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Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale
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Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale
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Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale
Audiobook7 hours

Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale

Written by Holly Black

Narrated by Kate Rudd

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she drifts from place to place with her mother's rock band until an ominous attack forces Kaye back to her childhood home. There, amid the blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient and violent power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms - a struggle that could very well mean her death.


"Debauchery, despair, deceit, and grisly death-what more could you ask for from a fairy tale? . . . A luscious treat for fans of urban fantasy and romantic horror." -Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"The exquisite faeries haunt as well as charm. . . . A gripping read." -Publishers Weekly, starred review
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJul 20, 2011
ISBN9781455813278
Author

Holly Black

Holly Black is the #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of speculative and fantasy novels, short stories, and comics. She has been a finalist for an Eisner and a Lodestar Award, and the recipient of the Mythopoeic and Nebula Awards and a Newbery Honor. She has sold over twenty-six million books worldwide, and her work has been translated into over thirty languages and adapted for film. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret library. Visit her at BlackHolly.com.

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Reviews for Tithe

Rating: 3.762450945775042 out of 5 stars
4/5

1,787 ratings114 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    If you're a fan of faeries, you should check this out. I'm NOT a fan of faeries, and read this solely because I was interested in Black's work. And having already read Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely and Elizabeth Bear's Blood and Iron, a lot of this book felt very, very familiar to me, even though this book was published first.Still, I enjoyed it, but mostly for the romantic elements than anything else, though Black does have some lovely bits of prose in her pages.The premise: Kaye's always seen faeries. Hell, they were her "imaginary" friends when she was a kid. But since then, she's traveled the country with her rock-star mom, and has since grown out of touch with her faerie friends. But when an incident forces her back home to Jersey, she soon learns her friends weren't imaginary at all, and what's more, they need her help. Unfortunately, her help could mean her death.The full review, with spoilers, is in my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome.REVIEW: Holly Black's TITHEHappy Reading! :)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Tithe was certainly not your typical sweet YA. It was more realistic with an edgier and darker tone. I really liked that, it was certainly a refreshing read. These teens were foul mouthed, chain smokers, with real life problems who just happen to be living in the midst of a world with dangerous Faeries.

    I've always like the undisneyfied lore of faeries, these tricksters aren't going to help you make a dress unless it's your sacrificial gown. Really appreciated how the author went for it with how not right the Fae can be.

    Strong heroine who seems unfocused at first but as the story unravels you start to see the reasons for Kaye's actions and behaviors in a different light; or maybe they have more to do with Kaye's mother's laid-back parenting style.

    Add some very flawed characters, intense adventures and just creepy faeries and you get an incredible story. I really liked this one and it will be among my favorite faerie story to recommend to others.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I kept mentally editing this one, trying to make the plot more intricate. Predictable, but I enjoyed the prose style anyway.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really wanted to enjoy Tithe, I did. In the end, it the scales have tipped to "enjoyed, but..." I cannot deny Holly Black's creativity or ability to build a fantastic faerie world. The vivid worlds of the Unseelie and Seelie faerie courts are as real as anything, with great attention being paid to even the smallest of details that lets you know that these are faeries of the most vicious order. Kaye, a teenager with more than enough problems already discovers that she isn't even human and is a faerie with an instrumental role in a pivotal ceremony.I couldn't quite put my finger on it while reading it, but something was nagging at me the entire time I read the book. There was something just preventing me from really loving the book and I couldn't figure out what it was until I slept on it. And it was this: Holly Black built worlds for both characters where she had to stress that they were not obeying the expected rules - the faeries were warring, strong and as likely to kill you as to look at you. Kaye was more adult than her mother, able to do as she pleased and already out of school because she needed to be the "responsible one" in the family. Holly Black set these scenes.And then she immediately put in rather artificial rules that the characters had to follow no matter what.Roiben, our faerie knight is bound by his name and his vow to the Unseelie Kingdom even though, if one thinks about it, this method would clearly break down all of Faerie society in about 10 minutes. Think about it - if everyone was bound by their full name, you'd have this constant battle of name gathering. And yet, the only character you hear it used on in the entire book is Roiben. He's bound to the Unseelie Kingdom, supposedly against his will, and yet we discover that others are able to break similar vows. Kaye is taking care of her mother who basically follows a rock and roll fantasy. Kaye's dropped out of school, drinks and smokes and works at a Chinese takeout in order to help make ends meet. This is all okay by Kaye's mother because Kaye apparently reads things like Dante's Inferno on the side (we never really see this, it's just mentioned briefly). When Kaye and her mother move in with her Grandmother, we find out that Grandmother is basically a walking guilt-bomb. Nothing says "family" or even "people I'd like to share airspace with" about either of these women. And yet, it's important for Kaye to continue returning to this "home" time and time again. And then there's the overall Tithe - the sacrifice that must take place in order for there to be some order between the regular world and the Faerie kingdom. We're supposed to believe that there are really pieces of magic that are preventing these creatures from breaking free of their desire to create wanton mischief throughout the world - or at least in New Jersey - since so many other rules appear to be bendable.These things nag. As does my question about New Jersey v. the rest of the world. Is this faerie kingdom based in New Jersey or does this take place all over the world in hundreds of faerie kingdoms? Again, I do like the world, I'm just having a difficult time loving it. And it is a shame, because everything on the surface about the writing is so very good. The kids are rough around the edges, the faeries are not gentile and everything is draped in this dark and cracked world of things that were once rather fantastic. I felt like I was set a perfect table and then served sub-par food that I expected so much more of...
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Holly Black manages to take a story of a teenager girl and turns it into a fantastical scene of faery land, almost seamlessly. This tale is very believable.This "YA" novel is fit for anyone above 16 in my opinion, i'm 24:)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    LOVED it. Gina & Rose both wrote excellent reviews, so check out theirs!
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I don't really have much to say about this one as I can barely recall what happened. It bored me right from the start and I really only finished it because I've given up on too many books this year and didn't want to add to that list. I did not find one thing about the story compelling, I couldn't bring myself to like any of the characters. It was just incredibly dull and I'm baffled at all the good reviews. Usually when I dislike a book I can still understand the appeal but not with this one.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    first line: "Kaye spun down the worn, gray planks of the boardwalk."Tithe has some beautiful passages, engaging scenes, and grittily real characters. Its darkness and sappiness are well-balanced, such that it is neither depressing nor saccharine. I thought it could have been a little bit longer, though; a couple times Black jumps to a new scene when the current one doesn't feel quite finished.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I started to read this book on recommendation, but never got into it. I know "you can't judge a book by it's cover" but I did. I couldn't get into the writing style and it seemed like she was just trying to make everything too cool. Trying too hard.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Kaye, the child of a punk-rock chick that had to grow up too fast, finds herself back in her childhood hometown and discovers that the "imaginary" faery friends of her youth are very much real. Kaye is suddenly thrown into a struggle between two faery factions and is inexplicably drawn to the dangerous faery knight Roiben. While "Tithe" is interesting and gritty, I had to force myself to keep reading it as the beginning was heavy with obscure faery lore that was never really explained well. By the end of the book, I'd caught on enough to understand what was going on, but it still left me feeling vaguely unsatisfied. Even the love connection between Kaye and Roiben felt off, somehow. I'm not sure if I'll be continuing the series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Definitely somewhere between odd and interesting. It's definitely the harsher side of the world and fairy tales. I did find myself attached to all three of the mains character, but I felt like the plotline was a little more simplistic (as compared to like Mortal Instruments or Ice & Fire, which were read so recently). I very much did like the ending though and I will read her next one in this series as well.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Though it started out a little bit gritty, I really enjoyed this book! If felt very similar to "Wicked Lovely" by Melissa Marr in the way that it pulls you into the fantasy world. I can't wait to read the sequels.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Kaye Fierch isn't your average 16-year-old girl. She hasn't been to school since she was 14. She got a job to help her Mom pay the bills. To be honest, she was more of an adult than her Mom, who spent all her nights in bars singing in a band. Besides, Kaye was always considered a little weird. As a child, she spoke to Faeries, though everyone thought it was all in her imagination.When an attack on her mom left the two without a place to stay, they were forced to go back to New Jersey to stay with Kaye's grandmother. As Kaye got a chance to look up old friends, she meets a Faerie Knight that is wounded. This starts off a chain of events that leads her right in the middle of a war between the two Faerie Courts, the Seelie and the Unseelie. The bright and the dark. The tradition of the Tithe is being brought back. It is the sacrifice of a mortal. And it will require that all the solitary fae, those that aren't a part of either court, be bound for seven years in servitude to the Unseelie court.Just when Kaye starts to understand that she herself is set up to be the mortal sacrifice, she is blindsided with more news. For the last 16 years, Kaye has been living a life that wasn't hers to live. She is not a mortal at all, but part of the Fae world herself. Now with her mortal friend, Corney, and the Dark Knight, Roiben, she has to figure out who to believe. Things are not always as they seem.I really enjoyed reading this book, although it is exceedingly darker than I originally expected. Holly Black has created a strange and dark world in which faeries aren't exactly the nicest creatures around. In fact, they are down-right frightening!! Kaye is a great character in that she has feet in both worlds. She is faerie by birth, but having lived in the mortal world for 16 years, she is starting to understand the delicate balance of power between the two worlds. And the need to keep each world in it's place.My only major complaint at all is that this book IS marketed to the young adult set. As a 16-year-old girl, Kaye spends more time in bars with her mother than anywhere else. She drinks and smokes and is a high school dropout. There is also a lot of sexual innuendo that is just way too much for those under the age of 16. It's not a book that I would go right out and buy for my son, who reads at this age level now, at age 11.But for older kids and adults, I think it's a unique story about new worlds. And I'm looking forward to reading Ironside, the follow-up to this book. 4/5
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A young New Jersey woman gets caught up in Faerie politics.I'd heard lots of good things about Holly Black's books, and I wasn't disappointed. This was a very enjoyable story that, at times, reminded me of Francesca Lia Block's work in its blend of the modern world and the otherworldly. Unfortunately, Black's writing never achieves that frantic, lyrical quality that Block's possesses, but it's still readable and evocative. The characterizations are good, there are some nicely developed conflicts and the romantic subplot was satisfying. I was particularly impressed with the way Black handled the darker side of Faerie. I found it easy to sink into the story. I was always eager to see what would happen next.There were a few things that I thought could have been fleshed out a bit more, and the subplot with Corny didn't really fly for me. Overall, though, this was really good. I'm looking forward to reading more from Holly Black.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I cannot even tell you how many time Holly Black was recommended to me... And in my typical procrastinatory way, I kept putting it off!What was I thinking???I instantly loved Kaye. From the FIRST page when she stuck her cigarette into her mother's beer bottle! (what? So I'm a tad on the spiteful side...) The characters in this book are hard to rival, Roiben... well I was instantly taken with him (even though he can be quite tough to handle). Kaye's childhood faerie friends: Spike, Gristle and Lutie-Loo (Um Lutie-Loo? WIN!) actually I can't go into them much, because I'll give away too much of the story... But I loved their names!The entire faerie world that Black created is crazy amazing and magical! I could picture each and every detail of the pixies, dwarfs (dwarves?) and fae. Every place, battle and situation was so beautifully descriptive that I was enthralled (enthralled I tell you!) from beginning to end!I read this in the span of a few hours, I stayed up until like 2 am because I could NOT tear myself away from this book!
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Quite possibly the worst book I've ever read. There was only I enjoyed which was '"I am your servant," the King of the Unseelie Court said'. Otherwise, throughout the entire book, I was frankly disgusted. Kaye's behavior was too crass and annoying to read. Robien was a bit interesting, but not particularly compelling either.I was also annoyed at the "culture flashes" that Holly Black tried to put into Tithe, with Kaye being half-Japanese (this being introduced right before she decides to 'play around', what is that supposed to be saying?), delivering Chinese food for a place called "Chow Fat" (what the hell kind of name is that?) and "Corny" reading yaoi manga (in which it sounded like Black mashed together rape, shoujo manga, fantasy, had two guys having sex, and called it yaoi). All of these were just so poorly executed I was actually offended, because it just seemed like she wanted to add something culturally different and basically did no research whatsoever. There was nothing to really attract me. I only finished it because I was already halfway through, hoping it might pick up, and it only got progressively more exasperating. I pretty much hated Kaye's character and everyone was basically on sexual overdrive. Tithe was poorly written and the story was not attractive at all. Needless to say, I'm never going to end up picking up the other two.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Kaye thought she was a normal teen, though she did live a unusual life traveling around with her rock star mother. When she finds out that she is not as human as she thought she was and that she must now become involved in a war between the Unseelie and Seelie courts, she now not only has to deal with teenage issues, but live and death fairy issues as well.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Everyone who is into faerie lore knows that it is the Seelie court you have to look out for. The world building in this book was very implausible, Kaye not knowing who she is makes perfect sense. A knight of the Seelie court being interested in a human does not. Roiben would not likely give up his name he would sooner kill someone than to do that, he surely wouldn't be tricked by a pixie, let alone a human.

    This book just didn't do it for me at all. Not only the implausible world building but the stereotypical assumption that the Monarchy system would still be at play even mystical realms during the present day is ridiculous.

    If i could give this book 1.5 stars I absolutely would.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    No character development, too many sexual innuendos for YA. The boys were all so sexual and I just don't find a guy with a harem suitable as one's love interest in YA. I also found a few typos and spelling mistakes. However, the plot was original and I liked the new paranormal elements. Might grab the next book in the series because I think Holly Black is a talented author.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very Angst-y, Emo. Very Teen. It was a good story and I enjoyed it, but I'm the mother of a Teen, so I know that the Teen would enjoy it more than their mothers.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Kaye is a high school dropout and the daughter of a wannabe rock start. When she meets and helps a stranger, she develops into a faerie. She ventures into faerie land, meeting new friends and enemies. Kaye is a crucial players in a war between good faeries and evil faeries. Tithe was highly recommended, but I thought it fell flat. The plot had a great premise and potential, but I thought some of the characters weren't flushed out enough or were unnecessary.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    You know, I read this book twice between when I bought it (sometime in 2004, I believe?) and when I gave it away to a teenage coworker towards the end of 2007 or beginning of 2008, but I don't remember a single thing about it.For all the hype I'd heard to make me want to read it, and everything since then about how it's a great story, it made absolutely no impression on me, other than the pretty cover with the butterfly.I'm sure it's a decent story, but memorable? Not in the least. Glancing at plot synopses, it's a lot like a hundred other stories about faeries and pixies and such that I have read, but without the really special qualities to make it stand out.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Have you ever read a novel and wished you'd found it sooner? It might seem strange, but even though I'm a frequent consumer of YA, I rarely find myself wishing I'd read a book when I was a teenager. Usually, I'm just glad for the experience; many YA writers craft immersive worlds and likable characters so skillfully that their works feel relevant despite the fact that I'm 26 years old. And it's not quite that I felt I was too old for Holly Black's Tithe, the story of a New Jersey teenager who learns of her faery nature when she's used as a pawn in the war between the Seelie and Unseelie Courts.No, instead I simply felt that Tithe would have struck a chord with me as a teenager, that it would have been incredibly relevant had I read it upon its release in 2002, when I was eighteen, rather than eight years later. Reading it now, as a grown-up, I mostly just felt nostalgic.Black describes the world of sixteen-year-old Kaye with surprising honesty and grit. Kaye lives in a magical land that I haven't often seen described in books, and certainly not with such accuracy: it's the world of my youth, New Jersey at the start of the twenty-first century. There are ravers and punk boys and long, emotionally complicated nights in diners. There are gay boys who love anime. There's the boardwalk of what I was sure must have been Asbury Park, abandoned and creepy and vivid. And, true-to-form, there's Kaye, an honestly written heroine if I've ever seen one. Kaye's a bit weird--she had fairies as imaginary friends since she was a kid--and definitely imperfect. She can't help but seduce her best friend's boyfriend. She gets her other friends into trouble. She's flawed, but, dammit, she's honest. As I read Tithe I couldn't help but feel that I knew Kaye--she's just about every teenage girl, complicated and conflicted. In short, she was terrific.As were most of the supporting characters here: Corny, Kaye's companion, one of the most realistically rendered gay friends I've ever seen in fiction. Corny isn't a magical and perfect gay boy a la Mercedes Lackey, but instead a complex and complete person in his own right. Likewise, Roiben, Kaye's otherworldly love interest, a sexy stoic with problems and a life beyond Kaye's.Unfortunately, the plotting of the novel doesn't quite live up to the promise of the characters. Black takes us a long time to get us to the central conflict, and Kaye's episodic explorations through the faery world just weren't as interesting to me as her adventures in the in the real world. Still, there's a lot worth exploring here--particularly if you've ever found magic in the magical kingdom known as New Jersey.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a good novel to read. The beginning was interesting and it remained great until the conclusion. The novel could have ended better.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Take a stroll into the edgy world of magic realism where it may look like home, but the lights are out and unbelievable fairy tale creatures have gathered inside. Sit back, enjoy the story, but never, ever eat the food.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Kaye Fierch has always been an outsider. She's 16 and lives on the road taking care of her out of control rock and roll mom. When a roadie tries to kill her mom, they end up back at grandmas house. The last time she was there she was a child,playing with make believe fairy friends.Now she finds she is the ultimate outsider--she isn't even human. She's a pixie who becomes involved in the life and death politics of the Seelie and more malevolent Unseelie court. And she meets a beautiful fairy knight, who is torn between Seelie and Unseelie and winds up falling for Kaye. As Kaye disrupts the balance of power, evil visits her human friends. Themes include being an outsider, love awakening, and the consequences of actions.The book also has homosexual roles and rather rough sexual overtones.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    While on a kick of young adult novels I was drawn to Tithe. Holly Black portrays faeries as dark, scary, and manipulating and draws in readers with the use of a young girl searching to be accepted. After saving a faerie Kaye, the main character, is dragged into a world of unexpected mysteries and can not free herself from the adventure that may await her in their world.This was a very decent book about angsty teens and the faeries they meet, one of many that I have read, and this one did very well. I am now reading the 2nd novel Valient, a side story continuation of Tithe.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Modern urban faery fantasy for YA. but it doesn't quite work. The initial premise is poorly thought through and becoems confusing later on when the internal consistency of the faery rules breaks down. At imes ti feels very much like a mid series book but it is't. The inconsistency of Kaye's background doens't help.Kaye is a modern teenager living with a single mum - singer - experincing many of the lows that such a changeable life can bring. but she's always had her faery friends to concole her. Even if no-one else really believe in them - apart form maybe some undetailed references to her primary school friends. After an arggument at a party she finds herself walking back thorugh the rainy woods and stumbles across a bleeding stranger. She shoudl know better than to invovle herself, but she does anyway and sicoversthe darker side of some of her faery friends. And maybe the truth about herself and her family. It's the inconsistency of the faery rules that grates most I think - food and time in faery land being especially problematic, but the vagracies of whether or not and to what degree iron has an effect seems contrived for each scene rather than being throught through as the details of the world. Kaye is particularly either effected or not almost at random. Kaye is never really belivable a s acharacter and even less so after the grand revelation which seems to come as no shock to her depsite a previous unbelivable obliviousness to it. The two attitudes don't mesh very well. Brief excerts into other characters viewpoints don't help. It's also very prudishly YA with no-one getting more than a kiss despite hte well know proclivities of the unseelie court that seems to exercise all the others.I believe this may be the author's debuet novel so a certain amount of forgivness in clunky writing may be in order - the world is interesting enough, but I'm unlikely to continue reading the rest of the series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A pull you in and refuse to spit you out fantastical read! This book is amazingly addictive and completely immerses you in Holly Black's fantasy world of faerie and all creatures in between. The characters and the imagery were wonderfully depicted and the danger filled plot left me breathless. The ending left me wanting more. Kaye is a great character and I wish I was more like her!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Kaye, is an aimless high school dropout whose possibly alcoholic mother moves from place to place with whatever band she happens to be in at the moment. When her mom's boyfriend attacks her mom, they move back to New Jersey to live with her grandmother, where she grew up. While reconnecting with grade school friends, she misses her other friends, the faeries who were her playmates as a little girl. It isn't long before strange things start to happen to her, and she begins to find out the strange history of the world of Faerie and her own story.Kaye is a likeable enough heroine, and there were aspects of this story that were interesting. It didn't have a lot of substance to it, and was not especially ground-breaking or well-written. After being underwhelmed by the Spiderwick Chronicles, I probably should not have expected more from this, but I did hope, after all the rave reviews, that it would be something special. Finally, as something of a side note, I am not someone who believes YA should be totally sanitized, and everybody likes a bad girl, right? However, I thought this novel unnecessarily glamorized smoking/excessive drinking/blase attitude to sex/dropping out of school. I'm not moralistically uncomfortable with it, it just seemed to be trying a little too hard to be edgy, without the realism that would have made everything a bit more compelling.