I believe in books.: Blake Reviews Lament-The Faerie Queen's Deception

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Flux
Release Date: 8 October 2008
Format: Paperback
Series: Books of Faerie #1
Source: Purchased
Pages: 325

Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but prodigiously gifted musician. She's about to find out she's also a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy who enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of thin air. Trouble is, the enigmatic and gorgeous Luke turns out to be a gallowglass—a soulless faerie assassin. An equally hunky—and equally dangerous—dark faerie soldier named Aodhan is also stalking Deirdre. Sworn enemies, Luke and Aodhan each have a deadly assignment from the Faerie Queen. Namely, kill Deirdre before her music captures the attention of the Fae and threatens the Queen's sovereignty. Caught in the crossfire with Deirdre is James, her wisecracking but loyal best friend. Deirdre had been wishing her life weren't so dull, but getting trapped in the middle of a centuries-old faerie war isn't exactly what she had in mind...

I know the last few weeks Deidra and I haven't been posting a lot, and we are terribly sorry! We had no idea our summers were going to be this hectic. We will try and post more regularly now that things have settled down a bit. :)

I had high expectations for this book. I love Maggie's other books, and I was surprised when this one ended up disappointing me. I couldn't relate to the main character or her problems. I feel like the craziest things would happen, and then she would just nod and say, "Okay!" without ever really thinking about it. Handsome faery-man? No problem. I can do magic? Cool. I feel like these revelations should have been more earth-shattering and life changing.

The main character, Deidre, is faced with death, magic, and all around weirdness, and she just accepts it like someone told her the weather for the day. She's a talented musician, yes, but they don't really elaborate much on that except to continuously tell you how awesome she is.

Her best friend, James, is likeable, but it's obvious from the start what his true feelings are. It takes Deidre most of the book to come to the same conclusion, and even that is somewhat tossed to the side. I really loved her elusive, eccentric grandmother... sadly, that is also short-lived.

I believe the story had a lot of potential, and I really wanted to love it. Faeries books are some of my favorite stories, but this one fell short for me. I started reading the second book to see if I could get into it, but I couldn't get through the first few pages.

According to other Reviewers, I seem to be one of the few that didn't enjoy this book. I loved the idea, and the overall story, but I just couldn't get into it.