TITHE: A Modern Faerie Tale
Holly Black
Simon Pulse
Fantasy
ISBN: 0689867042
336 pages

• Read an Excerpt
• Author Interview

Faeries, lest anyone be confused, are more than just tiny, sparkly creatures that live in meadows halfway around the world. They come in all shapes, sizes and colors, and are found amid railroad tracks and gravestones in New Jersey --- the land of French fries with gravy, abandoned boardwalks and petrochemical refineries. Here, they plan the Tithe, the sacrifice of a "beautiful, talented mortal" they must make once every seven years in order to keep the world more or less in order.

Kaye Fierch has come back to her home in New Jersey after years of traveling around the country with her rock musician mother. For years she has known that faeries, like her childhood friends Spike and Lutie, are real, though no one else believes her. When Kaye learns that there's a little more to her relations with faeries than just a willingness to believe, she finds herself at the center of a faerie power struggle. All the elements of a proper faerie tale are here, from the battle between good and evil to the knight in shining trench coat. Blended with an urban setting the reader can smell, hear and taste, they form a sexy, scary story.

This is fantasy for readers who hate the fantasy worlds of wizards and dragons, and romance for those who don't want their romance sappy and covered in flowers and chocolate. Though some of the descriptions are overwrought, TITHE is still a captivating, fast-paced tale of self-discovery with as much charm as the faeries themselves.

   --- Reviewed by Carlie Webber

• Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.