Book Log 23/2010 - Holly Black: Ironside

Holly Black: Ironside

This is the sequel to Holly Black's impressive YA debut novel, Tithe, which chronicles Kaye's realisation that she is not, in fact, human as she had always thought, but a faery change-child, a green-skinned pixie who looks human only because of a faery glamour. In Tithe Kaye falls in love with Roiben and is instrumental in him winning the crown of the Unseelie (dark) Court, a grotesque and dangerous place, but perhaps no more so than the rival Seelie (light) Court which is ruled over by Roiben's cruel ex-lover (and queen) Silarial.

Ironside picks up the story from Roiben's coronation and continues with Kaye coming to terms with her non-human heritage. Against Roiben's wishes Kaye declares her love for him in front of his court and according to the rules he sets her a task to prove her love. In this case it's an impossible one, which means – effectively – he is driving her away from the Unseelie Court, but that doesn't keep her out of trouble. As she says: does being under the protection of the Unseelie Court mean she no longer need protecting from it? As the truce ends and the rivalry between the Unseelie and the Seelie Courts breaks out into war, Kaye is determined to win her lover and retrieve the human change-child, her feckless mother's real daughter, from the Seelie Court. Cruelties abound, the court of light being no less cruel than the court of dark, though maybe more subtle. Faeries cannot lie, but they can and do mislead.

Kaye's friend Corny is her companion, though he's sometimes more of a liability than an aid as his experiences of the faery world (the faeries killed his sister in the last book) have unbalanced him to the extent that in seeking to protect himself it almost seems as though he's grown reckless enough to have a deathwish. It's only meeting the human Luis, that begins to settle him down. Luis is a 'true-sighted' character from Black's second book, Valiant, which I haven't read, driven by a need to protect his faery-drug-addicted brother and then – when he fails to do so – to avenge him.

As Roiben is drawn inexorably towards a confrontation with Silarial and the seemingly deadly trap she has set for him (kill his sister or be killed) Kaye's solution to the impossible task and her warning save the day.

This is a dark and bloody book full of casual and calculated cruelty: there are few easy answers; wishes are turned on their heads and people die, but it is beautifully written. The language is poetic, though never flowery, and the imagery is apposite and vivid with the world of faery a million miles away from Disney and Tinkerbell. Highly recommended.

Book Log 23/2010 - Holly Black: Ironside

Holly Black: Ironside

This is the sequel to Holly Black's impressive YA debut novel, Tithe, which chronicles Kaye's realisation that she is not, in fact, human as she had always thought, but a faery change-child, a green-skinned pixie who looks human only because of a faery glamour. In Tithe Kaye falls in love with Roiben and is instrumental in him winning the crown of the Unseelie (dark) Court, a grotesque and dangerous place, but perhaps no more so than the rival Seelie (light) Court which is ruled over by Roiben's cruel ex-lover (and queen) Silarial.

Ironside picks up the story from Roiben's coronation and continues with Kaye coming to terms with her non-human heritage. Against Roiben's wishes Kaye declares her love for him in front of his court and according to the rules he sets her a task to prove her love. In this case it's an impossible one, which means – effectively – he is driving her away from the Unseelie Court, but that doesn't keep her out of trouble. As she says: does being under the protection of the Unseelie Court mean she no longer need protecting from it? As the truce ends and the rivalry between the Unseelie and the Seelie Courts breaks out into war, Kaye is determined to win her lover and retrieve the human change-child, her feckless mother's real daughter, from the Seelie Court. Cruelties abound, the court of light being no less cruel than the court of dark, though maybe more subtle. Faeries cannot lie, but they can and do mislead.

Kaye's friend Corny is her companion, though he's sometimes more of a liability than an aid as his experiences of the faery world (the faeries killed his sister in the last book) have unbalanced him to the extent that in seeking to protect himself it almost seems as though he's grown reckless enough to have a deathwish. It's only meeting the human Luis, that begins to settle him down. Luis is a 'true-sighted' character from Black's second book, Valiant, which I haven't read, driven by a need to protect his faery-drug-addicted brother and then – when he fails to do so – to avenge him.

As Roiben is drawn inexorably towards a confrontation with Silarial and the seemingly deadly trap she has set for him (kill his sister or be killed) Kaye's solution to the impossible task and her warning save the day.

This is a dark and bloody book full of casual and calculated cruelty: there are few easy answers; wishes are turned on their heads and people die, but it is beautifully written. The language is poetic, though never flowery, and the imagery is apposite and vivid with the world of faery a million miles away from Disney and Tinkerbell. Highly recommended.