Tithe

Black, Holly. 2002. Tithe: a modern faerie tale. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0689849249

Plot Summary

Sixteen year-old Kaye Fierch comes home to the Jersey shore after being on the road with her mother, a mostly unsuccessful singer, for six years. Kaye is nervous about how she will fit in with her old school friends who remember her as the weird girl who believes in faeries. Kaye is also eager to see her faerie friends Gristle, Spike, and Lutie-loo again. After leaving a party where she unwittingly enchants her best friend’s boyfriend, Kaye discovers a wounded faerie knight in the woods. Kaye helps the knight, Roiben, and gains a terrible power over him. Soon after, Kaye is drawn further into the faerie world than she could have ever imagined. Kaye is to be the tithe, a sacrifice that will bind the faeries of land to the Unseelie court. A pawn in a game of power between two faerie queens, Kaye’s only hope is to bind Roiben to her with love, not compulsion.

Critical Analysis

“A labyrinthine plot with Goth sensibility makes this a luscious treat for fans of urban fantasy and romantic horror.” (Kirkus Reviews)

 “Were I you, I would stay clear of the Folk in the future. We are a capricious people, with little regard for mortals” warns the faerie knight. Drawing upon traditional faerie lore, Tithe is a dark fantasy with a flawed heroine who is not what she appears to be. When Kaye discovers that she is in fact a pixie changeling, she is relieved to have an explanation for all of the things that have marked her as different and weird throughout her life. As Kaye comes to understand the rules and the cruel inhuman nature of the faerie world, she struggles with the conflict between her mischievous nature and the humanity that she has acquired.

“It’s the riveting descriptions of the faerie world—a bacchanalian hell described in remarkable detail—that will most capture readers. Dark, edgy, beautifully written, and compulsively readable.” (Booklist)

Review Citations

Engberg, Gillian. 2003. "Tithe (Book)." Booklist 99, no. 12: 1064.

2002. "TITHE (Book)." Kirkus Reviews 70, no. 17: 1303.