Ironside by Holly Black

Black, H. (2008). Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale. (p. 336). Simon Pulse.

ISBN : 0689868219

Classification: book, fiction

Genre: urban fantasy

Age Level: 10th-12th grade

Subjects: fiction, urban fantasy, faery, love story, series

Reader's Annotation: Kaye is tricked into asking Roiben to assign her a quest to prove her love and now she must complete the task before he is allowed to speak to her again.

Summary: In this follow up to "Tithe" and "Valiant," the pixie Kaye continues to have trouble balancing her life between the human world and the world of the faerie. As the story opens, her boyfriend Roiben is about to be crowned king of the Unseelie Court. Kaye is goaded into making a "declaration," or stating her desire to be Roiben's consort. According to the law of the fey, he must first assign her a quest, and she may not see or speak to him until she completes it. Roiben, who would prefer she stay safely away from the Unseelie court, challenges her to find a faerie capable of lying, a seemingly impossible task. Roiben is crowned, but that is only the start of his troubles. Silarial, the queen of the Seelie court, wants the Unseelie throne as well and threatens war. Kaye is determined to help Roiben, even though it seems he wants nothing to do with her. She and Corny, and Luis from "Valiant," set out to free Corny from a curse, protect Luis' brother from the faerie, prevent a war, and find the answer to Roiben's quest.

Reviews / Awards:

Teenreads.com review

Author Info:
Holly Black's Website

Potential Hotspots:

fighting, violence, death, gay relationship, faeries

Readalikes:

• Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
  
• The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint
  

Why it belongs in a YA collection:
Holly Black is an author teens will recognize from the children's room. Readers who enjoyed the Spiderwick Chronicles may be ready for something darker and scarier (and more violent.) Ironside is the final book of the collection, so libraries that have Tithe and Valiant would be remiss if lacking this third book. As vampires and werewolf stories become increasingly mainstream, urban fantasy and dark faerie tales seem to be increasing in their appeal as well.

Other:

All three of these books were extremely creative, and a bit disturbing at times. I would suggest them for any reader interested in dark, dark faerie stories.

Evaluation:

3.5 stars