Valiant cover art

Valiant

Modern Tale of Faerie, Book 2

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Valiant

By: Holly Black
Narrated by: Renee Raudman
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About this listen

 When 17-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' 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.

Best-selling author Holly Black follows her breakout debut, Tithe, with a rich, harrowing, and compulsively readable parable of betrayal, abuse, friendship, and love.

©2005 Holly Black (P)2006 Random House, Inc. Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Company Difficult Situations Homelessness, Runaways & Poverty Literature & Fiction Young Adult Fantasy Fiction Runaway

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Critic reviews

"Beneath its darkness, readers find well-rendered characters, a gripping plot, and pure magic." ( School Library Journal)
"Exotic, sexy undercurrents....deliciously overripe writing, and [an] intoxicating, urban-gothic setting." ( Booklist)
All stars
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An excellent example of the Urban Faery Tale told very, very well. My only trouble with this is the feeling that I'd come in partway through the story. Turns out that Valiant is the middle book of a trilogy (though it stands alone very nicely in the end).

The Fae in the book are suitably otherworldly and far less human than those encountered in Neverwhere (albeit a Neverwhere under New York rather than London). The humans are just that - human, with all the strengths and weaknesses that entails.

An excellent listen, over all-too-soon. Look forward to hearing the other books in this series!

Valliantly told

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Took me a while to get used to the voice but I'm also just getting into audiobooks so it may just be that. There were a couple of points I really didn't like in the performance but overall I mostly blocked it out and just paid attention to the story I love 💜

Long time fave book

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I'm a fan of Holly Black and I like her writing style and the characters she creates. This story was interesting, but felt a little thin. While well formed I missed the twists and turns and intrigue from other books by Holly. I'm happy I read it, but it's not a must read.

Interesting if a little thin

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