Product Description

"When seventeen-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-colored 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, timid and sensitive 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 dealing, Val finds herself bound into service by a troll named Ravus. He is as hideous as he is honorable. And as Val grows to know him, she finds herself torn between her affection for an honorable monster and her fear of what her new friends are becoming. Bestselling author Holly Black follows her breakout debut, Tithe, with a rich, harrowing, and compulsively readable parable of betrayal, abuse, friendship, and love. "

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4775 in eBooks
• Published on: 2006-06-19
• Released on: 2006-06-19
• Format: Kindle Book
• Number of items: 1

From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up–The author of Tithe(S & S, 2002) returns to her dark, dangerous, and amazing world of Faerie. When 17-year-old Valerie catches her boyfriend and her mother fooling around, she runs away to New York City. There she falls in with a small group of teens who live in the subway tunnels. But there is something more to their stories than that of normal street kids. When Valerie begins to notice odd things about the deliveries they make, and when she meets Ravus, a troll, she understands that there is an entire world that she has never known existed–the world of Faerie. Valerie and her friends begin to steal from Ravus's deliveries, using the Never that he provides to the faeries as a drug. But those who receive the deliveries are being found dead. Is Ravus the poisoner or could it be another of the fantastic creatures they have met? This dark fantasy includes drug use and strong language, but beneath its darkness readers find well-rendered characters, a gripping plot, and pure magic.–Tasha Saecker, Caestecker Public Library, Green Lake, WI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gr. 8-11. An exile from the Seelie court, the hunky, sensitive troll Ravus resides in a secret laboratory inside the Manhattan Bridge, ministers to other city-dwelling faeries with healing potions, and has exotic golden eyes and jutting fangs. Runaway Val meets the troll through a trio of homeless teens, runners in Ravus' potion-distribution network. They introduce Val to subway squatting, Dumpster diving, and "Never"--the drug faeries use to protect themselves from iron, but which affects humans like heroin. A twisted Agatha Christie-style plot unfolds as faery partakers of Never begin to expire, and Ravus is accused of murder; Val's feelings for the troll prompt her to clean up her act and investigate the true poisoner. As in Black's companion novel Tithe (2004), the plot matters far less than the exotic, sexy undercurrents (including a scene where Val overhears teens having sex), the deliciously overripe writing, and the intoxicating, urban-gothic setting, where "everything was strange and beautiful and swollen with possibilities." Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"Exciting."

-- Publishers Weekly

"Intoxicating."

-- Booklist

"An edgy but ultimately life-affirming read."

-- Horn Book Guide

"This is a powerful book.... I love it when a girl learns how to be Valiant."

-- Tamora Pierce, author of the Immortals and Song of the Lioness quartets

Customer Reviews

Outstanding

For a while now I'd seen Holly Black's "Modern Faerie Tale" novels in the YA section, but I passed them by, assuming they were just one in a number of "edgy" fantasy tales with goth-y or otherwise "alternative" heroes or heroines. Don't get me wrong, I love edgy and have nothing but love for a good outcast type character and characters with piercings and green hair. But, I'd been disappointed in so many books (especially YA books) that believe that dressing their character in a Hot Topic wardrobe and putting a slight, dark twist on an average fantasy plot makes their book innovative and more appealing to a certain demographic. The result is often a predictable plot and boring characters.

I thank my friend's excellent taste for opening my eyes to Valiant, which is everything those lame wannabe books wish they were.

Valiant is the second book in Holly Black's Modern Faerie Tale trilogy. However, it takes a detour from the plot and characters of the first book in the series, making it an ok beginning if you, like me, couldn't find Tithe in your local bookstore.

For an extremely brief summary, the story is about a teenage girl named Valerie who, due to a nasty shocker in her home life, runs away to New York City. She ends up hanging with a group of fellow teenage drifters who live in the subway tunnels. Valerie finds that her newfound friends are involved with the secret faerie world that exists in and around the city. A murder mystery, an otherworldly drug addiction, and an unconventional romance ensue. Near the end, a small but important cameo by the main characters of the first book (Kaye and Roiben) ties Valiant to its predecessor.

The setting, characters, and plot are all incredibly engaging and realistic in the right places. It's a great read for fans of magical realism and dark fantasy. I couldn't put it down. Highly recommended.

Improves With Age
Like a fine wine. Sort of.

The first time I read Valiant, I liked it but didn't love it, but this is because I loved Tithe so much, Valiant had a lot to live up to. I couldn't stand Lolli or Dave and was luke-warm about Val. I did like the progression of the book, however, and the twists and turns it took. Black's faerie characters are infinitely interesting, and there is never room to get bored with them.

Anyway. I read the book again recently and liked it even better the second time. I was less emotionally attached to her Tithe characters and could fully devote myself to Valiant. I found I liked Val better and especially loved Ravus. I love that the "ugliest" character in the book turns out to be the most beautiful, and not because he transforms into a pretty little prince. I still can't stand Dave, but love the way his brother feels eternally responsible for him, no matter how terrible Dave acts.

One the the fabulous things about Black is that she writes a book that appears to be fantasy, yet its human elements are more realistic than any non-fantasy fiction I've read. Some people were appalled at Val's life on the streets, and disliked the book because of it. I think they reacted to the book that strongly because life on the street was written so realistically, unforgivingly. Black makes no apologies for her flawed characters and she shouldn't - to do so would take away that which makes them so human.

Don't Bother!!
I bought this book and the two others in the series because it was in the Young Adult section and usually that means that the books are good and mostly clean (no overt sex or foul language). These books are YUCKY!!!!! I could not read them! The "F" word was used constantly. The mother had sex with her teen daughter's boyfriend. It went on and on! What good is a faery-tale if you can't get past the filth?! Don't waste money on these books. I wouldn't read them if they were free.