Member Reviews

I was unable to finish before the book was archived, but I really enjoyed what I had heard. Loved the narrator and am excited to read this fully upon release.

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I was so excited to start this book as I am a fan of Holly Black's Cruel Prince series.
Sadly this didn't live up to the hype. I felt myself wanting to hurry things along and I felt the characters weren't as memorable for me.
I wasn't being drawn back to the book enough for my liking.
It could be that writing styles have changed with experience and I prefer the newer style. I enjoyed the overall premise and world.

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⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I love he Cruel Prince series and Holly Black's writing, so it was fun to read more about the land of Faerie. I cannot believe this was holly blacks debut in the early 2000s!
This is book one of The Modern Faerie Tales.

“Welcome to the realm of very scary faeries!”
Sixteen-year-old Kaye, a fierce and independent modern nomad, travels with her mother's rock band until a dangerous attack forces her back to her childhood home in New Jersey. There, she becomes an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms, a conflict that could ultimately cost her life.

“She loves the serene brutality of the ocean, loves the electric power she felt with each breath of wet, briny air.”

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Not my favourite book from Holly Black but good all the same. I didn't feel as invested with the characters as I did with The Cruel Prince or Prisoners Throne, its a book I am going to read again and again like her others but I still enjoy it.

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Coming in with the promise of the wonderful 'Cruel Prince' trilogy, this book will leave you somewhat underwhelmed. While not categorically bad, it fails to achieve greatness. Whether attributable to the author's relative inexperience at the time of writing, time period it was written, or simply personal preferences, the book lacks the spark necessary to merit a higher rating.

However, for readers new to Holly Black, this shouldn't discourage exploration of her more recent works, which are truly captivating and deserve attention.

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I adore Holly Black and especially her stories in Elfhame! This was a fun, engaging and easy read! The world building was, as always, impressive, somehow managing to be creepy and beautiful and captivating at the same time.
Black’s ability to write objectively dislikable characters that you can’t help but love and care about despite their flaws.
I’m really looking forward to reading more in this world!

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I definitely wouldn't let my young adult read this, I found the book to be quite offensive at times and there was just so much unnecessary swearing in it, I swear myself, but even I thought it was too much. I did listen to the whole book, but I don't feel I will need to listen to the rest of the series. I've enjoyed other Holly Black books, but unfortunately this one just wasn't for me (the world would be boring though if we all liked the same thing though wouldn't it) It is a dark fairie book, that looks at the life of Kaye and how she met Robyn. Lauren Allman did an excellent job of narrating the book and bringing the characters alive.

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“Tithe” by Holly Black takes readers on a dark and twisted journey into the realm of faeries, filled with danger, secrets, and eerie magic. The story follows Kaye, a teenager with the ability to see faeries, as she gets entangled in a dangerous power struggle between rival faerie kingdoms.
Overall, I found the book to be an intriguing read, although it did have its drawbacks. The beginning of the book was slow-paced, and it took a while for the plot to truly pick up speed. Once things started happening, they seemed to progress too quickly, making it a bit challenging to fully grasp the events unfolding.
The worldbuilding around the Seelie and Unseelie courts felt lacking in depth, leaving me wanting more context and clarity on these key elements. Despite this, the world that Black created was still engaging and allowed for a decent understanding of the story's setting.
The characters, while imperfect, felt somewhat stereotypical, especially the portrayal of teenagers. Kaye's relationship with Roiben felt rushed and lacked depth, making it hard to fully invest in their romance. Additionally, some of the dialogue and references in the book came off as outdated or potentially harmful, which could have been handled more thoughtfully.
Overall, “Tithe” provided an interesting and dark take on faerie lore, with a unique storyline that kept me engaged despite its flaws. While it may not be a perfect read, fans of Holly Black's work or those intrigued by the fae will likely find something to enjoy in this tale of mystery and magic.
The narrator, Lauryn Allman, was pleasant and very good.

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I usually love Holly Black, and have been loving everything I have read from her in the past. However, I was surprised how little I enjoyed this book. I just could not get into it, or pay attention to the story. I listened to the audio-book, and might give this a go in another format further down the road, but for now this was a fail for me.

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Holly Black Trades in Great Modern Faerie Tales: Tithe and Ironside Mini Reviews

As someone who loves the Cruel Prince and Darkest Part of the Forest, I’ve had my eye on Black’s earlier works for years. Which is why I jumped at the chance to listen to the audiobook from Netgalley! And luckily for me it was an absolute delight 😊

This absolutely did the job I hoped it would! In her signature style, Holly Black forged an imaginative faerie world. This may not be as polished as her later books and has a slow start, yet it did have a captivating quality that had me craving more. I did rather enjoy her characterisation as well- it wasn’t ground-breaking, but it was easy to connect to the main character and her tricksy ways. Her struggles were believable and well considered. I think what’s most interesting is how she is almost the inverse of Jude- where Jude is a human trying to fit into the mortal world, Kaye is a pixie unable to fully integrate into the human world (though she doesn’t know that at first). After this, I was certain to pick up the sequel- so job done! If you enjoy Black’s books, then this is for you.

Rating: 4/5 bananas

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Not sure why there's so many negative reviews. I found this book quite entertaining and a great introduction to the fae world that later becomes The Folk of the Air series.

The main character, Kaye, is neither likeable nor annoying. She's just there. There's nothing remarkable about her. Roiben, however, is the standout. (The fact that his character was voiced with an Irish accent just adds to the allure.) He is wonderfully written and demands attention. He steals any scene he's in.

Holly Black has an amazing ability to bring you into the fae world. Her words immerse you in their world (the carousel horse scene is just beautiful 🎠). It's not Disney fairies in this book, there's plenty of dark, gruesome, murderous characters at play. Learning fae lores, classes and types was intriguing.

The narrator, Lauren Allman, did a spectacular job. Her different voices for all the characters made it easy to follow. She did male voices well (I fell in love with Roiben 💕) but also did pixies, spites and selkies. A thoroughly enjoyable listen.

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Tithe presents a dichotomy of enchantment and disappointment, weaving a tale around Kaye, a girl with a connection to the faery world, thrust into a conflict between two faery courts after returning to her childhood home. The narrative thrives on its dark, captivating depiction of faeries and a complex plot that intriguingly blends the mundane with the magical. However, the book is marred by its character development and writing style. The characters, including Kaye and her circle, are hard to empathise with due to their exaggerated flaws and lack of relatability. The prose often feels immature and inconsistent, betraying the marks of a debut novel in need of refinement.

Despite these shortcomings, Tithe manages to engage with its brisk plot pacing and its refusal to settle for simple, neat conclusions. Holly Black's ambition to craft a politically intricate story within the faery realm is commendable, even if it results in an ending that feels somewhat abrupt and unsatisfying. The dark faeries stand out for their intricacy and imagination, showcasing Black's creative prowess, even if at times they verge on being overly grotesque.

This book was a rollercoaster of frustration and fascination for me. While the characters and the prose often left me disenchanted, the book's imaginative scope and the vivid, ethereal moments kept pulling me back in. Despite its flaws, Tithe holds a certain allure with its richly conceived plot and atmospheric world-building. It suggests great potential for Black's future works, hinting at a maturation of style and storytelling that could overcome the drawbacks found here - which came to fruition with The Cruel Prince and The Stolen Heir. For those willing to look past its imperfections, Tithe offers a glimpse into a mesmerising, albeit dark, faery world that's worth exploring.

Also, shout out to Lauryn Allman the narrator of the audiobook I listened to. She did an excellent job in bringing this book to life.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bolinda Audio for a copy of this audiobook. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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Let yourself be swept away to the land of Faerie, to the Seelie and Unseelie Court.

Like always, Holly Black uses an enchanting writing style to introduce both experienced and new fantasy readers alike to the Faerie Courts. Even if you haven’t read her Folk of the Air series yet, you can just as easily start with the Modern Faerie Tales. It’s also an easy read, both in length and complexity. You’ll meet magical characters like Kaye, Roiben and Corny while discovering the Courts through their eyes and experiences.

However, this story would have benefited from more depth, both plot-wise and character-wise. Some things happened without any explanation and lots of things were skimmed over as though they were of no importance while they definitely were. Hopefully the other books will be more satisfactory on this front.

I listened to the audiobook, which was a pleasant experience as well. The narrator was just a tad too dramatic for my personal taste, but enjoyable to listen to nonetheless.

Thank you NetGalley for this ALC.

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What a throwback! Listening to the audiobook brought back all the teenage feels I had when I first read this novel. I remember buying my paperback on a school trip to Ireland and falling in love with everything fairy. Lauryn Allman does a fantastic job at narrating the audiobook. Roiben’s accent was a bit unexpected, but now I remember why 16-year-old me had such a crush on him. I haven’t read Holly Black’s new series, so I cannot comment on the comparison, but if you like darker fairy tales, this one may be for you. I deducted one star because I have always felt like the actual “tithe” plot leaves a few too many plot holes. But still a very enjoyable read/listen.

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Thank you to Bolinda Audio and Netgalley for this audio ARC of Tithe by Holly Black.

I loved loved loved the narrator of this audio ARC. I had a small issue playing the downloaded book originally, but I think that had more to do with my phone than the audio file.

The narrator was clear and engaging, and I enjoyed the story all the more for the narrators work on this piece.

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The Cruel Prince is one of my fave series of all tile. It's the fantasy series that truly got me back into reading. Consequently, I've been meaning to work my way through Holly Black's backlist for a while.
I started off with Tithe earlier this month, and I hate to say it, but I was really disappointed.
I think the world was just not what I was expecting. I could'nt get into the story, and I had a lot trouble getting attached to the characters. Much to my dismay, I just didn't care about them or what was happening to them.
It may a question of timing tbh, it probably wasn"t what I needed at the time. It's still really well written. And the audiobook is amazing, the narrator truly lives for the story.
So if you want to give this one a shot, go ahead, you might love it!

Thank you NetGalley, Bolinda Audio and the author for this ALC in exchange for an honest review.

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Thank you to Bolinda Audio and NetGalley for an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This read is perfect for fans of the Cruel Prince. Not as developed a world, but an enjoyable read all the same.

I think the plot did feel slightly disjointed at times which may illustrate how far Holly's writing has come seeing as the crual prince is so wonderfully written.

I will say the standout of this for me was the narrator. She did have a slighly ethereal accent which was inoffensive but present enough that it really added to the feeling of the world.

The audio was clear and very easily understood, which made Tithe all the more enjoyable.

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I unabashedly loved this.

At first, the *in medias res* opening is a bit abrupt; I felt I didn't really catch up with the narrative pace until nearly 20% of the way in. But by the metamorphosis at 30%? Just ravishing!

I thought I had listened to Lauryn Allman narrate other books, but in looking her up, I don't recognise any of the titles she's credited with. I have been known to choose an audiobook solely for the narrator, and I'll certainly be doing that for Allman, because her versatility is superb. The characters' voices are vibrant - Kaye and Janet are especially animated. Allman voices Kaye with heart and vigour: "Minimizing my karmic damage." 🤣

Although Roiben's accent is, disappointingly, the typically suspect American-performer apeing Scottish (is it even Scottish? Could be my own Northern Irish, or even a West Country dialect?!), overall I was impressed by Allman's adept embodiment of auch a range of various creatures' monstrous, or lofty, voices, as well as Kenny's earnestness and Kaye's restless persona.

I'm happy to say that the magic happens with the audiobook of 'Tithe' where Holly Black's distinctive style meets Lauryn Allman's dynamism as a narrator, and the novel becomes something more than the sum of its parts.

A sparkling listen!

Many many thanks to Bolinda Audio for another cracking audiobook.

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This is exactly what you think of when you're reading another Holly Black / listening to one! I enjoyed the story and all the mythical creatures and magic we came across. Sometimes it was a bit hard to follow all the long sentences and you should really pay attention because there are some crucial information that get dropped you shouldn't miss. The world building and characters were very much to my liking and amazing as always!

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Big thank you to NetGalley and the Bolinda Audio for allowing me access to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The narrator’s voice was clear and easy to listen to, however, I found it slightly on the slow side and not particularly engaging and thus was easily able to keep up at 2x speed. As the book progressed and more characters were introduced it was good to hear differentiation in accents and tones of voice for each character. This really makes the most of Holly Black’s beautiful depiction of faerie dialect, which is a real strength in this author’s writing.

I had high hopes for Tithe as I am a huge fan of Holly Black’s later work. However, the beginning of this story failed to engage me and I really struggled to warm to and identify with the main characters… or any character at all throughout the whole story.

The pacing remained slow throughout the book and I didn’t feel the plot was building to anything at any point. Overall, I struggled to follow what was driving the plot and quickly stopped caring whether the characters lived or died. Had I not agreed to review this audiobook I would not have continued with it till the end.

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