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    Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie, Book 2
    Unavailable
    Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie, Book 2
    Unavailable
    Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie, Book 2
    Audiobook7 hours

    Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie, Book 2

    Written by Holly Black

    Narrated by Renee Raudman

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    When seventeen-year-old Valerie Russell runs away to New York City, she's trying to escape a life that has utterly betrayed her. Sporting a new identity, she takes up with a gang of squatters who live in the city's labyrinthine subway system.

    But there's something eerily beguiling about Val's new friends. Impulsive Lolli talks of monsters in the subway tunnels they call home and shoots up a shimmery amber-colored powder that makes the shadows around her dance. Severe Luis claims he can make deals with creatures that no one else can see. And then there's Luis's brother, timid and sensitive Dave, who makes the mistake of letting Val tag along as he makes a delivery to a woman who turns out to have goat hooves instead of feet.

    When a bewildered Val allows Lolli to talk her into tracking down the hidden lair of the creature for whom Luis and Dave have been dealing, Val finds herself bound into service by a troll named Ravus. He is as hideous as he is honorable. And as Val grows to know him, she finds herself torn between her affection for an honorable monster and her fear of what her new friends are becoming.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJun 13, 2006
    ISBN9780739331224
    Unavailable
    Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie, Book 2
    Author

    Holly Black

    Holly Black is the #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of speculative and fantasy novels, short stories, and comics. She has been a finalist for an Eisner and a Lodestar Award, and the recipient of the Mythopoeic and Nebula Awards and a Newbery Honor. She has sold over twenty-six million books worldwide, and her work has been translated into over thirty languages and adapted for film. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret library. Visit her at BlackHolly.com.

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    Reviews for Valiant

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      Val had a regular life – she did well in school and in sports, she had a good boyfriend, and they were making plans to go to college together. But it all changes when she comes home to find him in a compromising situation. She leaves home, her brain entering in auto-pilot, doing what she had planed to – go to New York and watch the hockey game. But when the night is over she meets Lolli and Dave, who show her a different world than she is used to.Valiant is not exactly a continuation to Tithe – there are some cameos of previous characters, and slight nods to the story, but this book is pretty much about Val, and could be read independently of Tithe. But the theme is the same; there are faeries and a certain darkness and grittiness to it.I liked this book, even more than Tithe. I was actually surprised by this – Tithe had been a good book, but not exactly mindblowing. But Valiant benefited from me not being so easily shocked now – when I read Tithe I certainly wasn’t expecting some attitudes and ideas to be present in a YA book, but this time I knew better than to assume anything.To Holly Black, just because it’s YA it doesn’t mean it has to be sugarcoated. Valiant shows kids in a place no parent would like to see them in, but the truth is it happens (sans faeries, I suppose). There is despair, there is anger, there passiveness. But it isn’t overly angsty – there are quite a few funny parts, and they are not just for comic relief.Midway through the book it seemed to me it would turn into a Beauty and the Beast kind of story, and while there are some elements of it, it is not important. The story is devoted to Val, her new-found friends and the faeries.The pages flew by, and no matter how sleepy I was, I wanted more. I really liked how it wasn’t about the romance; it was about Val and the other kids, and about the mystery. Sure, it was easy to figure out who the culprit was, but it was not so blatant that it would make my eyes rolls at the characters for not figuring it out.I really liked the characters, and especially Val – I didn’t feel she was the typical kickass heroine, but she wasn’t meek or weak either. She had her own strength, but was pretty much a normal kid.Valiant is a very good book, and now I really want to read Ironside, and everything else by Holly Black. What sold it to me might not appeal to all readers – dark fairytales and alternative lifestyles are something that I enjoy; but if it doesn’t squick you, do give this book a try.Also at Spoilers and Nuts
    • 4/5
      Valiant is the second book in the series. It focuses on Val, a human who runs away and gets pulled into the land if fairy and all its intrigues. She she's herself as a beast yet is a beauty who finds her beast.
    • 4/5
      Another audiobook chosen because it was available and the ones I had on hold were not. I’d read the first Modern Tale of Faerie, Tithe, and didn’t like it much -- but, I thought, that was ten years ago, I’ve read other books by Holly Black since then and Valiant isn’t about the same characters as Tithe.Val is feeling betrayed by the people she loves when she goes into New York to watch a hockey game and then misses the last train home. She falls in with a group of teenagers who live in the subway tunnels and run mysterious errands for faeries living in the city. Faeries who are being poisoned.Valiant is a little darker and grittier than I’d prefer, and I had to skip over a couple of the descriptions around taking drugs (that sort of thing distresses me). But I was surprised by how much I wanted to keep reading!Something else which I was not expecting was that, even though this is a story where friendships can be disappointing and difficult, when things are at their most critical, the characters’ success depends on friends going out of their way to support each other.I enjoyed Black’s prose and the hints of Beauty and the Beast. I cared about Val and understood her choices, even when I didn’t agree with them. The way she builds on skills from playing lacrosse-playing background and gains new skills through practice is satisfyingly realistic. I also appreciated that this story doesn’t glamourise running away from home or addiction. People said video games were bad because they made you numb to death, made you register entrails spattering across a screen as a sign of success. In that moment, Val thought that the real problem with games was that the player was supposed to try everything. If there was a cave, you went in it. If there was a mysterious stranger, you talked to him. If there was a map, you followed it. But in games, you had a hundred million lives and Val only had this one.
    • 5/5
      Val Russel lives a normal life with an annoying mother, a loving boyfriend, and lacrosse. A bit hot tempered, she clashes with teammates one too many times and finds herself kicked off the team. Then she goes home unexpectedly only to find her boyfriend and her mother kissing. Distraught and betrayed, Val decides to escape for a while and goes to New York after impulsively shaving her head and going to the hockey game she and her now ex were going to attend. Two homeless teens happen upon her sleeping and take her under their wing, teaching her how to survive and their own tips and tricks. They also introduce her to the world of faeries much darker than expected, but with addictive faerie medicine that gives humans faerie powers for a short time. Val spirals out of control more and more until she's caught stealing some it by Ravus, an exiled troll, and he binds her as a servant until she has repaid her debt. As both her feelings for Ravus and her addiction deepen, Val finds herself the only one willing to save him and has to fight literal and metaphorical demons to do so.I expected Valiant to be a direct sequel to Tithe with Roiben and Kaye, but it only exists in the same world. I would have been disappointed if Val and her story hadn't completely won me over within the first few pages. She feels like a real person with numerous flaws who just experienced her first real betrayal by those closest to her in addition to being soundly rejected by the only thing tying her to her school. Her escape to New York is far from idyllic, but it introduces her to a completely different world with ultimate freedom and very little repercussions. At first, the world is fun even with the seedier parts like digging through dumpsters and sleeping outside. Then, things improve even more with the discovery of the faerie world and "Never," a faerie medicine to help them cope with living so closely with huge amounts of iron. The effects are much different for humans and allow them to have faerie powers of glamour and compulsion along with feelings of euphoria and dreamlike disorientation. She and her friends start by taking it sparingly to get what they need to survive and then progress to taking it at least daily and stealing from people off the street and upscale shops. The first half of the story moves rather slowly, focusing on Val and her descent. Despite poor decision making, I was on her side the whole time. I felt for her, especially when the more monstrous sides of her friends were revealed. The need to escape and avoid negative feelings is completely understandable. When she realizes how far into the drugs and horrible lifestyle she is, it's so much harder to go through the withdrawal and get out of that situation. Val's relationship with Ravus bloomed organically and unexpectedly. It has a Beauty and the Beast dynamic that is much more complex. Ravus won't become a handsome prince with true loves kiss; he will always be a hideous troll, but Val loves him anyway. Val steals from him and lies to him before her feelings developed, complicating things and making it seem like she was just using him. Their sword sparring is one of my favorite parts of the story because it's where they get to know each other the most. With some subjects, they don't mind sharing, but others are avoided. From the time Ravus is introduced in the story, a murder mystery is revealed with Ravus as its prime suspect. This series of murders has ties to the Seelie court where he is from and exposes even more corruption of the supposed good side of the faerie world. Val is alone in fighting for Ravus' innocence. She's a drug addict, a thief, a vagrant, and casual with sex, all of which are seen in society as immoral. However, she's the hero of this story and fights with all her might to free the one she loves, showing that mistakes and others' perception doesn't define her. At her core, she's a hero through and through.Valiant is a very different story than Tithe and one that I enjoy just a little bit more. The hero has so many things going against her that she actually has to deal with when her adventure is over unlike Kaye who then lived in the faerie world. Val's object of affection isn't a handsome prince (although Roiben is much darker than the usual), but someone she connects with completely. So much of the story portrays reversals of tropes that ring much more true to me. I read this installment in only a couple of days and I will devour the last of the series as soon as I can.
    • 2/5
      Rated: R Language, Adult Situations

      Exciting. Great storyline.
    • 3/5
      I decided to listen to this audiobook a few years after not being very impressed with the first book in the Modern Faerie series while I waited for the second book Holly Black's Curse Workers series to be released. Well, Curse Workers is the series I prefer. The Modern Faerie series isn't for me. It's a little too gritty for me. Though I appreciate this book was a fantastic way of telling a story I didn't really like, if that makes any sense.I enjoyed the way Black uses the framework of the "Beauty & the Beast" tell to shape her story here without making it a straight-up retelling. I liked Val's independence, but I'd hesitate to call her a strong protagonist. I liked some of the magical elements, but like I said, this book wasn't for me.There's also a scene in the book that had me sobbing hysterically and feeling just disgustingly awful for a long time after. If I had known about it beforehand, I would never have picked up this book. So, here's my warning in hopes it may help someone (without being too spoilery) -- if you are sensitive to any kind of animal abuse, do not read this book.
    • 4/5
      I didn't like this one quite as much as Tithe. Though it seems more of a standalone, there are a few characters from Faery from the first one that are mentioned later on here. Apparently, Ironside, the third book in the series, is more of a direct sequel to Tithe.When seventeen-year-old Val finds her mom and her boyfriend making out, she runs away from her home in New Jersey to the streets of New York City. She befriends a group of kids who live in the subway tunnels where she encounters some strange substances, and meets some even stranger people, including Ravus the Troll. She agrees to help him with deliveries since he cannot go out in the sun, while he teaches her sword fighting in return. She grows to admire him and when he's accused of poisoning the other exiled faeries, she vows to help him in any way she can and everything ends happily ever after (sorta). Just like a true fairy tale. LOL
    • 2/5
      My Rating – 2 StarsVal is a runaway. Betrayed by her mom, her boyfriend, and her best friend; she decides to take off into NYC. There she meets Lolli and Dave; two homeless teenagers squatting in an abandoned subway station. She also meets Dave’s brother Luis, who doesn’t trust Val at all....Read full review HERE
    • 5/5
      Val comes home to a very big surprise, and not the good kind. Deciding to get away from it all she runs off to New York City. While there she meets some kids her age and they start hanging out. This leads her into some new and interesting situations.Valiant is such a fast, fun, intense and compelling read. Once I started it, I couldn’t put it down. I don’t have one single complaint with this book other then I wish it was longer.Holly Black is a fantastic writer. You get pulled right into the story and feel like you are right there with the characters, experiencing it all with them.I will definitely be reading this one again.
    • 1/5
      Not really a sequel to Tithe, and absolutely nothing like it. The only likable character in the whole book is a troll. Could not relate and didn't want to.
    • 3/5
      Not quite as good as 'Tithe,' I thought, but I still enjoyed this very much.
      Val, a teen from New Jersey, runs away when she finds out that her mom has been having an affair with her boyfriend. In shock, she goes to NYC, and falls in with some squatter kids living in the subway tunnels.

      The best part of the book is the portrayal of the squatters, and the culture clash between their reality and that of the sheltered suburbanites. The author really captured the milieu - how such kids can be troubled, yet smart, have issues, but yet be welcoming, supportive and accepting. Still, she doesn't romanticize it.
      It reminded me (a lot) of stuff I did in my teen years. I found it convincing.

      Of course, urban vs. suburban isn't the only conflict here - the squatter kids are in touch with faeries, and involved with running a magic potion that helps urban faeries survive in the presence of iron. Unfortunately, for humans, the effects are an awful lot like those of heroin.

      When faeries start turning up dead, the mystery of who's killing them needs to be solved... and that's where I didn't think the book was as strong. It ended up being a pretty typical drugs-and-murder-mystery kind of plot, with a bit of supernatural romance thrown in. It wasn't bad, but, as I said, I liked 'Tithe' better. (I thought this was a sequel, but they both work as stand-alone novels; they're just set in the same reality.)
    • 2/5
      I was really hoping to like this book. I was disappointed however. The characters were not well defined or built. The relationship between Valerie and her mother isn't explored well enough to elicit the type of response that Valerie expressed. Valerie isn't well defined either to explain why she would choose to go so far off the deep end over one incident. The sudden unexplained feelings between Ravus and Valerie also seemed dis-jointed and unaccounted for within the story, a sideways glance or two doesn't constitute undying love. I feel that the author could have done so much more with this story if time was taken to fully develop the characters. The plot is interesting but moves along in fits and starts. I'll continue to read this author because I believe that there is the good beginnings of great writing; I just hope to see it.
    • 5/5
      well writen story my kids enjoyed this book as we read this book at bedtime and they liked all the ups and downs as they said about this story and I had to get more of Holly Black's book for them
    • 2/5
      Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie by Holly Black. Some interesting ideas. Fairly suspenseful. However, I thought it odd that a seventeen-year-old would have unprotected sex and share a needle while taking a new drug with no mention of pregnancy, HIV, or any STDS. Addiction was very lightly mentioned. It was all too casual, I felt, for a Young Adult book.
    • 3/5
      When it seems as though everyone in Val’s life has betrayed her, she simply walks away...to New York City, where she falls in with a gang of squatters who live in the subway system. But there’s something off about her new friends. And when she ends up breaking into the lair of a mysterious creature with whom they’re all involved, and owing him as a consequence, she finds her new-found affection for him will help her battle the true evil in town. I bought this series at a used bookstore, and it sat on my to-read shelf for god-only-knows how many years before I finally picked it up and read it. It was good, but YA; book 2 definitely took a weird spin into unrelated territory before turning back; story elements I expected never appeared. It was satisfying, but the books went back into the used bookstore bag without much regret.
    • 4/5
      Just as pretty as Tithe, and with some more meat; of the three books so far published I do like this one the best.


      --

      Still not the biggest fan of Holy Black, but six years later I still really like the end of this story. Really needed a dose of the bizarre that only faery can give.
    • 4/5
      Holly Black is beautiful. I am not commenting on her appearance, though I am sure she is a very pretty person, I am stating that the way she creates these fair-tale-nightmare-dreamscapes in the modern world is nothing short of art and therefore beautiful. Even though this book has nothing to do with the star-crossed lovers of the first book the new couple is still as weird, messed up and cute as the first. The start of the book is one of my favorite parts, because Black takes a normal suburban teenaged girl and finds such a life changing event that it would cause her to go live in the city as a drug dealing hobo. This was indeed a stretch, yet at the same time it gives Valerie a very rebellious side and the idea that she was never content with her home life. One theme prevalent in the series is how things that seem nice are really horrible and deadly. I really enjoyed how messed up some of the events in the book are, they play on the fact that life is grimy and gritty and messed up, but there is always a way to find happiness or at least a happy ending. The cameo of Kaye and Robin was so perfect though!
    • 1/5
      I've only read the first 100 pages but I hate the main character so much I just can't continue, and I am not usually one to give up on a crappy book/ movie that I paid actual money for.
    • 5/5
      It's amazing. It's wonderful, and it completely captivates you.
    • 4/5
      I have to admit I wasn't expecting all that much from this series really. It's gritty and loose, but then there were moments that utterly stole me. Where the careless, heartlessness of someone surprised me. Where the hope and tenderness made me suddenly tear up. There was more to keep me here than there was to encourage me to leave.

      (And it was this series that had me track down much of what Ms. Black has written.)
    • 5/5
      The ultimate faerie book. You plunge into the unknown. Faerie worlds, creatures, underground tunnels filled with the homeless and the hopeless. And the main character is a headstrong hero. I don't like the kind of stories where the girls are dainty and need saving. She saves herself. I just love Holly Black, she writes fantastic stories. I especially love when she writes quotes at the beginning of the chapters. My favorite, and probably the most fitting is this quote:"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."-Philip k. Dick
    • 4/5
      I'd been recommended Holly Black for good urban fantasy and a realistic depiction of kids on the streets, and Valiant definitely delivered.

      It was hard to get into at first, but before I knew it, I was sucked into the world of kids living beneath the subways in NY who divide their time between dumpster diving, running errands for trolls and faeries and shooting up a faerie medicine that lets them create illusions and convince others to do their will. One of those books that had been compulsively digging it out of my purse whenever I could catch a few minutes to find out what happened next.
    • 4/5
      VAL= AWESOME, I LOVE HER.

      Fangirling aside, this is my favorite entry in the Modern Faerie Tales series. You get to really see the darker side of fey and fey magic without relying on the fey to push it. I loved the portrayal of the effects of Nevermore and the withdrawal that Val and the others go through. Her romance with Ravus was pretty much my favorite thing in the whole book, as she doesn’t need to have him be pretty and glamoured to continue their relationship, and you really get the sense of the lengths that they would go for each other. Also, you get to see the fall-out from the plot in Tithe and how it affects the exiled fey. If there’s something I like to see in a series dealing with world-changing plots, it’s seeing how the rest of the universe’s characters deal and respond to this, and especially if we’re not focused on the same characters. In conclusion, VALERIE FOR PRESIDENT.
    • 5/5
      Val comes home to a very big surprise, and not the good kind. Deciding to get away from it all she runs off to New York City. While there she meets some kids her age and they start hanging out. This leads her into some new and interesting situations.Valiant is such a fast, fun, intense and compelling read. Once I started it, I couldn’t put it down. I don’t have one single complaint with this book other then I wish it was longer.Holly Black is a fantastic writer. You get pulled right into the story and feel like you are right there with the characters, experiencing it all with them.I will definitely be reading this one again.
    • 4/5
      This is a follow up book to Tithe. Though set in the same world, Valiant follows a new set of characters. When Val catches her boyfriend and her kissing on the couch, she runs away from home and lands in New York City. She creates a new identity with herself and meets new friends, other teenagers living in the NY subway system. Through them she discovers the world of faerie and the many folk who live in the city despite the great amount of iron that could do them harm. I love Val. She a great character, on the one hand noble and giving, willing to sacrifice herself for her friends, and on the other hand throwing herself into action (a way to combat prior complacency) to such an extent that she makes terrible and terrific mistakes. I like her, even when she's screwing up, even when she's stupid or mean, because it's clear that for all her self destruction there is a chance she could pull herself free of the rut she's dug for herself, and that underneath it all she has the will and good heart to do it. At its core, Valiant is about figuring out and making sense of who you are as a person. It's about Val growing up and taking ownership of her life, but it's also about friendship and love and loyalty and the willingness to take risks in the name of what's right, in other words, being Valiant. Though Val is a complex character, the plot itself isn't especially complex. But that's okay, because it's a fun, quick read, and altogether thoroughly enjoyable.
    • 2/5
      So the first book has that, little bit weird, raunchy beginning, this on has the little bit screwed up, touch of raunchy everything-but-the-ending. I was far from prepared for the 3/4 the book where we're following drug addict street kids and the ending hardly made up for it. I get the whole modern fairy tale thing, but DAMN! Some of the things the author passes off as acceptable in the book (morally) are so awfully twisted they deserve rebuke, but I'll spare you. Overall the book wasn't terrible, but I would have thought twice had I realized what I was getting into. The first book hardly hinted at the lows Black's characters might sink to.
    • 3/5
      This was one of those books that grabbed me out of the gate and held my attention to the end. If you're looking for Spiderwick, this book is by no means for children. Even though it is touted as a young adult reader, the content and the language was extremely adult in nature. The connections with the children's series made this book feel familiar. I enjoyed it.
    • 3/5
      I decided to listen to this audiobook a few years after not being very impressed with the first book in the Modern Faerie series while I waited for the second book Holly Black's Curse Workers series to be released. Well, Curse Workers is the series I prefer. The Modern Faerie series isn't for me. It's a little too gritty for me. Though I appreciate this book was a fantastic way of telling a story I didn't really like, if that makes any sense.I enjoyed the way Black uses the framework of the "Beauty & the Beast" tell to shape her story here without making it a straight-up retelling. I liked Val's independence, but I'd hesitate to call her a strong protagonist. I liked some of the magical elements, but like I said, this book wasn't for me.There's also a scene in the book that had me sobbing hysterically and feeling just disgustingly awful for a long time after. If I had known about it beforehand, I would never have picked up this book. So, here's my warning in hopes it may help someone (without being too spoilery) -- if you are sensitive to any kind of animal abuse, do not read this book.
    • 5/5
      Val comes home to a very big surprise, and not the good kind. Deciding to get away from it all she runs off to New York City. While there she meets some kids her age and they start hanging out. This leads her into some new and interesting situations.Valiant is such a fast, fun, intense and compelling read. Once I started it, I couldn't put it down. I don't have one single complaint with this book other then I wish it was longer.Holly Black is a fantastic writer. You get pulled right into the story and feel like you are right there with the characters, experiencing it all with them.I will definitely be reading this one again.
    • 3/5
      I accidently read this series out of order - starting with Tithe and then reading Ironside before Valiant. I actually don't think it mattered that much. I had been expecting a book based on the business discussed at the end of Ironside, with Kaye, Corny and Luis, so this was a suprise. While Ironside is clearly a sequel to Tithe, Valiant has its own cast of characters. As with Tithe, the characters are outside the mainstream of society, socially isolated, homeless for various reasons, drug addicted and not very likeable really, but interesting. This book is darker again than Tithe, with more casual violence but Black has captured some essential, though disturbing, truths in this community of street life. Lolli, Dave and Luis are well drawn and I can see them huddled under the subway.The overall plot is good but I think it wandered a little in places and could have been more central to the story line - it seems a little crammed into the latter half of the novel. Val's developing relationship with Ravus was a little clumsy also - much as it was in Tithe and I don't think establishing romantic relationships are Blacks strong point.I feel much they way I did about Valiant as I did Tithe - to be chosen carefully based on the maturity and life experience of the reader.