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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
by amy
Nuala is part muse, part psychic vampire. While the freedom to sing or write or create is denied her, her mark across history is unmistakable; a trail of brilliant poets, musicians, and artists who have died tragically young. She had no sympathy for their abbreviated life spans; every thirteen Halloweens she burns in a bonfire and rises from her ashes with no memories of what has come before other than the knowledge of how her end will come.
James is the best bagpiper in the state of Virginia - maybe in the country - plus he's young and good looking: just Nuala's thing. But James, extremely confident in his own abilities and in love with another girl, becomes the first to ever reject Nuala's offer. He's preoccupied with bigger things than Nuala: An enigmatic horned figure who appears at dusk and the downward spiral of Dee, his girlfriend-who-isn't.
It becomes obvious to James that Nuala's presence, the horned king of the dead, and Dee's slow self-destruction are all related, and that Dee is in the center of a very deadly faerie game. While James struggles to unwind the tangled threads of the story, Nuala shadows him, seeing her conflicted, dual nature reflected back at her in him. She finds herself lending him inspiration for nothing - for the hope of requited affection. But even as James begins to realize his feelings for both Dee and Nuala have changed, the thirteenth Halloween descends, with it's bonfires and rituals for the dead, one deadly for Nuala and the other for Dee. James can only save one.
I know there have got to be better faerie books out there. This book did not satisfy my desire for something faerie. First, I would like to say, not reading Ballad before reading Lament(even though many people/critics say it's a stand-alone). I read Lament and liked it (read my review). Thinking this was a sequel, it obviously bugged me when the main characters of Lament got very lost in translation. This may have been the most disappointing thing about this book. The main female character Dee and her love for Luke was very enticing in Lament. So, naturally, I was sad when Dee was hardly mention and Luke was nowhere to be found. Luke was my favorite in Lament - strong, good looking and Dee's rescuer. So, yes, I wanted to read about him again. Now, I would not have read these books back-to-back considering they really weren't a sequel (even though you couldn't read the second book first and fully understand it. Crazy, huh?) OK...so obviously I was disappointed.
If you must read the sequel to Lament (it is worth reading, if you like faerie books) - be open to new main characters, forget about the perfectly good ones from before, know enough about faeries to get by, cross your fingers and maybe if you don't have an impatient personality like I do, you might just like it.
~Amy
*Word to the parents- there is some kissing, crude behavior and moderate language in this book. If you want more information about content, go to Ballad on Parental Book Reviews.
Nuala is part muse, part psychic vampire. While the freedom to sing or write or create is denied her, her mark across history is unmistakable; a trail of brilliant poets, musicians, and artists who have died tragically young. She had no sympathy for their abbreviated life spans; every thirteen Halloweens she burns in a bonfire and rises from her ashes with no memories of what has come before other than the knowledge of how her end will come.
James is the best bagpiper in the state of Virginia - maybe in the country - plus he's young and good looking: just Nuala's thing. But James, extremely confident in his own abilities and in love with another girl, becomes the first to ever reject Nuala's offer. He's preoccupied with bigger things than Nuala: An enigmatic horned figure who appears at dusk and the downward spiral of Dee, his girlfriend-who-isn't.
It becomes obvious to James that Nuala's presence, the horned king of the dead, and Dee's slow self-destruction are all related, and that Dee is in the center of a very deadly faerie game. While James struggles to unwind the tangled threads of the story, Nuala shadows him, seeing her conflicted, dual nature reflected back at her in him. She finds herself lending him inspiration for nothing - for the hope of requited affection. But even as James begins to realize his feelings for both Dee and Nuala have changed, the thirteenth Halloween descends, with it's bonfires and rituals for the dead, one deadly for Nuala and the other for Dee. James can only save one.
I know there have got to be better faerie books out there. This book did not satisfy my desire for something faerie. First, I would like to say, not reading Ballad before reading Lament(even though many people/critics say it's a stand-alone). I read Lament and liked it (read my review). Thinking this was a sequel, it obviously bugged me when the main characters of Lament got very lost in translation. This may have been the most disappointing thing about this book. The main female character Dee and her love for Luke was very enticing in Lament. So, naturally, I was sad when Dee was hardly mention and Luke was nowhere to be found. Luke was my favorite in Lament - strong, good looking and Dee's rescuer. So, yes, I wanted to read about him again. Now, I would not have read these books back-to-back considering they really weren't a sequel (even though you couldn't read the second book first and fully understand it. Crazy, huh?) OK...so obviously I was disappointed.
If you must read the sequel to Lament (it is worth reading, if you like faerie books) - be open to new main characters, forget about the perfectly good ones from before, know enough about faeries to get by, cross your fingers and maybe if you don't have an impatient personality like I do, you might just like it.
~Amy
*Word to the parents- there is some kissing, crude behavior and moderate language in this book. If you want more information about content, go to Ballad on Parental Book Reviews.
Not really a sequel, more a companion book to Lament, this follows on in terms of timeline form Lament but is the story of James rather than Dee. I liked the character of Nuala, and Mr Sullivan was a treat but I would have liked to have known more about Dee's life especially because of the ending. Hey ho.
Normally it would never have taken me three days to read a YA novel. But with this book I wa just so angry, frustrated, annoyed and disappointed that it took all of my willpower to make it to the end. I had the same problems with the first book, 'Lament', only not as strong as with this one. Letme start from the beginnig
1) It was messy, without a sense of direction and no goals.
2) There were no likeable characters. The story is told my James, a guy I'd actually liked in the first book because he's such a wisecracker. And that right there is exactly the reason why he hould never be a narrator. Or at least not when the writer is Maggie Stiefvater. She took it way too far. Every single sentence in the book was a joke, in more than one way, and that made the book very hard to take serious.
3) It actally made me hate the first book as well. All the characters seemed completely changed, especially Dee, the main character in 'Lament' and James' best friend. Only she isn't anymore. She's barely a friend. And she's actaully quite the drama queen/bitch. So I no longer like her and that made me like 'Lament' even less.
4) ARGH!!
So no, I did not like 'Ballad' and it's safe to say that I'l never, ever read it again.
1) It was messy, without a sense of direction and no goals.
2) There were no likeable characters. The story is told my James, a guy I'd actually liked in the first book because he's such a wisecracker. And that right there is exactly the reason why he hould never be a narrator. Or at least not when the writer is Maggie Stiefvater. She took it way too far. Every single sentence in the book was a joke, in more than one way, and that made the book very hard to take serious.
3) It actally made me hate the first book as well. All the characters seemed completely changed, especially Dee, the main character in 'Lament' and James' best friend. Only she isn't anymore. She's barely a friend. And she's actaully quite the drama queen/bitch. So I no longer like her and that made me like 'Lament' even less.
4) ARGH!!
So no, I did not like 'Ballad' and it's safe to say that I'l never, ever read it again.
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
[Spoiler-free review]
A magical tale of a mortal and a solitary faerie.
After finishing “Lament”, I had no high hopes for this sequel. But, knowing that authors and their works can get better over time, I read it anyway and found that I greatly enjoyed it! Ballad tells gifted piper James’s story in a way that guarantees the reader’s sympathies to fall to him, which leads to a rollercoaster of emotions as the novel progresses. The theme of inspiration and muses carries throughout the story, showing that mere talent does not do it for James. Additionally, Stiefvater’s writing is significantly more intriguing in this book than it was in “Lament”, and the two alternating viewpoints make for a diverse perspective on the happenings.
As for the main character James, I cannot deny that I like him a lot; he is eloquent but cocky, talented but despondent, and at certain points in the novel he is more confused about his emotions than anything, a state of heart I can relate to quite well. But not only James, but all the individuals in Ballad were well-written, multidimensional and lovable, making the reader feel all their joys, sorrows and anxieties.
Another aspect I love about Ballad is the palpable element of Dark Academia in it that is created by the setting of a special school for gifted students in close proximity to dark magical creatures and filled with mysterious and secretive teachers. However, I was not quite satisfied with the ending of this novel, since there were still some plot elements not completely resolved when the story ended in an admittedly grand final chapter.
In general, although I believe that Stiefvater could have indulged her readers with one more chapter inserted before this finale, I took great pleasure in reading this magical story and I can only recommend entering the wonderful world of faerie by taking up Ballad.
Season’s blessings,
Claire
Thank GOD Ballad was at least better than Lament!!! Ended so suddenly though and didn't answer all of my questions. Still, it didn't totally make me want to rip my hair out.
Ballad is the continuation of Lament from Dee’s best friend’s POV, James. They’re both enrolled at Thornking Ash, it’s the beginning of the semester and they haven’t been speaking to one another. James likes his roommate, Paul, He’s enjoying his classes in this advanced music high school, but he is too advanced a “pipe” player for them to offer him anything musically. So he questions his motives for coming to TK A. Was it just to follow Dee? Then one day Nuala shows up, she’s a fey muse who will suck the life from him literally. James knows enough to protect his life, but is he savoy enough to protect his heart? I really enjoyed this story, it held my interest with all the twists, turns and sometimes scary, sometimes nice surprises.
I liked it better than Lament until the Dénouement...there's a whole story in Dee's text messages that we are just getting hints of, though, and they present an incredibly unlikeable version of her, and I don't want to find her as wholly unlikeable as I do now.
James is a more interesting narrator, anyway, and his sense of humor is much more my style. Nuala's character arc was not at all unexpected but was well executed nonetheless. Disappointed about Sullivan's arc, I found him very interesting and while this doesn't necessarily mean we won't see him again, it doesn't seem likely that he can be a major player in the next title.
James is a more interesting narrator, anyway, and his sense of humor is much more my style. Nuala's character arc was not at all unexpected but was well executed nonetheless. Disappointed about Sullivan's arc, I found him very interesting and while this doesn't necessarily mean we won't see him again, it doesn't seem likely that he can be a major player in the next title.
This was way better than 'Lament.' The change of narrator to James and Nuala was exactly what the story needed. Their voices are sharp and sarcastic and tender - Stiefvater's special blend. I found it hilarious that the dubious heroine of the previous book was sidelined, her epic storyline unfolding mostly out of our sight. This allowed her melodramatics to carry on and we didn't have to suffer through her headspace. Lesson learned.
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes