Disclosure: I received this book courtesy of Maggie Stiefvater
Ballad (A Gathering of Faerie, book 2)
Book Description: Remember us, so sing the dead, lest we remember you James Morgan has an almost unearthly gift for music. And it has attracted Nuala, a soul-snatching faerie muse who fosters and then feeds on the creative energies of exceptional humans until they die. James has plenty of reasons to fear the faeries, but as he and Nuala collaborate on an achingly beautiful musical composition, James finds his feelings towards Nuala deepening. But the rest of the fairies are not as harmless. As Halloween—the day of the dead—draws near, James will have to battle the Faerie Queen and the horned king of the dead to save Nuala's life and his soul.
Review:
Sometimes you fall in love with a book and eagerly seek out the author's other works hoping to find that same feeling. Sadly, disappointment often follows as you discover that those stories fall far short of the book you loved. For me, Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater was one of the best books I had ever read. And I tried--I really tried-- not to hold her other books, BALLAD in this case, to an impossible standard. Truth is? I needn't have worried.
BALLAD is the second book in the Gathering of Faerie series (after Lament), but it isn’t a sequel in the traditional sense. Other reviewers have more accurately called it a companion novel. What's the difference? While it helps to have read Lament prior to starting BALLAD , you can absolutely enjoy BALLAD on it's own. Lament was very much Dee's story, whereas BALLAD shifts the focus to Dee's best friend James as the two of them head off to Thornking-Ash Conservatory for musical prodigies. Escaping to a new school, however, doesn't mean that they've escaped from the faeries who had terrorized them. Quite the opposite. Faeries have flocked to Thornking-Ash in unprecedented numbers, including the Horned King of the Dead himself and The Faerie Queen. And James and Dee have both been targeted.
If you've already read Maggie's wonderful Shiver (and you should), then you already know that she excels at capturing the male point of view. James' voice and narration is real enough to be occasionally uncomfortable. I won't be able to adequately express how I felt feel about the character of James. He has a witty and sly humor, and a dryly sarcastic way of observing the world. Maybe this next part is only true of me, but I actually knew James. Of course that wasn't his name, but its like Maggie took my friend and put him in her book. I lost my James a few years ago to cancer, but reading BALLAD was like getting the gift of one more day with him. Bittersweet.
Maggie once again makes use of multiple POV's focusing primarily on James but also including chapters from Nuala's perspective. Nuala is a muse, a leanan sidhe. She is drawn to gifted boys and slowly sucks their lives away while pushing them to creative heights unattainable on their own. When she sees James, she knows she's found her next Human, but as he struggles to resist her offer and charms tailored specifically to him, Nuala enters into a struggle of her own, battling between her ever increasing hunger and a budding reluctance to steal away even a moment of James' life.
If you read my review of Shiver, you already know how I gushed about Maggie's writing ability. There is a lyrical quality to her words and the way she constructs her sentences, and that talent once again sings from every page of BALLAD. She is really on a different plane from anyone else writing within this genre today.
Sexual Content: (YA titles receive a more thorough breakdown) An attempted rape, kissing, a scene of mild sensuality.
My Rating (out of 5):
Click HERE to read an excerpt of Ballad
Product Details
Reading level: Young Adult
- Paperback: 360 pages
- Publisher: Flux; Original edition (October 1, 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0738714844
- ISBN-13: 978-0738714844
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