Tithe : A Modern Faerie Tale
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| Author | Holly Black |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Sammy Yuen, Jr. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
| Released | 2002 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
| Pages | 336 pp (paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-689-86704-2 (Paperback edition) |
| Followed by | 'Valiant : A Modern Tale of Faerie' |
Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale is a young adult fantasy novel by Holly Black, first published in 2002 by Simon & Schuster.
Contents |
[edit] From Inside Cover
From Simon & Schuster's website:[1]
Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother's rock band until an ominous attack forces Kaye back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms -- a struggle that could very well mean her death.
[edit] Plot summary
Tithe is about sixteen-year-old Kaye Fierch. She has learned to be independent as a result of constantly traveling around with her rockstar-wannabe mother, Ellen. The book starts in Philadelphia at one of her mother's concerts. There, Kaye notices a strange man, clothed in a cloak of thorns. Soon after Ellen's boyfriend, Lloyd, attempts to kill Ellen, and is arrested. Ellen, with no one to turn to, takes Kaye back to Kaye's grandmother's house to stay for awhile.
Once there Kaye tries to look for her old "imaginary" friends: Lutie-Loo, Spike, and Gristle, but can't find them and begins to suspect that the faeries of her childhood might have been a figment of her imagination after all.
Her suspicions dissolve when Kaye saves the life of Roiben, a faerie knight, by pulling a magicked arrow out of his chest. In return, he grants her three questions, which she saves for later. Soon after this, her old friends contact her and inform her that the knight she saved killed Gristle. Kaye tricks Roiben into telling her his full name, as revenge for murdering her friend. At the time, she is ignorant of the control she has over him and only wishes to upset him; she later learns that by knowing the true name of a faery, they are forced to obey whatever they are told to do.
She is contacted by her childhood faerie companions, Spike and Lutie-Loo, and from them learns that she is actually a changeling(a faery glamoured to look human). On the eve of Samhain she is kidnapped by a group of fey and taken to the Unseelie Court where she is coerced into agreeing to and becoming a sacrifice and subsequently a tithe to hell in an archaic ritual that the Court wishes to resume. At the climax Roiben manages to free her from her bonds before she is killed and get them both safely away from the Court in the process killing the queen and many of her guards.
They spend the day at Kaye's home and awake to discover the mortal world is starting to fall apart(ie. news reports of people being tortured until they can answer riddles and others who have been found dancing in a ring completely naked in a public park) as a result of the fey being free for the next seven years. Kaye recieves a call from her friend Janet inviting her to come to a Halloween rave held at the waterfront, most likely in an attempt to piss off her boyfriend. Kaye tries to persuade her otherwise but fails and she also discovers that Janets brother Corny has gone off on his own to the Court to follow a knight he's fallen in love with. She and Roiben then set out to try and set things right in the mortal world, find Corny, and attempt to protect her friends and the humans at the party from the inevitable and most likely malicious attacks that will occur at the rave.
After a failed attempt to recieve help from her childhood friends Roiben and Kaye attend the rave. They separate and Kaye successfully locates her friends but breifly leaves them to apologize to Janet's boyfriend for bewitching him. When she returns she is barely fast enough to watch as the kelpie (who had earlier taught Kaye to perform simple glamour) takes Janet with him in the water to drown, kill, and eat her. It's suggested that Janet went with him out of loneliness and a desire to get revenge on her boyfriend for once again going off with kaye. Kaye jumps in after her but is too late to prevent her death although the kelpie does relinquish her body. Roiben finds Kaye on the beach mourning her friend and he takes her home.
The next morning Kaye awakens feeling groggy and with limited memories of the night before, save that something horrible had taken place. Eventually they come back and she and Roiben head to the Seelie Court's camp some distance away to see if Corny is there seeing as his lover belongs to that court. They reach a dead end but discover that the knight(Nephemael) has proclaimed himself the king of the Unseelie Court. Kaye has an emotional breakdown afterwards from the pressure of all that has happened in the past week and a quick scene follows where in his own way Roiben tells Kaye he cares for her.
Later they enter the Unseelie Court and Roiben's suspicions that it was all just a trap are proved correct. Nephemael who had discovered Roiben's true name from Spike uses it to take control over Roiben. He orders him to seize Kaye but by using trickery Roiben lets her get away. While Corny and Roiben amuse the newly proclaimed king, Kaye comes up with a plan to poison Nephamael. She goes through with her plan but before he's fully dead the Seelie Queen arrives hoping to take over the court. Roiben prevents this from happening by claiming the throne as his.
The book ends approxamitly a week or so later just after Janets funeral has taken place. Kaye has just sat down on the sidewalk to wait for her mom when Roiben shows up "wanting to return something." Its a kiss he had taken from her on All Hallow's Eve. The story closes with Kaye getting him to give her another in a hopeful happily ever after ending.
[edit] Characters in "Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale"
- Kaye Fierch - headstrong and independent, Kaye is the main character of Tithe. She is half Japanese, from her father's side with her mother's blond hair. She has dropped out of high school.
- Ellen - Kaye's mother, she is involved with various independent bands
- Lloyd -Lloyd only has a small part. In the Prologue, Lloyd was part of Ellen's band, Stepping Razor and as they were playing in a bar, he met Nephameal and attempted to stab Ellen. Kaye also has his jacket and a thorn for its pocket stabs her finger.
- Roiben - Roiben (Rath Roiben Rye) was a knight to Silarial until he was traded to Nicnevin. Kaye has a hold over him with his real name. He is a strong fighter. He has one sibling, Ethine, who is part of the Seelie Court.
- Corny - Corny (Cornelius Stone) is the only human Kaye tells about being a faerie. He is openly gay and falls for Nephamael and eventually becomes his "plaything."
- Janet - Corny's younger sister, Kaye's best friend since elementary school.
- Lutie-Loo - one of Kaye's faerie's from childhood.
- Gristle - one of Kaye's faerie's from childhood killed by Roiben after stealing some cakes.
- Spike - one of Kaye's faerie's from childhood killed by Nephemael
- Nephamael - Nephamael like Roiben was traded off this time to the Seelie Queen, After Nicnevin's murder, Nephamael takes charge of the Unseelie Court until his own murder.
- Silarial - Seelie Queen, sister to Nicnevin.
- Nicnevin - Unseelie Queen, sister to Silarial.
[edit] Major Themes
Domestic violence, power struggles.
[edit] Quotations
Random Quotes:
"Just close your hand on it and let me pull," -Roiben "You don't even have to look. As long as I'm not touching it, I might be able to draw it out." {True Quote}
"You're one twisted young man," Ellen said, and that only made his grin widen. Kaye wondered whether he was smiling at the jibe or smiling because it was so true." (True Quote)
"What belongs to you, yet others use it more than you do?" Answer: Your name
