Review: Lament by Maggie Stiefvater

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 . . .

Lament is a dark faerie fantasy that features authentic Celtic faerie lore, plus cover art and interior illustrations by acclaimed faerie artist Julia Jeffrey.

While this book wasn't quite up to the same AWESOME as Maggie Stiefvater's Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, I still wasn't disappointed.This was just her debut novel, anyways. She has obviously improved as a writer.

As always, Maggie Stiefvater's writing is something I admire. It's just so beautiful and vivid and gives this extra quality. So when it was that combined with the faerie element of the story, it created something almost dream-like, really fairytale-esque. Reading her writing just makes everything sound better and draws me in more.

I loved her use of the more traditional faeries and the superstitions that go with them. After I read this and the next book in the series, I went and looked up this kind of faerie to see what else I could find out. There's some pretty good stuff out there involving Celtic faerie lore!

As far as characters go, they were not lacking. Deirdre, or Dee, isn't my favourite heroine of all time, but she at least doesn't sit by and let things happen. She has her moments where I was starting to get annoyed, but she also has some good scenes, too. And another thing: Dee's family is... interesting. 

James was my favourite, I think. He's one of those witty, sarcastic, and just overall hilarious characters, but with more to them, too. He's got his own secrets and problems. Plus I can't help but feel sympathy for all of the situations he's put in throughout the book. 

Then there was Luke, the mysterious faerie boy. I was torn through the whole book whether to root for him or against, and I mean that in a good way. 

Overall, I was very happy with this book and didn't once hesitate to keep reading. The main characters were all ones that I liked. I'm a sucker for books that include lore and fairytales, so it gets bonus points for that, too. And then there's the writing, which is just wow.

The Good: The faerie parts, the writing, the characters.
The Bad: Dee made a few decisions that I was not impressed with. But everyone makes mistakes, right?
The Verdict: A very solid 4/5 stars.

Rachel