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| ★★✰✰✰ |
Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Amid an industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms -- a struggle that could very well mean her death.
***
Review: Tithe is a implicitly macabre, but explicitly teen-orientated novel, which confuses me immensely. My first impression upon finishing was – had this book been written for adults and all the connotations explicitly built upon, it would have made for the darkest, most horrifyingly enthralling fairytale I’ve read in quite a while. No, make that *ever*. Dark fairytales are far and few between, those which involve genuinely dark folklore drawing upon that spiteful nature one associates with, particularly, Celtic fairy-folk.
As it is, the book is directed quite clearly at a younger audience, so it eases off the macbre and sexual aspects, but the hints are still so clear that I can’t help but wonder whether I’d approve of young teenagers reading it. Maybe I’m being too protective of them, but notably the most unexpected element in the book was that of Corny, a homosexual teen, who engages in indirectly referenced sexual acts with a somewhat sadistic evil fairy man. It was the enjoyment Corny seemed to derive later from the cuts on his body that I found slightly disturbing for a book aimed at young people. Maybe for 16/17+ its not too bad, but Young Adults range from 13-17. I just think that the content is a little heavy for the writing style its portrayed with. In vague relation, at one point we see an enchanted young boy running around a field in a blue dress. What? As a result, I can’t help but wonder if the author was going for the shock factor to make her story seem darker.
Black is not incapable of writing well, the setting descriptions in particular were very good, which is why I certainly think she has more raw talent than that of some authors I’ve come across. Her character descriptions weren’t as good – her basic ideas are quite interesting but they needed more development. The one resounding criticism I’ve found even from fans of this series is that character development is lacking to a point where, when, people start dying you just don’t really care. In addition, there is very little believeable in terms of relations between characters, nobody really cares that the two Fey die, and its hard to believe Kaye can return to her hometown and suddenly become the closest of friends with a guy she hardly knew before. The whole book reads like an in-depth summary with the dialogue added – with work it could be transformed into an unrecognizable epic novel.
I found the ending to be a rapid amalgamation of events explaining what had actually happened, who the good and bad guys were and so forth, but with the amount of swapping knights and the Solitary Fey seeming good then bad then good then indifferent, by the end you’re not sure who was supposed to be on which side ANYWAY. I think the problem here was that Black tried to introduce a gray area between good and evil, and failed, making everyone look at best confused about their own intentions and at worst indifferent.
Read it if you have an evening to spare – its easy to get through, and if you’re adventurous with reading its interesting, but not really worth making time for.
Rating: 2/5
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