Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black

Let me begin by saying Tithe has some really strong points as well as some really low points. This is perhaps why I am having difficulty writing a review.

A part of me enjoyed the story. Kaye, a sixteen-year-old girl, finds out she is really a changeling – a pixie that looks human – and is thrown into the middle of a courtly feud in this new world. But I wasn’t really interested in Kaye or most of the characters. The human characters smoke, drink, swear, shoplift and ditch school a little more than most normal kids. It was pretty impossible for me to identify with them. I felt sorry for Kaye (her mom is a transient rock star wannabe who has no interest in parenting) but by the tone of the text the reader isn’t meant to feel pity for her. Kaye’s best friend is very childish and jealous. The boys are very touchy feely with the girls. The only reason I did not dislike Kaye is because of the lack of guidance she has and the fact that she is young and trying to figure herself out. In stark contrast to the humans, Roiben, the “dark knight” faerie, is a complex character offering mystery and a better romantic figure. I liked Roiben and he was probably the only reason I kept reading.

It took about a hundred pages before I became interested in the story. I felt the text lingered too long on Kaye’s crappy human life and I was antsy to get to the faerie tale part which was good. Black doled out just enough of the good stuff to keep me reading. The text is a fast read. I would have quit otherwise. Some of the sentences just didn’t make sense. I was re-reading many, trying to get the meaning out of them without success. The “f” word set in right away but tapered off to my relief because the dialogue was just too high school for me, if that makes sense. As the story focused more on the faerie tale part, my reading experience improved. I feel Black’s writing style in Tithe is very conflicted. It seemed as though she wanted to write as Kaye in first person. I think that would have worked so much better. The third person POV was cramping Black’s style.

If you like faeires, kelpies, and pixies crossing from weird other worlds to ours, you may enjoy Tithe. If you like urban-fantasy, I suspect this text is for you. Although marked as YA, parents should be aware of the issues, most of which I mentioned earlier. Without parental guidance, I do not recommend letting very young teens read this. Like I said, I did like the story. I’ll be reading Ironside in the future with hopes that Black will have worked out the kinks.
Publisher: Simon Pulse, 2004 (originally published 2002)     Pages: 331
Rating: 2.5 Stars     Recommended Age: 16 and up                   Source: IC Public Library

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Unlike most fairy tales, Alice in Wonderland isn’t very dark. Sure, there’s the off-with-their-heads! Queen of Hearts but she wasn’t really that scary and no one was actually beheaded. The King wasn’t quite the push over as I remember him being in the cartoon movie. He was just ditzy like most of the characters and offered pardon to all whose heads the Queen demanded. I never felt anxious for Alice, like she was in real danger, because she wasn’t. She manages to bully her way out of most situations by eating mushrooms and becoming too large for people to trifle with. This is definitely an ok story for little ones but they will likely find the original hard to read and many of the puns may be lost on them. The Mock Turtle episode was boring, his story lasting way too long for me. The caterpillar and Mad Hatter scenes were a lot of fun with their riddles. Alice was a silly little girl, rather ditzy and not very clever except for the fact that she has a fantastic dream. I enjoyed the poems at the beginning. They were my favorite part of the story. It seems that many of the characters are stand ins for people Carroll knew and so many inside jokes are not readily evident (nor do they need to be to enjoy the story). I read the story from The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll: A Wonderland of Stories, Nonsense and Wit.
Publisher: Penguin Books, 1988     Source: IC Public Library
Rating: 2.5 Stars                             Pages: 106 (p. 15-120 in this edition)