Helpful Score: 1
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]
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]
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