Tithe

I’m not sure how I found this book; it might have been in a search for feminist books for young readers. The main character, Kaye, is a gutsy, strong-minded, 16-year old. That probably qualified it. Tithe is a story about Faeries; Kaye comes to the realization that she is a pixie early in the story. She finds herself caught between the Seelie (good) and Unseelie (evil) Faerie courts. On the one hand she finds aspects of Unseelie seductive, on the other hand 16 years of human upbringing tell her it’s wrong. 

Holly Black gives fairly vivid descriptions of the Seelie and Unseelie courts, but they made me yearn for the more lush descriptions of Anne Rice. (Maybe it’s time for another of her books . . .)

This is young adult urban fantasy and I found it mildly engaging. As I reflected on the book, however, I realized that it is heavy with adoption themes: late discovery of her status, for one. As part of that discovery, she finds out that she is a changeling – a pixie left in place of a baby that the faeries stole. This explains why she doesn’t really relate to her human mother. She also doesn’t feel like she fits in well with her human friends. As the story ends, she decides to accept and keep both aspects of herself – faerie and human.

Tithe by Holly Black (2004, 336 pages)