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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
I honestly don't know what to think...I loved it but at the same time, it annoyed the crap out of me. I liked James because he was such a smartass and I liked most of the other characters (all except Dee pretty much) she annoyed me and I didn't like how Luke changed heaps but I really enjoyed the ending :)
This is one of my all-time favorite books. The plot was compelling, the narration was hilarious, and, as always, Maggie had some deep thoughts about life to share. I can't wait to read Requiem. Keep up the good work, Maggie!
how was this so much better than lament without being all that different?
i cried at the end.
i cried at the end.
I enjoyed the novel, mainly because James was such a fun, snarky character. The writing was fine, like always. Maggie writes well. Perhaps the prose was less polished than her later novels but it's still better than many other YA writers. Her dialogue is excellent.
A drawback for me, was that the story in the background (Dee's story with the faeries) seemed fascinating and it was a shame it happened all off stage.
A drawback for me, was that the story in the background (Dee's story with the faeries) seemed fascinating and it was a shame it happened all off stage.
James is a very talented bagpipes player, and a new student at an elite academy for students gifted at the arts. Apparently, James used to be best friends with Deidre, who met and fell in love with a fairy, almost got James killed, and now both of them can see fairies around them. One fairy, a leanan sidhe, is Nuala—she's like a creative energy vampire; she gives inspiration in exchange for years, and every sixteen years she burns in a bonfire on Halloween and loses her memory. Nuala is drawn to James's talent, and offers her inspirational magic for his years, but he wants nothing to do with her. Gradually, he and Nuala become close, as James realizes that she's more human-like than other fairies. Meanwhile, the fairies have set up camp next to the school because of the students' talent, and James and his friends have to keep the fairies from using the school for their own purposes.
So this is a sequel to a book I haven't read, which maybe made it harder to read than it should have been, but I still really enjoyed it. I don't think reading the first book was absolutely necessary, but I think there might be some additional understanding toward James and Deidre's relationship; without reading the first book, Deidre's just kind of a tool, but I'm sure that's a limited perspective. I like the dark, dangerous portrayal of fairies, a la Holly Black. It really reminded me of the Good Neighbors graphic novels I read. Creepy but fun, with witty dialogue and a splash of magic.
So this is a sequel to a book I haven't read, which maybe made it harder to read than it should have been, but I still really enjoyed it. I don't think reading the first book was absolutely necessary, but I think there might be some additional understanding toward James and Deidre's relationship; without reading the first book, Deidre's just kind of a tool, but I'm sure that's a limited perspective. I like the dark, dangerous portrayal of fairies, a la Holly Black. It really reminded me of the Good Neighbors graphic novels I read. Creepy but fun, with witty dialogue and a splash of magic.
There are few storytellers I trust more than Stiefvater. Ballad is a fantastic sequel because it does not exist just to exist. It tells a story. It twists your heart in ways I did not expect. And her characters! I hope she writes a third story. I hope it is either Paul or Sullivan or Eleanor's story. And I hope she leaves certain characters out of it because if they're in their I know it means she's going to destroy them all over again and they deserve a break.
Reading: Physical Book; library borrowing
Plot: 6.9/10
Character: 8.6/10
Font: 7.7/10
I havent read the first book yet but I bought this last year so I was just picking this book out of my reading slump. I wasn't really keen to read this book but after flicking through the chapters, I've became hooked!
Surprisingly this book is daammn good and I like the main characters in this book: James and Nuala. I hate Dee just like Nuala confessed herself but she's James best friend urrgghh.
Anyway I will try to read the first one and Im gonna read Shivers trilogy.
I love Maggie Stiefvater style of writing :)
Plot: 6.9/10
Character: 8.6/10
Font: 7.7/10
I havent read the first book yet but I bought this last year so I was just picking this book out of my reading slump. I wasn't really keen to read this book but after flicking through the chapters, I've became hooked!
Surprisingly this book is daammn good and I like the main characters in this book: James and Nuala. I hate Dee just like Nuala confessed herself but she's James best friend urrgghh.
Anyway I will try to read the first one and Im gonna read Shivers trilogy.
I love Maggie Stiefvater style of writing :)
yet again another amazing read by maggie stiefvater, i love her writing it's amazing and they're always real page turners :)
I liked this better than Lament! Maggie is good at male POV
James is a great piper, but he's invited to a prestigious music school more on the basis of his brushes with fairies than his talent. While there he struggles with his feelings for Dee (main character of [b: Lament|148215|The Laments|George Hagen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320434341l/148215._SY75_.jpg|3132634]) and Nuala, a fairy muse who first intends to suck his life in exchange for inspiration and then falls in love with him. Eventually there's a confrontation with a lord of the dead and a fairy queen and everyone has to make terrible tragic choices. Meh.
I was left feeling sour about this book for two big reasons: one, I liked the characters in Lament, and here they seem to have become self-absorbed and stupid. Two, waaaay too much pagetime is spent on James's time in high school (where he is so cool and all the cool teachers think he's awesome) and waaaay too little is spent on the fairy plot.Luke, a main character from Lament, has apparently been gone this whole time and a fairy has been pretending to be him? And "he" eventually convinces Dee to kill one of their teachers?! We learn this from a poorly spelled text message and then there is NO fall out or character development based on it. This is the most egregious example of what happens to Dee in this book. In Lament she was smart and driven, a fantastic musician. In Ballad she cries all the time, she doesn't perform any music at all, is a bad friend to James, and does exactly one smartish thing (she steps back into the warding circle in the end) the entire book. Her sorrow of losing Luke just manifests in her crying all the time. Any feelings she might have about the family revelations in Lament, or losing her musical partner/inspiration, or what it's like to see fairies daily...we see none of that. Basically nothing happens for 200+ pages and then EVERYTHING happens all at once, with various characters spelling out their entire plots and motivations in the space of a single chapter.
I was left feeling sour about this book for two big reasons: one, I liked the characters in Lament, and here they seem to have become self-absorbed and stupid. Two, waaaay too much pagetime is spent on James's time in high school (where he is so cool and all the cool teachers think he's awesome) and waaaay too little is spent on the fairy plot.