Book four: Valiant

Valiant (2005)
Holly Black

Rating: 4.25/5

Wow. Okay, she can write real good.

I don’t think there is much more I can say about just how good it is.

I enjoyed this a lot, but not as much as the first. I’m not sure if it was because my expectations were higher, but I think it was mostly because I liked the story in Tithe more.

Part of it though, was the dreaded Blurb Syndrome. You know, when you read the back of the book and it tells you too much about the plot to the point where you’re just like ‘hurry up already.’

Well, the back of this book tells you too many details. I wasn’t so much with the ‘hurry up already,’ because I was enjoying getting there, but I think it would have been more suspenseful if the back didn’t summarise most of what happens in the first half (or in my opinion anyway).

It’s really only the third paragraph that ruins it, too.

Black continues to completely ignore the divide between what ‘should be in a YA book’ and ‘what should be in an adult’s book.’ And I don’t think any of it is just for shock value either, everything that happens in the book feels realistic for the characters and the situation.

I really enjoyed the subtly and complexity of the relationships that develop between the characters, and that is something she did so well previously too. The emotions that develop seem so much more real than reading 200 pages of someone obsessing about whether or not the ‘boy’ likes them.

Although I do have the same complaint I had with Tithe: I want more.

I want to know more about what happens to Val. As with Tithe, Black has set up a really interesting premise at the end of the book. In this case, much more interesting in my opinion, than where they were at the beginning. I want to know what happens next.

I’m not sure if we will hear anything more about Val and her friends, but I can say that now I really, really, really, really, really, really don’t want to wait until May until the next one.

I think I shall have to track down The Spiderwick Chronicles* ASAP.

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* The Spiderwick Chronicles were created with Tony DiTerlizzi (who I believe is the illustrator?). They are: The Field Guide, The Seeing Stone, Lucinda’s Secret, The Ironwood Tree and The Wrath of Mulgarath.