.
Why should I be any more scared for characters after finding out faeries might hurt them when they are already doing so much to hurt themselves?
The book might have worked better had Black more effectively used the faerie world as a parable for real world concerns a la Christopher Pike or more recently Joss Wheden. Instead she simply throws in as much adult content as she can in an effort to woe immature, misguided readers whether it furthers the plot, or not.
That said, there really is a decent story in there somewhere once Black gets past the trappings of trying too hard to reach her audience. I just wonder how many readers she lost in the meantime.
Me, I'm giving her another chance. Hopefully Ironside will have a little more depth.
 Trash September 13, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is total trash. Warning! It does not belong in your childs hands. I could not finish reading it, because it was totally not what I would want my students in high school to read. Lots of bad language. Even the name of the band that the main character's mother was in was filth. Of course I know this will excite some people. A total waist of money. This book doesn't even warrant the star I had to give it.
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