I liked the series about the wolves and that was why I wanted to try this series as well. I had little to no knowledge about fairies and whatsoever but I thought; lets give it a try.

I was not really what I expected it to be. The love story was weak and not really imaginative, the story itself was not great either. I was quite disappointed reading it. For me, it was not as special as her other series, which I enjoyed. I wouldn't recommend this series, please try her other series!

I'm so surprised by how much I liked this book, but it hooked me in right from the beginning. I'm glad I read the description when I first reserved the ebook from the library, then conveniently forgot about it, not looking at it before actually reading the book. The description gives SO much away, and I thoroughly enjoyed the path in figuring out what everyone was and how things were connected.

The good: I loved Luke when he was cocky, playful, teasing, and loving. Later on when he started getting insecure, looking at the ground a lot or avoiding Dee's eyes, I didn't love it. I loved the depth of his character though.

I loved Dee. She was extremely likeable, and there honestly was not a point of time in the book when she annoyed me or seemed out of character. The author did a great job with her.

The bad: James felt like the author was just trying to add a love triangle. I loved the idea of him as a friend, and then she goes and makes him in love with her, and Dee never knew before she met Luke? Too questionable. Either make him more a part of the story or leave out the infatuation.

The ending went way too quickly for my preference. We barely saw any part of the queen, and she was killed SO easily. After building and building how strong she was and how the fight between them was going to be epic, it was meh. Disappointing.

I still rate it a 4, and I'm excited to begin the sequel tonight.

Appeal Characteristics: Neil Gaiman's creation, faeries, politics, war, backstory of The Books of Magic


This is a back story of a larger work created by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess called Timothy Hunter and the Books of Magic I was sorta lost throughout because I know nothing about this series. There were little short stories included at the end about Timothy...but again I was wiki'ing about half the people mentioned. So I love the graphic illustrations (and Neil Gaiman) so it was a great visual experience... I'll probably have to read more of the original world to know what was going on.

In his essay collection, Maps and Legends, Michael Chabon writes on the joys of new fiction filling in the gaps left by the authors who have come before, quipping at the end: "All novels are sequels; influence is bliss."Maggie Stiefvater is an author who excels at opening herself to her influences.  I discovered her work through the first volume of her Wolves of Willoughby Chase trilogy, where her take on werewolves piqued my admiration.Lament is an earlier work of hers, and takes on another archetype of folklore: fairies.  For them, she goes back to the old legends that have faded in popular culture in favour of the Tinkerbell version (though through authors like Stiefvater and Julie Kagawa, the old versions are coming back into vogue). These are creatures of great beauty and coldness, who live on magic and would steal your soul for a song.The shy, sheltered and stage-fight-plauged Deirdre encounters Luke Dillon at a festival competition and she is immediately smitten.  Despite multiple warnings that he is not good for her, Luke seems to reciprocate the fascination.  What Deirde doesn't know is that the meeting was far from coincidental and sooner or later Luke will have to complete the mission the Queen of the Fairies sent him to perform: to kill Deirdre.The concept of this book is fantastic, but unfortunately Stiefvater seemed to be trying to juggle just a few more things than she was capable of at the time.  Folkloric characters appear for reasons that are unclear, then fail to have a personal effect on the plot.  Deirdre-as-narrator over-explains her thought processes, following a perfectly clear physical reaction with an unnecessary explanation of what that reaction means.  More than a few threads are tied up so hastily that the loopholes show.That said, this was an early novel, published by house that does not have an emphasis on fiction.  An experienced fiction editor would (it's hoped) have caught these issues, which aren't nearly as prevalent in Stiefvater's later works.  And in any case, her imagination made Lament quite enjoyable despite minor quibbles.This review also appears at Boxes of Paper.

The story of the Queen of Faeries, Titania, and a kind of prequel of the Books Of Magic.