Meh. Maybe I've read too many "fairy tales" in a string and need to explore some new territory. Because I have to say, Ironside -- the third book in Holly Black's Modern Faery trilogy -- left me cold. I had enjoyed the first installment, Tithe, and struggled through the second (Valiant) only because I knew the resolution to the first novel was promised in Ironside. Unfortunately, Black actually uses this final volume to tie together the loose ends of both stories. There is just as much action from the loathsome characters of Valiant as there is from Kaye, Roiben and the other Tithe players that actually interested me.

To sum it up, Ironside follows pixie Kaye as she tries to find the changeling human child she was switched with at birth to return to her mother. While she's at it, she also enlists the help of Luis and the Valiant cast in helping her complete her quest to prove her love to Roiben, now the reluctant king of the Unseelie Court. To be his consort, he's charged her with an impossible task: to find a faerie that can lie. Good think pixies are notoriously clever...

I think that this trilogy is marketed as young adult fiction -- but I'd be very hesitant to recommend it for readers younger than 15. It's pretty raw. Black writes "ugly" very well, especially when delving into the darker corners of human nature. The horrors of the Unseelie Court are graphic and lewd, and actually made me uncomfortable as a reader at times. Worst of all is the character Corny -- the awkward, misfit human friend of Kaye -- who represents the worst parts of books one and three. He's absolutely loathsome. To make matters worse, Black gives him a limping gay romance in this book that, rather than making the novel more inclusive and modern, just made my skin crawl. Yuck.

Despite the popular genre and my general appreciation for Holly Black and her imaginings, this is not a series I would recommend or read again. Even true die-hard "fairy tale" fans will find it off-putting. In the end, the story is good, but the characters aren't likeable enough to sustain interest or to make readers care about what happens to them. It was actually a relief to close the back cover and have the chance to move on to something else. [close]

Share/Like this Review?

Are reunited with characters from previous books. Enjoyed it very much

Share/Like this Review?

I liked this book and it does tie up the story very nicely, though I think I preferred the first two books over this one. The beginning dragged a little for me, but I was really into the story in the second half of the book - I wasn't sure how it was going to end and I liked that. A couple of minor things I guessed, but for the most part I was an on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen to everyone. There was also a couple of cameos from characters in Valiant here too (brief appearances from them with the exception of Luis, who plays a bigger part in Ironside). As usual I really liked the descriptions of the faerie world and how they continue to secretly survive amongst humans (who can't see them as they really are).

There are some minor moments of disbelief - like I have a problem with Faye being a blond asian, but this wasn't brought up much in Ironside as much as it was in Tithe.

This book also shifted focus a bit more onto other characters besides the main one (Faye). We see some of the thoughts of Roiben, who is usually distant and hard to understand from Faye's point of view, and we also see what's going on in Corny's head. Corny is an interesting character because he's become fragile and fearful after his experiences in Tithe. In Ironside, Corny goes very far to try to protect himself. Actually the theme of doing something that's not quite right because you want to protect something else is a reoccurring one in this book. Right and wrong gets murky, like life, and this is especially true in Roiben's case, who is responsible for his people and wants to protect those he loves, even when they think he doesn't care about them.

Share/Like this Review?