Ballad (Maggie Stiefvater) Review

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 360 pages
Publisher: Flux; Original edition (October 1, 2009)

Nuala is part muse, part psychic vampire. While the freedom to sing or write or create is denied her, her mark across history is unmistakable: a trail of brilliant poets, musicians, and artists who have died tragically young. She has no sympathy for their abbreviated life spans; every thirteen Halloweens she burns in a bonfire and rises from her ashes with no memories of what has come before other than the knowledge of how her end will come.

James is the best bagpiper in the state of Virginia—maybe in the country—plus he's young and good-looking: just Nuala's thing. But James, supremely confident in his own abilities and in love with another girl, becomes the first to ever reject Nuala's offer. He's preoccupied with bigger things than Nuala: an enigmatic horned figure who appears at dusk and the downward spiral of Dee, his girlfriend-who-isn't.

It becomes obvious to James that Nuala's presence, the horned king of the dead, and Dee's slow self-destruction are all related, and that Dee is the center of a deadly faerie game. While James struggles to unwind the tangled threads of the story, Nuala shadows him, seeing her conflicted, dual nature reflected back at her in him. She finds herself lending him inspiration for nothing. Not quite for nothing—for the hope of requited affection. But even as James begins to realize his feelings for both Dee and Nuala have changed, the thirteenth Halloween descends, with its bonfires and rituals for the dead, one deadly to Nuala and the other to Dee. James can only save one. (SOURCE)

Review
BALLAD, by Maggie Stiefvater, was an energetic and captivating thrill ride from the first page. Now that I have read 'Lament', the back-story between Dee and James was established and I could explore the next step in their relationship, a very rocky one.

The differing relationships throughout the book were interesting to read. I have not been exposed to Nuala's powers before in a faerie story and that was intriguing in itself. Then James not giving into Nuala because of his knowledge created another surprising dynamic. Also, the fact that James was still trying to be with Dee while she was still in love with Luke, but held secret feelings for James! It was frustrating at times, but in a good way.

This book went to a darker and scarier side of the Fey. The anticipation of Halloween and the growing power of the faeries was hanging in the background, while James was trying to lead a semi-normal life and Nuala was trying to quench her hunger. The faeries that confronted James and Nuala were testing their potential powers over humans and human-like fey without any awareness of consequence.

Both James and Nuala underwent significant character progressions. James wanted everything to go back to normal with Dee and possibly take it to the next step, but her downward depression and obsession with Luke made that almost impossible. Nuala was faced with rejection and neglect that she never felt before from a man, which completely changed her perspective on her short life. There was a remarkable battle between self-preservation and sacrifice within both of these characters. Nuala needed to take years from James to survive but she fought against her instincts to have an emotion that she never remembers feeling. And James had to make the ultimate decision between saving his unhinged best friend and his new-found love.

I really liked the character of Nuala. She was definitely something new for James which made them a perfect pair. She was strong, independent, and confident. She lived her life repeatedly without a second thought until James completely threw her off course and made her question her very existence and potential. Even in her last days she did not want saving from anyone, and that puts her in my top heroic female characters list.

I absolutely fell head over heels with this cover before reading the book. And after knowing the significance of the burning leaf, I love it even more! Fall is my favorite season so the color and feeling the cover encompassed remains on my mind.

This was an exceptional and romantic book that completely holds it own against it's counterpart, 'Lament'. They are both magnificent stories which makes another home run for Maggie Stiefvater.