Review: Lament

Book: Lament
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Pages: 326
Published: October 1st, 2008

Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a prodigiously gifted musician. She's about to find out she's also a cloverhand - one who can see faeries.
Unexpectedly, Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy named Luke, who enters her ordinary life, seemingly out of thin air. But his interest in her might be something darker than summer romance. When a sinister faerie named Aodhan shows up with deadly orders from the Faerie Queen, it forces Dee right into the midst of Faerie. Caught in the crossfire with Deirdre is James, her wisecracking but loyal best friend.
Deirdre had been wishing her summer weren't so dull, but taking on a centuries-old Faerie Queen isn't exactly what she had in mind.

General Overview: I found this book to be very original! I like the idea of a supernatural gallowglass, it seems pretty cool to me. I really liked how Stiefvater incorporated musical elements into it as well! And the instruments featured are often overlooked, for example, James plays the bagpipes, and Deirdre plays the harp. How cool is that? Right?

Characters: I didn't really like Deirdre too much. I didn't like her outer demeanor, but I did enjoy seeing the inner workings of her mind. She's intelligent, really, but she acts in a totally different way than she should. I thought her to be a little too shy, if you know what I mean. I completely loved James, though! He stole the show from Deirdre, if you ask me (which, obviously you are, since you're reading this blog, right?). I thought Luke was alluring, but I wanted more explanation for why Deirdre liked him so much. It was just too sudden for me, and unrealistically portrayed, though their relationship was sweet and intense and I liked that, but I didn't really get a sense of why either of them liked one another.

Plot: The book moves at a leisurely pace until about the last few chapters, which is when the real, hardcore(er) action kicks in. I did enjoy the pacing of the book; I didn't think it moved too fast but it wasn't so slow that I wanted to go to sleep reading it. Lament is no American History textbook. There are plenty of tension-filled moments in the book that will keep the reader on the edge of their seat.

Writing: Stiefvater's writing is beautiful. I think she's a great writer! I liked the way Lament had snippets of texts and other messages, that really made it more believably contemporary, otherwise I would have guessed that the events of this book took place a couple decades ago. I think Stiefvater has a definite skill in writing to please the reader -- her words were captivating and I could not put this book down.

Cover: I like the dagger! It does fit in with the story in that Luke is a gallowglass, and I think the clovers around the edges make it look pretty too, but they are also of significance to the story. The simplicity of the cover is really what makes it appealing to me.

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars