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himetarts 's review for:
Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception
by Maggie Stiefvater
“Here is another secret: I have no business being fascinated by you.”
A beautiful novel told in a lyrical prose, filled with golden music, a forbidden romance coated in blood lust and breath taking faeries with dark minds and feral hearts.
3/5 Stars
Recommendation: For the readers who can appreciate easy to read lyrical writting and meaningful styles that will fill your mouth with golden music. For those who are barely getting into YA and looking for an easy read, or those who don't mind characters lacking substance in exchange of a dreamy, breath taking romance. The intelligent readers looking for substance should probably pass on this novel or end up groaning through the entire thing and after.
Now let's take a moment to get personal and begin with real talk. This is the book that made Maggie Stiefvater my favorite author back in 2012, this is the book that made me the avid bookworm that I currently am and really got me interested in reading. This is the first proper YA book I ever read as well, and whatever it did, it worked.... My Goodreads page has this rated as a 5 stars and I know that if my 12 year old self could've rated it higher, she definitely would have. But here's the sad truth: Lament is one of those nostalgia books I should not be rereading because otherwise the magic will end. And it did. Maggie Stiefvater will remain my favorite author, and Lament will continue to be my favorite book ever. I still love it, the thing is that intelligently... It's just not that great of a book.
But let's just get into it, shall we.
Lament takes upon the YA formula that I tend to dislike and takes it to a whole other level of frustration. To kids who will choose to believe anything you put before them like I was once or readers who have no problem accepting what has been established in their books and move on to enjoy what they're being asked to enjoy [Like the romance, killer faeries, breathtakingly handsome boys fighting for our main character...] then you will have no problem enjoying this fast paced, beautifully written book that is easy to read and love. But... For those who have outgrown that and need a logical foundation of why our characters are our characters and a logical cohesion of why things happen, you might end up getting slightly frustrated. (More than frustrated, but the niceties are simply my Maggie Stiefvater bias speaking)
Deirdre Monaghan is a sixteen year old harp prodigy who one day dreams of a handsome stranger being chased by hunters and a dove held captive by a beautiful woman who reeks of magic and bloodlust. The name of this tormented soul is Luke Dillon, and this is the man Dee happens to meet the following morning and who perfectly recognizes her as well. Completely okay with this perfectly handsome stranger being real and knowing her as well, he proceeds to crash her music recital with his flute
The ending is in fact salvageable and rather quite pleasant with twists and bittersweet conclussions that will keep you over the edge of your seat for a while. The romance is hot and steamy without actually being explicit or smutty or age restricted, which is something I appreciate a lot from Stiefvater. Like always, her easy to read whimsical prose, eerie and damp with magic atmospheres and cleverly written fast paces are perhaps the biggest save of the book. While it can be infuriating in some aspects, it is consuming from first page to laugh. Let it be squealing and fangirling, or laughing at some of the most unbelievable parts. Take your pick, I was both.
The story also features a half slapped, doomed from the start love triangle. Oh, and the humor, let's never forget Maggie's witty humor because it's the best.
“When did you get so smart?"
He tapped his forehead. "Brain transplant. They put in a whale's. I'm passing all my classes with my eyes closed now, but I just can't get over this craving for krill." He shrugged. "And I feel sorry for the whale that got my brain. Probably swimming around Florida now trying to catch glimpses of girls in bikinis.”
Nevertheless, unlike some of my previous negative reviews, do not let stop you from reading this story if someone else recommended it or you were curious with Stiefvater's other works, as you never know when this story might catch you off guard.
Like always, some spoilers and full rants again kiddos, click read more or go below this point to behold them !
Thoughts on... Deidre? The romance, yeah, the romance.
Sigh. Welp, here goes nothing for a couple of more in depth rants I have about these characters.
Deidre is a smart girl right? She's presented as such, and during the beginning and with her state of mind, I would've had no reason to doubt that... Or at least under Luke happened. There is no reason for a sixteen year old to be awed by a bad boy who you don't know anything about, has more than once warned you his is dangerous and you suspect he might be trying to kill you. Don't get me wrong, I love Luke, and both my 12 year old and current self were more than swept away with his character. Ruggedly good looks, motorcycle bad boy with a great talent for music and assassination.
Yeup.
Look, I love me some good blood sheds and assassins, but I'm trying to put myself in Drei's shoes here. One thing is the mysterious, brooding and misunderstood that Luke has going on that we all fall for when it comes to our bad boy formula in YA. But another thing is first degree murder who's next target happens to be you and that on top of it all you don't actually know. Apart from that one dream she had with him in it which seems to be telling enough for her to let him into her life that fast. Deidre found out he was an immortal who has been killing people for hundreds of years and she was only disgusted for the high score of five minutes before throwing herself all over his arms once more.
The worst part is that no one ever asks questions. I used to be fascinated by this concept when I was child, but there is now simply no way real life works that way. Every time Deidre snaps out of her trance (and my own) and attempts to confront Luke on how he knows so much about her or why he is in her life all of a sudden, his every response happens to be "I just know so many things about you." "I know a lot of you." Swoon worthy, yes. Scary, creepy and dangerous for a sixteen year old, yes. Yes.
Of course Luke wouldn't kill her though, he's known her for one week, she can read his thoughts and thus that must mean its true love. I'm puking at the insta love, but I can't stay mad at Luke. I just can't.
“Don't tell me that. I've lived in hell for the past thousand years. I spent a thousand years wishing I'd never been born. She's the only thing that's made my life worth living and if that's all I get, a few months with her- a few days, it's more than I've ever hoped for. Do you really think God would forgive me for the blood on my hands, even if my soul was free? I'm going to hell no matter what happens. Let me have my pathetic hopeless love while I can. Just- let me pretend it will turn out alright.”
While Deidre is fierce and dauntless and thanks goodness not a typical damsel in distress but God can she be plain and lack personality. But of course, our handsome soulless mercenary finds something about her mysterious and enthralling and he simply must have her.
And then lets not forget her sweet, adorable, loyal, nerdy and rather kickass best friend James who is undoubtedly head over heels for Deidre. He's handsome as hell too, yet so far deep in the friendzone you can practically feel his pain. Any other complaints about him I must have forgotten because, he was such a predictable character he's far faded into my brain. Nevertheless, I adored the child and was very happy to be seeing more of him in Stiefvater's (half) sequel, Ballad.
All Twilight comparisons abound, I'd hate to ever bag them in the same bags. Maggie's Stiefvater's prose is magical and lyrical, her way with words is as entrancing as Luke (as much as I hate to say it, because the matter of fact is than I'm total trash for this man) is to the fans and Deidre. Despite Deidre's "plain-ness" she and the rest of the characters in the book include some much needed depth, unlike Meyers, and this book contains many other aspects that leave you much more enthralled than the romance.
Even with all of this, I'm not sure how the fuck this keeps being my favorite book out of my entire bunch. I just love it so much. And I must have a problem. Why must you do me so, Maggie.
Full & Other 3K Word Review with Rants, Spoilers & Book theorizing @ Sweet & Unholy