Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception by Maggie Stiefvater
First love: it’s scary and confusing enough even when there aren’t homicidal faeries involved. Add in the homicidal faeries, and a girl can get in over her head before she can say “cold iron.”
Maggie Stiefvater‘s Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception is an excellent YA fantasy that will appeal to anyone who likes stories of the fae as they appear in the oldest legends: dangerous, seductive, and sometimes deadly. Let me say right up front: Lament is downright frightening in places. These are not your fluffy, sparkly faeries. Getting mixed up with them can mean stark terror and heartbreaking choices.
The heroine, Deirdre, is one of Lament‘s treasures. She is sought after by the Fair Folk because of her uncanny musical and psychic talents, and in less capable hands, this character could easily become a Mary Sue. Instead, she’s a painfully real teenager who throws up from stage fright, loses her temper, and has a bit too much on her emotional plate.
Her romance with Luke, a boy with faerie connections and a dark past, is pitch-perfect, combining the highs and lows of an ordinary teenage relationship with the perils specific to Deirdre and Luke’s situation. Stiefvater does a great job entwining the two.
Also well-done was the painful family history that simmers beneath the surface of Deirdre’s story. There are many things Deirdre doesn’t know about her family’s past, but what she doesn’t know can hurt her.
Lament ends in a way that is satisfactory and yet leaves just enough loose ends that I’m itching for the sequel, Ballad.
Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys Holly Black and Melissa Marr.
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