Valiant by Holly Black

"Did you think you were a hero?" [Spoiler] asked, her voice full of mock pity, pitched loud enough for the crowd.
"No," Val said. "I think you're a villain." 

[Click here to read my review of book 1: Tithe.]

After reading Tithe a few weeks ago, I was eagerly looking forward to reading the next in the series. I really appreciate Holly Black's fantastical imagination and the way she creates faerie worlds, so I was clearly excited when I snagged this book and started reading it. It didn't disappoint.

Valiant is the story of Val, a seventeen year-old girl who has just discovered that her boyfriend is sleeping with her mother. How's that for a shocking way to get the reader hooked? Distraught and angry that she could have allowed herself to be so blatantly lied to, she runs away and meets Lolli, Dave, and Luis, three teenagers living on the streets and making deliveries for faeries.

At first, Val assumes that her new friends are either crazy or creating an elaborate lie just to see if she'll believe them. But it isn't long before things start happening that Val can't just wave away. The shadows dance of their own volition, people with strange features and eerie warnings start cropping up, andVal begins sticking her nose into things that are better left alone. When Val finds herself forced into the service of a troll named Ravus, she can no longer deny the existence of faeries; but as soon as she has discovered this new reality, she is thrust into a new problem. Someone is poisoning members of the faerie community and Ravus has been implicated, putting she and her friends in grave danger as well.

This enchanting sequel to Tithe was every bit as good as I expected it to be. The characters were all interesting and well-rounded; the romance was sweet and progressed at a slow but steady pace. I was a little disappointed that we only caught a glimpse of Kaye (the heroine from the first book), but the story and it's fabulous journey was worth it.

Val is an interesting and very well-written heroine. Black really went out of her way in making Val as believable a character as possible by showing the reader her struggles and the reasons behind her actions and, most especially, her mistakes.

A dark fantasy that pulls you in from page one, Valiant was a wonderful addition to a great series written by an author whose great imagination has captured the hearts and minds of readers from the day her first book was published. I greatly look forward to reading the third and final book in this series. If the past two books have been any indication, it's going to be one hell of a good ride.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

"I know you're very brave," he said
"Or stupid." 
"And stupid. Brave and stupid." Ravus smiled, but then his smile sagged. "But nothing can stop you from being terrible once you've learned how."