Tithe (A Modern Tale of Faerie)

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I also don't know what Roiben sees in Kaye. Apparently she's "Kind, lovely and terribly, terribly brave." I'm not sure about the kind part, just read over the times she lets her best friend's boyfriend feel her up (twice!), get caught, and just run away (both times!) without bothering to see if her "bff" was fine or not. [image error] Nephamael– Initially a knight of the Unseelie court, he is traded for Roiben as part of the Queen's truce. He hates his new "home" and delights in taking the throne of the Night Court for himself at the end of the novel. He is cruel, manipulating and ruthless, and takes great pleasure in toying with humans and lesser faeries, especially when he meets Corny, whom he makes his pet. He ultimately pays the price for his cruelty, slain by Corny in a fit of murderous insanity whilst under the influence of magic. If you were able to choose, would you want to be a part of the Seelie court, the Unseelie court, the solitary fey, or the human world? Why? Kaye paused and seemed to be listening intently, her upturned, kohl-rimmed eyes watching Janet as warily as a cat’s. “What should I be like?”

How does Tithe compare with other fairy tale books you've read in the past? Did you like the modern setting? Write a spell for creating a glamour, then read it aloud to the group. Describe the new look you have created. Nevertheless, he found himself no longer wanting to punish her for her faith in him. Instead, he found himself wanting to be worthy of it. He wanted to be the knight he had once been. Just for a moment." At the end of Tithe, what do you imagine happened to Roiben and Kaye? Before you read the sequel, how did you feel about the ending of Tithe? Would you have ended the book differently?The problem with this book for Gini (and I am proud of her for it) is that the girl, Kaye, who is the main character, as well as her friends, smoke, drink, sneak around, fool around, and generally make all the choices that parents hope their children will avoid. Gini loves books and movies with really strong female characters. Ultraviolet, Alias, Charmed, Dragonlance, Bones and Sarah Connor Chronicles are some of her favorites. She just really didn't like the idea that a 16 year old who was so "messed up" and misguided would be turned into a heroine of faery. She appreciates that the best heroines have flaws to overcome but this just didn't work for her. Kaye ignored her, taking the stairs two at a time in the dark. There was nothing she could say that would explain what had happened.

Kaye, though, is a really unlikable lead. I don’t mean that she’s flawed – though she is – I mean, I actively didn’t like her at all, and I love unlikable lady leads. I found that she was one of those early YA protagonists who’s written just generic enough that she’s easy to make into a self insert. Now! All that that being said, I finished the book and for an adult with the grace of age and perspective, this book is a fun, light read. This poor kid who has pretty much raised herself and her mother could very well end up the same dead-end mess that her mother has but she doesn't. She discovers something very special within herself. She ends up showing a lot of character and courage. The teens dealt with in the book are not the teens that I have guided my girls to become or to identify with but those kids are out there and they have the same potential and beauty within them. It was really cool to talk to Gini about why she didn't like this character and how the character developed without requiring her to read something she objected to and without glorifying the type of kid portrayed in the book. Corny (Cornelius Stone)– Janet's older brother. He is quite antisocial and even entertains murderous fantasies, but he ends up bonding with Kaye. Along with Roiben, he is one of the main supporting characters. He is a computer geek who loves comic books and manga - yaoi in particular. He is gay and out to his sister and family, and comes out early on to Kaye. He enthusiastically helps Kaye when she discovers her faerie nature, but he is eventually seduced, enchanted, and captured by Nephamael who makes him his lover and slave. Corny seems to have a taste for submission and a certain level of pain, but he gets more than he bargained for with Nephamael. Corny's younger sister and Kaye's best friend since elementary school. Suspects Kaye of flirting with Kenny, as Kenny is mentioned flirting with numerous girls in the novel. She is oblivious to her friend and brother's faerie dealings. Later on, her same "imaginary" friends inform her that she is actually a changeling and that she should keep her human appearance because the Unseelie Court wishes to use her as a tithe to hell. Since Kaye is not mortal, the ritual will be forfeit, and the fairies whom the Unseelie Court wants to be bound to them will go free. Kaye attempts to control her newfound abilities by enlisting the help of a Kelpie to teach her how to use magic. She is soon kidnapped by a group of fairies, as planned, and is taken to the Unseelie Court to go through the sacrificial ceremony. At the climax of the ceremony, Roiben manages to free her from her bonds before she is killed and get them both safely away from the Court. In the process, he kills the queen of the Unseelie Court and many of her guards.Her mom would constantly tell her stories about ghosts and would play games involving scavenger hunts. Many of her books revolve around fairies, and they draw inspiration from folk tales, mythology, and the art of fairies. And this is the second reason why I simply couldn't like Tithe. I just couldn't relate - or even respect - any of them. To be perfectly honest, I expected just a little better. I was really excited to read this, I mean The Folk of the Air was A MASTERPIECE!!!!! It wasn't as good as I thought it'd be, but I still enjoyed it. And I can't wait for The Stolen Heir AAAAAAAAAH!!! I need it right now!! 🤩🤩🤩🤩 This is the problem with most YAs. I just don't see how these two characters could fall for each other - especially in such short amount of time. Kaye saw Roiben once and fell instantaneously in love with his ... hair? I have no idea. By the way, she met him, bleeding in the woods and her first sentence was "You're a fairie, aren't you?" I had forgotten so much of the plot in this book, and the first thing that surprised me upon rereading it was actually how problematic some of the writing is! If you’re a newer fan of Holly’s and haven’t read her old work, here’s your warning: this book involves racist remarks, homophobic slurs, attempted sexual assault, and some potentially sleazy romance dynamics, most of this going entirely unchallenged as the story unfolds. After one character tries to assault the protagonist, there are even one or two instances in which she talks about feeling flattered by his refusal to take “no” for an answer.

The Kelpie– A murderous waterhorse and one of the Solitary Fey, who teaches Kaye magic and how to make a glamour in return for a carousel horse companion. He kills Janet later in the novel, luring her away from a party on the Pier. The romance made no sense. It was very instantaneous, like she met Roiben ONCE and Kaye called him the most "cool dangerous amazing storybook character ever" girl be for real, you've spoken to him literally once. Ironside obviously takes place in December -- what are the clues that tell you what time of year it is?Kaye and Roiben spend the day at Kaye's home, and discover that strange events are affecting the mortal world. Odd reports of mauling and kidnappings are reported on the news and Roiben makes Kaye understand that this is a result of the solitary fey being free for the next seven years. Kaye receives a call from her friend Janet, inviting her to come to a Halloween rave held at the waterfront, she tries to persuade her not to go but fails. She also discovers that Janet's openly gay brother, Corny, has followed a faerie knight he became infatuated with to the court. It was painful. It's like listening to a child with ADHD jumping from one thing to the next. Everything seemed so rushed that you don't get a single connection to the story. Spike– One of Kaye's faerie friends from childhood. Harbours strong dislike and distrust of Roiben. He is killed by Nephamael towards the end of the novel after giving him information in the hopes of gaining his favour. If you were cursed like Corny, would you immediately get to the ocean to cure yourself or would you attempt to touch someone or something? Whom or what?

Janet's older brother. He is openly gay and is strongly attracted to Nephamael. It is implied heavily that Corny is a masochist. Every day for the last three weeks he had left a little earlier for work. He would go to the convenience store and buy some food. Then he would drive around, wondering what it would be like to just get on the highway and go, go, go until the gas ran out. The characters are.....meh. They are nothing compared to the characters in The Cruel Prince. Kaye wasn't that likable, I don't know why. She just rubbed me off the wrong way. She didn't have that much personality, just kind of...bland I guess. She just smokes, goes to parties or clubs or whatever. Also, she literally let her best friend's boyfriend kiss her. TWICE. Maybe she gets better, I don't know because I don't want to read the next book. Kaye walked around the room. It was magnificent, old and decayed and fine. The slow burn of bourbon in her throat was perfect for this place, the sort of thing a man in a summer suit who always wore a hat might drink.

Other Books by Holly Black

Roiben (Rath Roiben Rye)– A noble Seelie knight traded to the Unseelie Queen before the beginning of the novel as part of a truce agreement between the courts. He is a strong fighter and feared by many. He has a strong attraction to Kaye for reasons he does not initially understand. He is one of the main supporting characters along with Corny. Inwardly hating the cruelty he is forced to perform for his new Queen, he thus harbours deep feelings of self-loathing and self-despair. Were any of the quotes at the beginning of each chapter familiar to you? Choose a few of your favorites and discuss how they relate to what happened in the story at that point. Gristle would have loved this. She had thought that many times since she had left the Shore, six years past. My imaginary friends would have loved this. She’d thought it the first time that she’d seen the city, lit up like never-ending Christmas. But they never came when she was in Philadelphia. And now she was sixteen and felt like she had no imagination left. Yeah, well, damn.” Marcus laughed. “Won’t you hold up your hair in those pigtails for a second or something? Come on.”