Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie | 
 enlarge | Author: Holly Black
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy New: $4.07
You Save: $3.92 (49%)
New (32) Used (18) Collectible (2) from $3.25
Avg. Customer Rating:  68 reviews
Sales Rank: 9866
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 0689868235
EAN: 9780689868238
ASIN: 0689868235
Publication Date: September 26, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: GREAT BUY!Brand New From US Distributor! WE ARE A 5 STAR SELLER with OVER 3,500,000 BOOKS SOLD!!! OVER ~ 600,000 FEEDBACKS ~ POSTED!!!
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Product Description
When seventeen-year-old Valerie runs away to New York City, she's trying to escape a life that has utterly betrayed her. Sporting a new identity, she takes up with a gang of squatters who live in the city's labyrinthine subway system.But there's something eerily beguiling about Val's new friends. And when one talks Val into tracking down the lair of a mysterious creature with whom they are all involved, Val finds herself torn between her newfound affection for an honorable monster and her fear of what her new friends are becoming.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 63 more reviews...
Amazing read and yet... July 4, 2008
As good as this book was, it wasn't actually necessary to the series. 'Valiant' was entertaining, but not what I expected when someone told me it was the next part in the series after 'Tithe'. While it does relate it still is sort of its own story withing the full story. Great on its own, it didn't need to sneak into the middle.
Valiant May 22, 2008
When I first started this book, I wasn't sure I would like it as much as I liked Tithe. My advice is to stick with it! It ended up being a good read. Although it doesn't seem to have connections to Tithe other than the fact that it deals with Faerie, characters from this book show up in Ironside, the actual sequel to Tithe. If you have already read Ironside, I don't think that there is information that will ruin Valiant for you, and I would still read it. I would recommend this book to teens who liked Tithe, enjoy fantasy and even those who like books that are more realistic and are looking for something a little out of their comfort zone because of the very real and 'human' conflicts that plague the main characters.
 Unique, Amazing, Fascinating, Raw May 21, 2008
An amazing and unique modern day fairy tale. For anyone who loves fantasy or fairy stories, or books about strong women, i would suggest. Think "the weetzie bat books" and make it more "today" (the main girl is prone to think of video games often, etc), sexier, more raw, more dangerous, and add some serious girl toughness. think tank girl living underground in the tunnels in nyc and battling fairies (and they aren't typical tooth-fairy demure types) and being a hero. Think strange drugs and romance. this book literally took me to a world i have never heard another author describe.
I found this in the young adults section, but if you are buying for your a younger kid, i would read it first and decide. There is a lot of drug-type use and bondage sex and regular sex, lids living underground and running away, and other things that some kids might not be ready for. To put it a different way, it is very RAW. While i am all for kids reading mature books, this one gets pretty intense in a way that i think could be inappropriate. In my opinion the "mature" aspects are what makes the story really amazing, but i think this is definitely not for the younger or more immature reader. I am certainly not a prude, but i really would not want my 12 year old reading this. But i would totally buy it for her when she was a bit older!
but that is just me.
 Riding the Crest of the Young Adult Wave April 9, 2008
YA fantasy seems to be more popular than ever, and Holly Black's right in the middle of it.
As another reviewer mentioned, this is better than Tithe, though the world of teenagers that Black serves up is a bit raw and sensationalist. In Valiant, the magic drug use keeps it honest, and not edgy for edgy's sake. (Still a few too many unnecessarily "brutal" elements make it a bit callow.)
Definitely a fast paced book that'll hold your interest.
Much Better Than Tithe April 1, 2008
After Tithe, I was reluctant to continue reading Holly Black's faerie tales. However, a close friend assured me the series got better afterward and--even better!--all the books were linked. So I gave Valiant a chance, and I'm glad I did. In fact, I read it twice, because Valiant is a novel that makes more sense and is even more enjoyable during the second read.
The prologue gives us a glimpse of the side problem: somewhere, someone is poisoning antidotes meant for magical creatures. "Ravus," is one creature's final word.
Chapter one introduces us to Val. Val is a girl who does better as a sidekick, and she's perfectly comfortable in that position, particularly to her friend Ruth. "Robin to Ruth's Batman," as she puts it. She's also a bit of a tomboy, something she seems to find her mother responsible for, since she wasn't allowed to wear make-up, short skirts, or date boys until high school. And now she's dating Tom, only to find out she's not the only one--she's sharing a boy with her own mother.
This is where Val begins to change. She runs off, shaves her head, and allows herself to seem like a homeless person on the streets of New York. There she meets Lolli and Dave, who take her to their underground hideout with Dave's brother, Luis. But what's absolutely bizarre is that all three of her new comrades seem to think faeries and myths are real. And Val finds this out for herself when she becomes indebted to a troll... who happens to be called Ravus.
Holly Black takes her time developing these characters in intriguing ways. No one comes off as particularly boring or annoying to the reader--a HUGE improvement from Tithe. Val's inner struggles are made believable--her disgust and betrayal when she finds out about Tom and her mother; her uncertainty and wariness of her new friends; the addiction she forms with a strange drug called Never. And, probably the most enjoyable, was her developing feelings for Ravus and his strange actions around her.
We see guest appearances of Roiben and "the green-skinned, black-eyed" girl from Tithe, hinting that the books of modern faerie tales Holly Black is writing are all tied together. She paces this novel very well--I actually had difficulty putting it down to sleep! The swearing isn't overboard and the drama is kept out of the soap opera zone.
In short, Valiant is a wonderful continuation of Tithe, and I'm actually eager to get my hands on Ironside now.
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