2008 Books: Tithe by Holly Black

[linthornhill]

I bought this book for SnarkyWench's younger daughter as a Christmas gift, and then realized I should probably read it first. I liked the title, and with my background, titles are a big deal to me. I've been known to purchase books or films on the basis of title alone. My secondary reason for picking it up was that I've been following a

Comments

[linthornhill]

SnarkyWench has an older daughter as well, and she read all three of the Black books, thinking only the final one was redeemable in any way at all. That's not to say she liked them.

I think the author writes deliberately choppy sentences in order to create an edgy mood, but it doesn't quite deliver. Her story arcs are truncated and unresolved with the exception of the superficial story line ... she leaves the relationship issues hanging ... and none of her protagonists are particularly admirable.

I think she's become popular for the same reasons Laurel K. Hamilton is popular. Her work allows middle class girls take a walk on the wild side and think Oh, I don't want to live there, and I'm so much safer here at mom and dad's, I'll never do any of this stuff. It also appeals to those teens who are dissaffected by pretending to be real. It is to some degree ... the teens are aimless, homeless, isolated cast-offs, who band together something like feral animals in order to survive, but the underlying hopelessness of the stories leave no shred of light at the end of the tunnel. That's fine for a read if you're into something along those lines ... but not, not, not for a young girl.