What can I say? I love Holly Black. Ironside is her sequel to Tithe and although a little too high fantasy for me on some chapters, Ms. Black still does a fantastic walking the line of urban fantasy and high fantasy.
In Ironside we find Kaye, the recently turned pixie (well, she was always a pixie, just wearing a glamor of a punk girl…all her life…of course, until it falls off one day) going on a journey to find a fairy that can tell a lie. All so that she can be once and for all reunited with Rath Roiben Rye, the king of one of the fairy courts and Kaye’s love interest.
Corny, her best friend (a very masculine and smart gay teen who serves as comedy relief), accompanies her through the streets of New York
What I loved about this book is that we meet Luis and Sketchy Dave for the first time (the supporting cast from Valiant), and we see their back story. I love when authors do this (I like to do this myself)! It’s so exciting for find out more information about characters you know! Luis is the “human boy with true vision.” He can see fairies and knows a bunch of recipies to break spells.
For example, the man who is spellbound by a faerie and every time he opens his mouth copper pennies fall out. Luis tells him he must eat every single penny that comes out of his mouth to reverse the spell. Every single one! So he must go searching for all the pennies! Yikes!
What I found a little difficult to follow was the relationship between Kaye and Rath Roiben Rye. There isn’t enough history there for them to be so in love….or maybe she is too human for him….not sure. He is definetly an attractive character, I just don’t know if their relationship really worked all that well. I felt like Kaye was too cool for Roiben.
But all in all, I loved Ironside because there is something that Black does not fail to do…and that is give us unforgettable characters and adventure filled stories that will not leave your head. Another wonderful book by an author who is quickly becoming my favorite…Holly Black!
