Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Ballad
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
ISBN: 9780738714844
Publisher: Flux

Summary:
"James Morgan has an almost unearthly gift for music. And it has attracted Nuala, a soul-snatching faerie muse who fosters and then feeds on the creative energies of exceptional humans until they die. James has plenty of reasons to fear the faeries, but as he and Nuala collaborate on an achingly beautiful musical composition, James finds his feelings towards Nuala deepening. But the rest of the fairies are not as harmless. As Halloween - the day of the dead - draws near, James will have to battle the Faerie Queen and the horned king of the dead to save Nuala's life and his soul."
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First Lines:

"I was used to being the hunter. If I saw something I wanted, I stalked it, smelled it, made it mine. By 'it' I mean 'him,' of course. I liked them young, talented, male."
Page 1
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Review:

I've become a fast fan of pretty much anything this author has written. I read Lament a while back and absolutely loved it. Ballad is the companion novel that takes place afterward. Because I've read so much between the two books, I spent a good part of the first half of the book making sense of the relationships, friendships, who they were and where. Not in a bad way though - just because my brain wasn't catching up.

I did really like this book. It was a very interesting take on the whole fairy thing - but with keeping in the traditions of most fairy stories. I enjoyed the character of James, though I don't remember much about him from the first book (I do remember him, and I remember what happened, but I just didn't remember his humor). His light attitude kept this book from being slightly depressing at some spots. He's one of those characters I'd love to hang out with.

There are lots of movies (most, probably) where you watch and realize that there's a color palate and you can see the difference and what things are supposed to mean. I was amazed to realize that this book has a color palate as well. It was very subtle at first, but once you get toward the end, it really takes effect. It almost seems like I've watched the story instead of reading it. That's the mark of an amazingly written novel.

I absolutely recommend this to anyone looking for paranormal romances - especially in the fairy stuff. This is definitely a great one - and you don't even have to read the first book to get the whole story! That's always helpful when you're looking to recommend books to someone in a library - they don't all have to be there :).

Check out the author's website . I don't see anything about another companion book, but I look forward to seeing if she does. But you can look at the stuff about Linger and get excited! I know I am.
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Other Blog Reviews:

YA Books Central Blog
Jen Robinson's Book Page
Library Lounge Lizard
The Crooked Shelf
Fantastic Book Review
The Book Butterfly

Tons of reviews out there, so feel free to link yours in the comments or check out more around the blogosphere. See? It is a great book!