TITLE: Ballad
AUTHOR: Maggie Stiefvater
AUTHOR: Maggie Stiefvater
AUTHOR WEBSITE: www.maggiestiefvater.com
GENRE: Young Adult, Fantasy
FANTASY ELEMENT: Faeries
PUBLISHED: Flux (October 1, 2009)
MY RATING: 5
GENRE: Young Adult, Fantasy
FANTASY ELEMENT: Faeries
PUBLISHED: Flux (October 1, 2009)
MY RATING: 5
FIND ON: Amazon
SYNOPSIS:
(Via Goodreads) Music prodigy James Morgan and his best friend, Deirdre, join a private conservatory for musicians. James' musical talent attracts Nuala, a soul-snatching faerie muse who fosters and feeds on the creative energies of exceptional humans until they die. Composing beautiful music together unexpectedly leads to mutual admiration and love. Haunted by fiery visions of death, James realizes that Deirdre and Nuala are being hunted by the Fey and plunges into a soul-scorching battle with the Queen of the Fey to save their lives.
REVIEW:
In the first book (Lament) we were in the head of Dee and Luke (the hot faery assassin.) In this story, James, Dee’s childhood best friend, narrates the story. I cannot believe how much I like James. He may portray himself as a mouthy jerk, but having been introduced to him in the first book, I see him as witty, real and utterly fascinating. Then when Nuala is narrating parts of the story, and we see how she views him, it makes me love him even more.
In a book about faeries, anything can happen. There are no boundaries, no limitations. I found myself lost in the story and at the mercy of the writer’s whims. I loved this story about forbidden love, and the tension of the awkwardness between James and Dee. James is trying to get over her through the whole book and Nuala may have helped distract him. But then, he has to make a choice between them in the end.
RATING:
RECOMMENDATIONS:
This is a great read for early to late teens. There is the threat of violence throughout but only PG violence and PG romance. Good clean story. Love it. (Maybe one or two bad words.)
