This book, the first of three related ones by Holly Black (of Spiderwick Chronicles fame), was released in 2002. Although it apparently took her five years or so to write it, it’s kind of funny that it came out such a short period of time after the re-release of Emma Bull’s War for the Oaks. Having read both, it’s obvious (to me) that the former owes a lot of its existence to the latter.

Both books start in a bar, with a band playing punk/rock music. In both, a fey-type person comes into the bar, and the scene ends up with the chick singer in the band breaking up with her boyfriend. In War for the Oaks, the chick singer is the main character. In Tithe, the main character is the chick singer’s daughter.

I’m not going to describe the rest of the plot by pointing out the differences and similarities. Kaye, the protagonist, is walking home from a party somewhat after the opening scene in the club, and runs into a wounded Faerie knight, Roiben. She binds his wounds for him, and develops a bit of a sixteen-year-old crush on him. As it turns out, she’s not freaked out (too much) by running into another member of Faerie because three of her very good friends were faeries when she was a child, and she’s been able to see and communicate with them her entire life. The knight she helped is a Seelie knight, bonded to the Unseelie Court in a vaguely diplomatic fashion (imagine an exchange of knights). Roiben is unfortunately bound by duty in so many ways, and one of his duties is to find a suitable sacrifice for the tithe of the title. Guess who that turns out to be.

As many similarities as there are to War for the Oaks, it’s quite different; War for the Oaks was written for adults and the main character (Edie) is done with all the coming-of-age business. Kaye still has much growing up to do and many changes head of her.

There are interesting twists and turns to the plot, as well as a secondary story about Kaye and her best friend Janet. Janet’s brother, Corny, is also instrumental. In some ways, the plot was a bit strange, as what I would have considered the climax of the story happened about two-thirds of the way through. Then the plot calmed down for a chapter or two, and built up to a second, more extreme climax. It felt a little strange when I was reading it, considering that I’d thought I’d figured out what the climax was going to be . . . and then it happened, but that wasn’t the end of the book. If you’re a slightly less deductive reader, or if you just go with the flow, you’d probably be happier with it than I was.

Another thing that bothered me about the book is that I am thoroughly sick of stories about rave kids. I do not need to read another book glorifying a lifestyle that involves partying all night constantly and taking vast amounts of drugs. I don’t need to hear about how they have so many spiritual experiences and how freeing it can be to dance all night while hopped up on E. It’s not censorship that I advocate; I just personally don’t want to read that book. Too many people die, get sick, mess themselves up for life, etc. while being part of that scene. Luckily, this wasn’t that kind of book. I thought it might possibly be after reading the first chapter, but it definitely wasn’t.

That having been said, the book is about troubled kids. Kaye’s mom isn’t exactly a force of stability. Kaye herself has been known to shoplift, and she’s a high-school dropout. However, a lot of that follows from her situation in life. It isn’t so much that she’s acting out or anything; it reads as if she is making the best of her situation, as imperfect as it is.

The writing is great. There are no infodumps; the language is mostly appropriate to the character who’s speaking. There’s a bit of a time issue, though: Kaye mentions her mother breaking one of her LPs at some point in time, but she listens to Courtney Love. I guess if the story were set in about 1996 or 1997, that would be fine. Corny is still accessing the internet via dial-up, but it seems as it that’s because his family is dreadfully poor. Nothing is terrifically out of place, but I think modern readers would realize, fairly early on, that the book is not precisely set in 2007.

This is a great book for teenagers; in some ways Holly Black accomplished the same kinds of things that Stephenie Meyer was trying for and failed. Kaye is not a Mary Sue in any way, shape, or form, but she does have some wish-fulfillment going on. The love story is a thousand times more believable. The book doesn’t read like a fantasy diary; the violence isn’t stupid, and the tricks are less obvious. If a teenager is reading the Stephenie Meyer books because she likes the fantasy and romance aspects and isn’t particularly wedded to vampires, I think this book would be a better suggestion. For adults, I would say you have to be in the mood for a book that’s definitely written for teenagers, although obviously it’s not so current that it’s unreadable. 4/5 stars.