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Valiant by Holly Black


Valiant by Holly Black is a very intense teen-fantasy novel about a seventeen-year-old girl named Valerie Russell-also known as: Val. Valiant is Holly Black’s second novel. The first to her collection is Tithe. Both of these books are beautifully written and tie into the world of faeries and trolls and things of such nature. Black is an avid collector of scary stories, creepy dolls, and crazy hats.

Val is this amazing character who changes drastically throughout this book. By the end, she is a completely different individual. The suspense and action in this book is what kept me thirsting for more and more. There is added humor that makes this reading that much more worth while.

A major theme in this novel is that fighting for who you are, what you love and believe in, and what you know is the truth can not only benefit you, but also everybody else, in the end of a torturous situation. Even if it takes all the blood and sweat in Valerie Russell’s body, she is not going down without a fight. Val’s hardworking drive serves as both her strength and weakness in the book.

Val’s journey takes place in the suburbs of New York, New York, where she has ran away from home. Heartbroken and devastated from her horrific discovery that her own mother was making out with and cheating on her with her boyfriend, Tom, she boards a train and escapes into the crowded New York streets. While aboard, she cuts her long hair to a buzz, hoping that it will give her some feeling of dignity; she wants a new identity to escape the realness of her situation.

Turning off her phone and cutting off all contact with her friends and her family, Val runs into two teens at a local café; Dave and Lolli are two rebellious advocates. Lolli takes Val in under her wing. However, when Dave and Lolli arrive to their so-called home in a subway labyrinth, Luis, Dave’s older brother who is also the ‘leader�, is very displeased but decides to put up with the new intruder anyways.

Val notices that things are a little bit creepy around the place but decides to shake it off and just “go with the flow�. One day Val goes along with Dave on one of his deliveries and discovers the mystical world she had only heard of that involves faeries and glamour.

After becoming more and more fond of this new-found world, she decides she wants to try and become a part of it and shoots up a magical drug that Lolli and Dave have been using for a while, that they like to call Never; “Nevermore, never, never…no more pain�. No more times that twice a week, and no more times than once a day. This drug allows mortals to have glamour to mask their appearance and make them seem unbelievably beautiful and horrifyingly manipulative. They get everything they ask for and never feel a thing until the drug starts to wear away.

While on the Never, Lolli and Val decide to go check out a specific place where Dave makes his deliveries; the home of a troll that goes by the name of Ravus. Ravus was put into exile by the order of the faerie queen because of a sword fight against his best friend, Tamson, which had gone terribly wrong. He is also the maker of Nevermore and while trying to break into his house, they are attacked by a gorgeous glass sword. Short moments after their arrival, the troll shows up and makes an attempt to punish the two girls, however, Val escapes, leaving Lolli. As a trade for Lolli’s freedom Val agrees to do deliveries for Ravus.

While on the way to do a delivery, Val witnesses something terrible; there is a dead mermaid lurking above the water; a Folk. Ravus arrives, once again just in time, and informs her of the poisonings that have been happening and that he is a main suspect because of the potions that he makes; the potions she and Dave have been delivering.

Val is now severely caught up in a heap of trouble along with Dave, Lolli, Luis, and Ravus. In the midst of trying to escape, Val hears an unbelievably familiar voice; it’s Ruth-her best friends whom she’d been avoiding and ignoring for almost a month. Lolli had agreed to lead her to Val if she’d shut up. Val is frustrated and relieved all at the same time.

Now not only is Val caught up in the mystery, but Ruth is too. The entire gang has their lives at stake and who will be to blame? Will Ravus end up being the culprit and will Ruth and Val make it out alive? Are Dave, Lolli, and Luis the ones to blame for the Folk poisonings, or is it the wicked Mabry-who was also put into exile because Ravus killed her love, Tamson? Val’s mother is worried sick and there are many lives to be saved and many mysteries to be unveiled. However, to unmask the unknown, you must read this mythically majestic novel, ever so wonderfully written by the great Holly Black!





Genre: Teen-Fiction/Fantasy

Page Count: 320