Tithe by Holly Black

"When you do magic, there are two stages: focus and surrender. Surrender is the part that so many do not understand.
"To do magic, you must focus on what it is you want to do, then let go of the energy and trust it to do your bidding."

Not only is the cover of Tithe deliciously creepy (I got quite a kick out of showing it to people just to see their reactions),  but the story is quite unlike anything I've read yet. This is probably more a result of the fact that faeries creep me out and I tend to avoid media about them. Still, the book is intriguing from start to finish.

Tithe is the story of sixteen-year-old Kaye. Kaye has always been considered strange, particularly for the fact that her best friends growing up were three faeries that visited her often and she was always eager to share about the things the four of them did together. When she moves away, the faeries stop visiting her and Kaye does her best to forget.

Then, after her mother is nearly stabbed by her boyfriend, the two move back to Kaye's childhood home. At first, everything seems normal. Perhaps she had imagined the otherworldly beings. When she is finally contacted by the faeries, things are different than her childhood years.

Kaye learns she is a pixie, a changeling exchanged for a human child when she was a baby, and now she has been asked to perform a task that could put her own life in danger, as well as everyone she has come to care about. As she is put to the test, she must discover what her strengths are and whether she's strong enough to save everyone.

Holly Black, author of the Spiderwick Chronicles (for which she is most well-known), has created a tale that draws the reader in and compels them to explore a world that is both terrible and beautiful, intriguing and revolting.

I found the story to be well-written and original. I found myself eagerly looking forward to finding out what happens next. I appreciate unpredictable plot lines that still manage to be entirely plausible and this was one of those stories.

I would recommend this to any lover of fantasy that wants a good series to start up. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what happens to Kaye next.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

You can break a thing, but you can't always guide it afterward into the shape you want.