For thos
e who enjoy fantasy stories of fairies existing in worlds parallel to our own, Holly Black’s Tithe will certainly be enjoyable. It is the story of Kaye Fierch, a 16-year-old girl who seems to be just another teenager attempting to figure out her place in the world. At the beginning of this story, Kaye’s world is bleak. The novel opens with her in a bar watching her mother’s rock and roll band as they attempt to make it big. They don’t. Kaye and her hard-drinking, cigarette-smoking mother, Ellen, have to move back to New Jersey to live with Kaye’s grandmother. Ellen and her mother spend most of their time yelling at each other, with the grandmother implying that Kaye is on the verge of ending up just like Ellen. Their language to each other is rough and realistic, and this reality is not the best place for Kaye.Kaye has friends in New Jersey, but they do not add too much in the way of brightness to the novel. Janet, her best friend, lives in a trailer park with her homosexual brother, Corny, who works at a gas station and reads pornographic comic books. Their trailer is stuffed with junk their divorced mother picks up at flea markets, and each is as dissatisfied as Kaye. Through Janet, Kaye meets a group of young people who seem to be interested mostly in drinking or, in Kenny’s case, cheating on his girlfriend, who happens to be Janet. True to form, Kenny goes for Kaye, Janet sees the exchange, and everything blows up. With both her mother and her friends, Kaye seems to be passive, a victim of others’ actions.
Early in the novel, while establishing Kaye as a teenage girl who goes in for petty shoplifting and getting caught in uncomfortable situations with her friend’s boyfriend, Black also introduces the “faerie” aspect to her life. Kaye is afraid that her mother and Janet will joke with her about Lutie, Spike and the now-deceased Gristle, the three “fey” she’s known since her childhood. Are they real, as she thinks they are? Or does she simply have an overactive imagination, as the others think? Later, Kenny catches Kaye bringing a merry-go-round pony to life, even though she thinks she only imagines doing so. He “sees” it, and readers begin to suspect that Kaye is something more than a young girl going through a bad time, or a girl whose imagination blurs the distinction between the “normal’ and the faerie worlds.
When she meets Roiben, readers are sure. He is a knight who serves the queen of the Unseelie Court, Nicnevin. She helps him out of a rough spot, and his note to her inside of an acorn sets in motion a chain of events that allow her to acknowledge herself as a full-fledged faerie but not until she becomes part of a plot hatched by the Thistlewitch. The essence of the plot is simple: a “mortal” must be sacrificed so that the “solitary fey” (Lutie, Spike and others represented by the Thistlewitch) can become free for seven years. The upshot of all this is that Kaye learns the truth about her “real” self and that she must set off on a quest to help Roiben and the solitary fey and to find the original Kaye Fierch. The quest does not take her far from her grandmother’s house.
As Kaye’s original “glamor” begins to emerge, Black chooses Corny as the human character to whom Kaye goes and asks for assistance. He accompanies her to the Unseelie Court, entered through a discolored patch of grass in the hill. When they arrive there, Black’s writing is at its best and most lavish. Though she does an excellent job of showing the peeling paint and tattered human world, her descriptions of the colors, character and scenes in the faerie world are vivid and cinematic, comprising “the greatest strength of the story” (Wright).
In this world, her faeries are anthropomorphic and seem to enjoy debauchery and good times as much as any humans do. In addition to fostering impending violence, they are also extremely adept at political intrigue and infighting. Nicnevin is the all-powerful leader who demands subservience, and Nephamael is a villain who enjoys Corny’s company. Roiben falls deeper for Kaye, and she returns the favor but is still unsure of who or what exactly he is. (She also spends a large chunk of her time questioning herself.) The whole situation with the faeries provides a counterpoint to the grittiness of the world above the ground, in regular old New Jersey.
Understanding the politics and shifting alliances of the faerie world could be difficult for readers who are not fans of the fantasy genre. Also, while the teenage dialogue is modern, believable and effective at capturing the dark mood of the human young people, Black’s faeries speak stilted, quaint English. Perhaps their language never evolved due to their isolation underground or in forests, even if their actions are all too human, based as they are on greed, self-indulgence, sacrifice and love.
These criticisms aside, the story still comprises a journey Kaye needs to make to right a wrong, and it is fitting that in the climactic scene, Kaye has to “think like a human girl” (309) and figure out a way to get Corny, Roiben and herself out of a difficult situation. By the end of this novel, she has begun accepting herself for what and who she is. Black lightens the tone in the last few pages, and Kaye seems to have developed a sense of humor along with her sense of self-acceptance.
Reference List
Wright, Beth. 2002. Review of Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black. School Library Journal 48(10): 158. Library, Information Science & Technology (LISTA) database through TWU Library. Accessed 27 October 2011.
RECOMMENDED (High School and up)
Review Excerpts
Dark, edgy, beautifully written, and compulsively readable, this is sure to be a word-of-mouth hit with teens, even a few usually unmoved by magic and monsters. (Booklist, February 15, 2003)
Black skillfully juxtaposes Kaye's life of messy, ripped clothes and brambles with the excesses and depravity she encounters in the faerie court, making both appear more believable in the process. (Books in Canada, August 1, 2004)
While most of the supporting cast has little to do beyond playing villains or victims, Black has an eye for the telling detail that brings the most minor character to life. A labyrinthine plot with Goth sensibility makes this a luscious treat for fans of urban fantasy and romantic horror. (Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2002)
The author's Bosch-like descriptions of the Unseelie Court, with its Rackham-on-acid denizens, and the exquisite faeries haunt as well as charm. (Publishers Weekly, October 28, 2002)
Awards & Recognition
YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, 2003
YALSA Teens Top 10 Booklist, 2003
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