Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #274859 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Synopsis
When pixie Kaye declares herself to Roiben on the day of his coronation, he is forced to send her on a seemingly impossible quest. Now Kaye is forbidden to see or speak to him unless she can find the one thing she knows doesn't exist: a faerie who can tell a lie. Miserable and convinced she belongs nowhere, Kaye makes a rash decision to reveal the truth to her mother - that she is a changeling left in place of a human child. Her mother's shock reaction sends Kaye running back to the Faerie realm in search of her human counterpart in a bid to return her to Ironside. But Kaye once again finds herself a pawn in the games of the Seelie Court. Queen Silarial wants Roiben's throne and she will use any means necessary to get it! In this twisted game of wits and power can a pixie outplay a queen?

Customer Reviews

Good but not great
After reading and enjoying 'Tithe' I decided to move on to 'Ironside'. The book returns the series of 3 books (so far) back to the story of the first and mantains the same charm that the first had. Kaye, the pixie herioine of the story, still has an originality and a roughness about her which makes the story a lot more interesting.

I read the book in one sitting and was pleased with it. However I didn't come away from it feeling that i had gained anything. I had read a nice story about a pixie and a fairy king but it wasn't that memorable - except the characters and i feel 'Tithe' was much better at sticking in the readers mind and carried a better storyline.

To sum up: Not a bad book, but it could've been better.

A fun follow up to Tithe and Valiant
The sequel to Tithe featuring some of the main characters from Valiant. Roiben is being crowned King of the Unseelie Court and Kaye, his Pixie girlfriend, takes it upon herself to declare herself to him at his coronation leading to being sent on a quest to become his consort. Roiben decides to send her on an impossible quest as he doesn't want her dragged into the torments of Court life; to find a faery who can tell a lie (impossible, no faery can lie). Kaye also decides it is time to tell her mother the truth about her, that she is a changeling and the real Kaye was stolen away by the faeries and replaced with her. To make things right Kaye tried to hunt down the original Kaye to return to her mother.

Comlications arise from the Seelie Court Queen, Silarial, who wants to rule both Courts as well as have Roiben back under her control. She will stop at nothing to obtain her goals and use whomever neccessary for her own ends including trying to find out Roiben's true name and gain control over him forever. Kaye and Corny enlist the help of Luis who has the true sight to complete both quests but end up tangled up further in the dangerous Court life.

I really enjyoed this book in the series, it was perhaps my favourite developing the characters from the first two books further. I liked that it didn't have a sickly sweet happy ending, the whole series has been like that though with violence, bad language, sex and drug abuse. I still don't recommend this for under 16s, although this one is the most accessible of the three.

An improvement on the previous books, yet still not satisfying
I enjoyed this more than I did the previous books in this trilogy (TITHE and VALIANT) and yet, still did not find it a satisfying read.

The good news is that there's more story to this. The impossible quest is interesting (albeit you can guess how it's going to play out pretty much the moment it's set) and you get more of a sense of the politics between the Seelie Court and the Unseelie Court. Luis and Dave make a reappearance from VALIANT, which I thought was well handled, especially because of the way it built on Luis's role as a fixer whilst further developing the relationship between the two brothers.

The best parts of the book though are those that focus on Corny. The character is a like a walking open wound - still grieving the death of his sister and recovering from his own experiences at the hands of the Unseelie Court, he's terrified by faeries and by his own vulnerability to them and that makes him determined to never give them power over him. In many ways, Corny is the most dynamic character in the book, he's the only one who is actively trying to take control of his own destiny and whilst he sometimes gets infected with Stupid Decision For Stupid Reasons Syndrome. When Corny brings a powerful curse down on himself at the hands of a faerie, it's a twisted blessing in disguise as it finally gives him the means to hit back at the faeries who would torment him and I think that Black does well to handle the exultation and despair that the curse brings him, even if I would question the means by which Corny and his friends try to deal with it as being slightly too contrived.

Unfortunately, the big problem remains Kaye. Just as in TITHE she is a reactive and passive character, always being tricked or manipulated by others so when you get to the scene where she finally stands up for herself, you really don't believe it. The scene where she confesses to her mother about her being a changeling should have been powerful and yet because you can guess how it's going to play out (not least because Kaye already knows how it's going to play out), it lacks the punch it needs. I also found that I just couldn't believe in the relationship between her and Roiben. Whilst I can see what she sees in him (in that whilst he remains underveloped and two-dimensional, he at least has a certain enigmatic quality), I couldn't see what he saw in her, which ruined the true love element that supposedly exists between them.

There are some powerful scenes in the book, notably the attack on the Unseelie Court, which I thought was well handled. I also continue to admire Black's skill in creating sensual and lyrical images - particularly where she describes the effect of the city on faerie folk. Unfortunately, the downside of this is to reinforce how superficial the story ultimately is and I was left wanting to see more expansion on themes and especially on the politics between the courts and the rivalries that drive it. Given the cruelty displayed by Silariel at almost every opportunity, why are her courtiers so loyal to her? Ethine would have been the perfect character to explore this, given that she's used as a pawn just as much as Roiben, and yet she remains unquestioning throughout, which I found frustrating.