Review: Lament by Maggie Stiefvater

Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception by Maggie Stiefvater

Young Adult Fantasy

Flux (October 1, 2008)

ISBN: 978-0738713700

336 pages

From Amazon.com:

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 . . .

After reading Shiver and and falling in love with Stiefvater I hurried up and got my hands on her debut, Lament.

Stiefvater has crafted Deirdre, her best friend, James, her love interest, Luke, and the world they inhabit into such great blends of quirk, intelligence, and darkness - in other words, the right elements for the perfect faerie story. The smooth and, quite literally, lyrical writing that Stiefvater brings to the tale add to the magical quality of it all.

As a writer, Stiefvater has a knack for building an air of urgency and making feelings and events develop rather quickly without falling into the trap of melodrama. The loneliness that seems to plague almost all of the characters serves to make the relationships between Deirdre and her two boys seem all the more precious and important.

The only fault I see here lies with the relationship between Deirdre and Luke. It felt a bit underdeveloped and, therefore, unbelievable. The story takes place of a short period of time and their strong feelings and devotion (especially Deirdre's) seemed a bit extreme.

The faerie world that Deirdre and crew are thrust into is simultaneously enchanting and terrifying for both Deirdre and the reader. If the occurrences in this first novel are any indication, the faerie inhabitants that are, or have yet to be, introduced will most certainly stir up increasingly dangerous adventures for Deirdre and James as their lives become even more firmly entrenched in their realm. Ballad, the follow-up to be released this October, will follow the two as they enter a music conservatory with ties to faerie. I personally don't think the release date can come soon enough.

Grade: B+