Stiefvater, Maggie: Lament: A Faerie Queen's Deception
Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception (2008)
Written by: Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: YA/Urban Fantasy
Pages: 325
I want to say I recognize this cover. I really do. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I remember seeing this cover online and promptly ignoring it because it's not my kind of art. However, along with another book irene2007 was so kind to let me borrow, she sent me this. While cover art, let alone faeries, are not my thing, I decided to give this a whirl.
The premise: The day that Deirdre Monaghan meets Luke Dillon, she starts to see faeries. Day by day, her life starts getting weirder and weirder, and what's worse, she's become infatuated with the mysterious Luke, a boy she knows isn't fully human but doesn't care. What she doesn't know is that Luke's been sent with a purpose, and that purpose might get her killed. And yes, if this book sounds like a cross between Stephenie Meyer's Twilight and Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely, it's intentional on my part, because those are the two books I thought of while reading this one. I don't mean that as an insult or turn-off either, as the book does grow into its own story by the end, but before I got there, I was reminded of previous works. :)
Spoilers ahead.
Let's talk about the title first. Lament: yeah, okay, I can see that. It relates both to music and foreshadows Luke and Dee's relationship, or rather, what will come of it. The Faerie Queen's Deception: uh, not so much. Yes, we have an EVIL FAERIE QUEEN but in terms of deception, I never saw her truly deceive anyone, not even Luke. Sure, she deceived herself into thinking she was truly loved by her people, but is that enough to make it the subtitle of this book? The real deception came from Dee's aunt Delia, who clearly wanted Dee dead. And Delia's no faerie queen, though I'm sure she wishes she were.
Yes, this book reminded me of what a child between Twilight and Wicked Lovely might look like. In terms of Twilight elements, you have a heroine who is inexplicably attractive to a supernatural creature for reasons that aren't entirely tangible. Edward wanted to drink Bella because she had the most intoxicating scent he'd ever smelled, but that leads to devoted attraction how? In this case, Luke is sent to kill Dee, but he finds her to fascinating and falls in love. Why fascinating? Her gift with music, and apparently she's got some magical abilities she never knew she had (telekinesis, mind-reading, etc). On the flip side, you have a heroine who falls head-over-heels for a supernatural creature (okay, so Luke isn't a faerie, but he's something special since he's lived so freaking long) despite the dangers to her life and is in awe of how beautiful said boy is. Don't worry, Dee doesn't fall into Bella-like narratives that fill up pages upon pages of how beautiful Luke is, but really, what's the attraction? I can buy the connection with music, and how any girl would love for such a beautiful/handsome boy to devote his attention to her, but . . . I dunno. The attraction is weak. She says she loves him, but my adult mind is more prone to think of lust and teenage hormones. Not to diminish Dee's feelings for Luke or to take away her motivation to save him (or at least try to), but still.
In terms of Wicked Lovely, you have a girl. Who can see faeries. Who learns that faeries have been plaguing her family. For generations. Who is told this by a grandmother. A girl who has also attracted the malicious attention of the faeries, which won't leave her alone.
*listens to crickets chirp*
Admittedly, that's all pretty circumstantial in terms of elements. I mean, the story, in the end, is different. But still, I didn't like reading along and seeing all these similarities pop up. I'm not saying, NOT AT ALL, that Striefvater copied Marr: Marr was published in 2007, Striefvater in 2008, and likely, both had their books at their respective publishers at least a year prior to publication. Unless they knew each other while working on these novels, I doubt there's any way anyone copied the other. I just want to get that out of the way. People see similarities and think, OMG! This writer copied THAT writer! And that's just not the case, not always.
Anyway. So now that I've talked about what the book reminds me of, let's talk about what the book is and what it's got going for it.
1) It's not your traditional YA/UF romance. Sure, there's love/lust/kissing involved. Dee's in love with Luke, Luke is in love with her, but her best friend, James, is also in love with her. In the end, she has to rescue both of them, but both of them are in situations where they will die, and she can only save the life of ONE. Does she save her true love? No, and that's all kinds of awesome. And there's a way she's able to prevent Luke from dying once he gets back his soul, and while the ending is UP, there's the real bittersweet fact that she'll only see Luke during the Solstice, or at least, that's the impression I'm getting, but I wonder. The Solstice allows faeries and their kind closer access to the human world, but that the only reason Dee was seeing as many of them as she was (aside from the whole drawn-to-energy thing)? I'm very curious what becomes of this, because to me, the author makes it clear that even though Luke is alive, Dee can't keep him, nor can he keep her (I love the constant reference to the Irish ballad and the hero's death, btw). I also want to see how things play out between James and Dee, not necessarily in a romantic way, but as friends as well. I really liked their friendship and how it played out on the pages. James seems like a weird, kooky kind of guy, and I know Dee's love for Luke will probably push James away a bit, but we'll see.
2) This IS your typical faerie story. At least, it reads that way to me. About the only difference that I could tell was that when the Queen was killed, the heroine didn't become the Queen in turn. Nice change, because I might've rolled my eyes and thrown the book at that point. I've complained about this before, but why must faerie stories ALWAYS feature evil queens who trap men's hearts and souls and whatnot? I mean, I know it comes from the source material, I KNOW, but I can't think of a faerie story I've read in terms of fiction where there ISN'T an evil queen who doesn't have some kind of EVIL hold on the hero that the heroine must somehow break. I'm sure said stories exist, but I haven't read them, and there's a chance that I won't WANT to read them, given my general dislike of faeries. They just don't entertain me. And yet, I keep reading about them. Anyway.
3) I really liked the dialogue. Maybe not ALL of it, but lots of it. It had snap and jazz and it popped off the page in a refreshing way that revealed character relationships to the reader. Very nicely done.
4) Not fond of the prologue. A little too abstract, even though I understood what was happening between the dove and the boy (Luke) in the well.
5) Music: interesting. As a former music major, I was semi-entertained by the angle, but I wish it'd played a larger role into the ending/climax, like maybe it was within Dee's power to change the story of the Irish ballad and therefore change Luke's fate or something. I don't know. I'm sure music will play a larger role in the sequels, and that too will be interesting to see how it plays out.
6) Dee is borderline too perfect. The only thing she's got going for her is that nobody looks at her and thinks she's beautiful save for the hero, but then again, isn't his opinion the only one that counts? She apparently a prodigious musician who just got by being ordinary until he showed up, which for some reason, I have difficulty believing (no, I can't tell you why), and then of course, she's got these psychic, supernatural gifts that are close to if not off the scale of power. It makes me think of something I read in a critique, about how in UF, the heroine has to be special somehow so that readers CAN, in some sort of way, live vicariously through said heroines. This is food for thought and the topic of an entirely different post, but it makes me wonder how special is too special, and where do characters cross the line? I think there's too much for Dee, but I may be judging her harshly, because for the most part, she does read like a down-to-Earth teen who's suddenly dealing with a world she never knew existed.
7) I liked the development of friendships. A lot. I've already commented on how I enjoyed James and Dee's friendship, but I really enjoyed seeing how Dee and Sara's friendship developed as well. Maybe they aren't QUITE to the point of friendship, but what Stiefvater does with them is really nicely done and makes me hope this minor character doesn't get completely dropped during the course of the series.
8) I hope to God that the storyline with Delia isn't over. We just touched the iceberg on that one, and all the implications and revelations really put Dee's family life into new light. So yeah, I want more. I'm also curious about the fact that every time we see Dee's mom and dad, they're always fighting (rather, she's screaming at him). I like the fact we're seeing that families aren't perfect, but I wonder if it's just painting real life or if something story-related is why the mom and dad have whatever issues they do.
9) I do like the sensuality and chemistry between Dee and Luke. I like how she kind of fights just falling into lust, even though she sometimes loses the argument. Stiefvater doesn't make a big deal about it in terms of morality (though Dee's mom's got opinions on girls kissing in public), but I like that Dee has real feelings and real urges that aren't tempered or encouraged by societies expectations. Nicely handled.
My Rating
Give It Away: but if faeries are YOUR THING, it's worth the cash, maybe even a must have, but given my bias against faeries in general, I'm not the best judge of that. It's a VERY fast read, so fast you won't even realize where you are in the book until you're halfway through it, and one really nice thing about this edition (I don't know if all of the editions will have this) is the interior art: the inside covers have lovely drawings as well as each "book" of the, well, book. ;) It's all done by the same artist that did the cover, and while the art isn't the kind of style I like, it's lovely to look at, especially in black and white. There's a lot of things I like and/or am interested in this book that might make me consider the sequel, Ballad when it comes out, but I'll definitely keep an eye on Stiefvater's future work. She's already got a title coming up that's not related to this series at all called Shiver, and from what I gather, it focuses on my particular fetish, werewolves, or at least her brand of them.
Cover Commentary: I've already said that the cover art is just not my thing. The art in and of itself isn't bad at all, but I will say it evokes a type of story that isn't what we get in the pages. I don't expect a modern, urban tale out of a book with this cover, so in all actuality, the new cover, as seen behind the cut, is far better suited to the story in the pages, IMHO. The artistic cover wouldn't make me consider the book at all, but the new, abstract cover would at least make me pick the book off the shelf. But that's me. I'm more of an abstract kind of girl. ;)
Next up (or I should say, still working on):
Drood by Dan Simmons