Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater

Ballad: The Gathering of Faerie by Maggie Stiefvater

In this mesmerizing sequel to Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception, music prodigy James Morgan and his best friend, Deirdre, join a private conservatory for musicians. James’ musical talent attracts Nuala, a soul-snatching faerie muse who fosters and feeds on the creative energies of exceptional humans until they die. Composing beautiful music together unexpectedly leads to mutual admiration and love. Haunted by fiery visions of death, James realizes that Deirdre and Nuala are being hunted by the Fey and plunges into a soul-scorching battle with the Queen of the Fey to save their lives.

Hm, where to start… I really liked this book.  REALLY liked it.  I would like a James of my very own, please.   I loved James’ sarcasm and attitude.  I liked his snarky comments and outside persona, but I loved that we also got to know his inner vulnerability.  Same for Nuala.  Nuala was really cool, tough, and strong, but she had a softer, more unsure side.  I liked her a lot more than I liked Luke in Lament.  With Luke, I had a hard time feeling he was really telling Dee the truth, but I never doubted Nuala.

I really liked the story and the new cast of characters, especially Paul and Sullivan.  Dee annoyed me in this book, though.  It stinks because I really liked her in Lament, but she was so whiny in Ballad.  I know she’s been through a lot (to say the least), but I hated that she was still jerking James around and she was so mopey.  I wanted to feel more sorry for her because I liked her so much, but I just didn’t.

So in conclusion – read this book!  It is good. :)

Oh, by the way, this was the 100th book I’ve read this year!  I never expected I would read so many books in a year.