Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception (Books of Faerie #1)
by Maggie Stiefvater
What is it about:
Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but prodigiously gifted musician. She's about to find out she's also a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy who enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of thin air. Trouble is, the enigmatic and gorgeous Luke turns out to be a gallowglass—a soulless faerie assassin. An equally hunky—and equally dangerous—dark faerie soldier named Aodhan is also stalking Deirdre. Sworn enemies, Luke and Aodhan each have a deadly assignment from the Faerie Queen. Namely, kill Deirdre before her music captures the attention of the Fae and threatens the Queen's sovereignty. Caught in the crossfire with Deirdre is James, her wisecracking but loyal best friend. Deirdre had been wishing her life weren't so dull, but getting trapped in the middle of a centuries-old faerie war isn't exactly what she had in mind . . .
What did I think of it:
This was a very nice read.
I love Stiefvater's writing and this book is worth reading just for the writing alone. It's beautiful and poetic and sets the mood for the story perfectly.
I liked Deirdre, she was a no nonsense teen, who doesn't start angsting over nothing. I also really liked Luke, who's mysterious, just the right amount of angsty and apart from the fact he kept calling Deirdre 'pretty girl', a great love interest for Deirdre. (Really: I wanted to punch him every time he called Deirdre 'pretty girl' instead of just calling her by her name.)
The story was suspenseful, intriguing and kept me engrossed from start to finish. There were some obvious plot twists, but not annoyingly so. The only thing that bugged me was that there was some unnecessary slut shaming and an unnecessary verbal cat fight. Apart from that it was a very enjoyable read.
The ending leaves room for the sequel, but if this book was a standalone I'd be happy with how things end as well. But as there is a sequel you can be sure I'll get hold of it soon.
Why should you read it:
It's a beautifully written YA fairy tale.
3 comments:
I do like the fairy tale setting idea here. I've not read them, but do hope to one day. :) Thank you.
+JMJ+
There are times when a guy always uses a special nickname for a girl and never her own name that make me wonder whether he does that so he doesn't call her by another name by mistake! ;-) But I'm really not that cynical and sometimes make up special nicknames for people I feel affection for, so I don't mind it too much!
@Enbrethiliel: it's not so much that he gave her a nickname, but the sort of nickname he gave her. Pretty girl is rather demeaning in my opinion. I'd use it for a parrot at most myself.
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