Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale
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| Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale | |
 Harcover of Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale |
|
| Author | Holly Black |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Sammy Yuen, Jr. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
| Publication date | 2002 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
| Pages | 331 pp (paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-689-86704-2 (Paperback edition) |
| Followed by | Valiant : A Modern Tale of Faerie |
Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale is a young adult fantasy novel by Holly Black, first published in 2002 by Simon & Schuster.
[edit] Plot summary
Tithe is about sixteen-year-old Kaye Fierch. The book starts in Philadelphia, at one of Kaye's mother's concerts. After her mother's boyfriend, Lloyd, attempts to kill her mother, her mother takes her back to Kaye's grandmother's house to stay.
Once at her grandmother's house, Kaye beings to look for her old "imaginary" friends, who were faeries named Lutie-Loo, Spike, and Gristle. However, she can't find them and, begins to suspect that they were simply figments of her imagination.
Her suspicions dissolve when she finds and saves the life of Roiben, a faerie knight, by pulling a magicked arrow out of his chest. In return, he grants her three truthfully answered questions about anything, which she does not immediately use. Soon after this, her old "imaginary" friends contact her and warn her that Roiben is a murderer who has murdered one of her friends. As revenge, Kaye tricks Roiben into telling her his full name (she later learns that by knowing the true name of a faerie, they are forced to obey whatever they are told to do).
Later on, her same "imaginary" friends inform her that she is actually a changeling and that she should keep her human appearance, because the Unseelie Court wishes to use her as a tithe to hell. Since Kaye is not mortal, the ritual will be forfeit, and the fairies whom the Unseelie Court wants to be bound to them will go free. She is soon kidnapped by a group of fairies, as planned and is taken to the Unseelie Court to go through the sacrificial ceremony. At the climax of the ceremony, Roiben manages to free her from her bonds before she is killed and get them both safely away from the Court. In the process, he kills the queen of the Unseelie Court and many of her guards.
Kaye and Roiben spend the day at Kaye's home and, discover that strange events are affecting the mortal world. Odd reports of mauling and kidnappings are reported on the news and Roiben makes Kaye understand that this is a result of the solitary fey being free for the next seven years. Kaye receives a call from her friend Janet inviting her to come to a Halloween rave held at the local waterfront, she tries to persuade her not to go but fails. She also discovers that Janet's openly gay brother, Corny, has followed a faerie knight he fell in love with, to the court.
After a failed attempt to receive help from her "imaginary" faerie friends, Roiben and Kaye attend the rave. They are separated, and Kaye successfully locates her friends, but briefly leaves them to apologize to Janet's boyfriend for bewitching him earlier in the novel. However, she finds that a kelpie who lives near the waterfront (and who had earlier taught Kaye to perform simple glamour) has taken Janet into the water to kill, and eat her. In the novel, it is suggested that Janet went with him out of loneliness and a desire to get revenge on her boyfriend for going off with Kaye. Kaye follows but is too late and she manages to convince the kelpie to relinquish her body. Roiben finds Kaye mourning for her friend and gets her home.
The next morning, she and Roiben travel to the Seelie Court's camp some distance away to see if Corny is there They reach a dead end, but discover that the knight (Nephamael) has proclaimed himself the king of the Unseelie Court. Roiben is suspicious of the situation and thinks that it is a trap for Kaye and him. Later, Roiben's suspicions are proved correct when they enter the Unseelie Court. Nephamael, who had discovered Roiben's true name when Kaye shouted it at the tithe, uses it to take control over Roiben. He orders him to seize Kaye, but Roiben uses trickery to let her get away. Kaye then devises a plan to poison Nephamael, while Corny and Roiben amuse him. She goes through with it, however, before Nephamael is dead, the Seelie Queen arrives, hoping to take over the court. Roiben prevents this from happening by claiming the throne as his.
The book ends approximately a week after this, just after Janet's funeral. Kaye is waiting for her mother to pick her up when Roiben appears, "wanting to return something". What he returns is a kiss he had "taken" from her on Halloween. The story closes with Kaye 'giving' the kiss back, And a hopefully 'happily ever after' ending.
The plot of Tithe is continued in the sequel, Ironside.
[edit] Characters in "Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale"
- Kaye Fierch - Kaye is the headstrong and independent main character of Tithe. She was supposed to be half Japanese from her father's side, with her mother's blond hair, but later found out she is a pixie changeling and has no human blood at all. She has dropped out of high school, and falls in love with Roiben.
- Ellen Fierch - Kaye's mom. She is involved with various bad bands.
- Lloyd - Lloyd, Ellen's boyfriend from the beginning of the novel, was part of Ellen's band, Stepping Razor. As they were playing in a bar, he met Nephamael, and attempted to stab Ellen. Kaye has his jacket, and later guessed it was Nephamael who charmed him from the thorn in the pocket (from Nephamael's cloak.)
- Roiben (Rath Roiben Rye) - Was a knight to the Seelie Queen, until he was traded to the Unseelie Queen. He must obey Kaye when she commands him, because she knows his full name. He is a strong fighter, defeating all of his opponents at the Tithe, though at the beginning he is wounded by an arrow.
- Corny (Cornelius Stone) - Janet's older brother, is the only human Kaye tells about being a faerie. He is openly gay and is strongly attracted to Nephamael, but it is mostly due to magic and thus later stabs him while the knight is dying when it wears off.
- Janet Stone - Corny's younger sister and Kaye's best friend since elementary school. She is oblivious to her friend and brother's fairy dealings, and is eventually killed by a kelpie.
- Lutie-Loo - One of Kaye's "imaginary" faerie friends from childhood. She is the classic 'Tinkerbell', being only as few inches high with cornsilk hair and wings.
- Gristle - One of Kaye's "imaginary" faerie friends from childhood. He was killed by Roiben after stealing some cakes.
- Spike - One of Kaye's "imaginary" faerie friends from childhood. He was killed by Nephemael.
- Nephamael - Nephamael, like Roiben, was a knight traded off, this time to the Seelie Queen. After the Unseelie Queen's murder, Nephamael takes charge of the Unseelie Court, until he is murdered himself.
- Silarial - Seelie Queen, sister to Nicnevin. It is believed she orchestrated the whole plot to kill Kaye and free the solitary fey.
- Nicnevin - Unseelie Queen, sister to Silarial.
- Kenny - Janet's boyfriend, becomes attracted to Kaye because she unwittingly enchanted him.
- The Kelpie - A murderous water horse, one of the solitary fey, who teaches Kaye magic in return for a carousel horse companion. He kills Janet later in the novel.
[edit] Trivia
- Corny is reading a book titled Vintage - referencing the novel of the same name written by Black's friend Steve Berman, in which the main character is reading a copy of Tithe.
