Maggie Stiefvater

On the day of an important music competition, talented but painfully introverted and nervous Deirdre Monaghan is helped to perform by the compelling and enigmatic Luke Dillon and finds herself inexorably drawn into the mysteries and dangers of the faerie world.

the faerie queen's deception

Lament

Annika Arguemore

I honestly cannot decide between 3 or 4 stars. I apologize for not making this, my evaluation, concrete enough but I am going to try to elaborate further on why I'm so indecisive about this book.

The plot vs. how the story was told:

I loved the plot. Loved it. It was a Maggie Stiefvater classic. You would just know it was hers. I can't even begin to explain the realization that will dawn upon you once everything clicks into place. 

The way that the story was told, however, is another story. The execution of the plot could have been better, I must admit. And maybe it's just me but most times I cannot feel the chemistry between Luke and Dee. It's undoubtedly there, but sometimes it fades. Perhaps because I've read The Raven Boys already and I have come to think that nothing could ever top that book, but I can't seem to shake the feeling that, albeit this novel was thrilling at times, this story ain't as filled as suspense and mystery as the said book was. I felt that it wasn't as graphic as well. The pictures created by the author's words weren't as vivid but at most parts they were. Maybe it's just me but that's how I feel. I definitely enjoyed this book, though. I really did.

I loved the Irish feel this story had. I loved the plot twists, the certain atmospheres some chapters created. All in all, I gurss, this book was a breeze on an already chilly daybrushing against your cheek. I don't know why that is, but that's what it feels like.

Marissa Luzio 

For some odd reason, I'v been having a sort of.. craving for Faerie-related/themed book. So I found this book on one of the threads created on Goodreads. I was immediately intrigued because of the perfect summary and not to mention the amazing cover! I don't know why, but I love this cover!! Then after I thought, wow, let me check who wrote this.. thats basically when I knew this book was probably amazing! If you don't know yet, Maggie Stiefvater is an amazing writer! Many can agree while many can disagree but to me, she most defiantly is :) You might know her from her amazing series, The Wolves of Mercy Falls, or even The Raven Cycle. ANYWAYS, this book did not disappoint me! At first, I was thinking, hmm maybe I have too much high expectations for this one, but of course, I was wrong! My ideal faerie book would be, Julie Kagawa's series, The Iron Fey. So of course, I expected this book to be just as good. Now, while Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception being a great book, it was not as god as  The Iron Fey. But that was no surprise really. 

This book starts off with a 16 year old girl named Deirdre Monaghan. I actually felt so bad for her because of that name (NO OFFENCE TO SOMEONE WHO DOES!) its just a mouthful, and thats why people call her Dee. Being a musician, she is extremely talented in both the harp and vocals. You'll find out why in the book. As she's in the girls bathroom she meets a boy (referred to looking as old as a senior) named Luke Dillon, but she already knew who he was from her dreams. At first this was all weird for me to read because of the circumstances: a girl meets an older boy in the girls bathroom, holding her hair as she vomits. Then instantly knows him because he has occurred in her dreams?????? Pretty weird .. at least to me.. But once you get further into the book, it starts to finally make sense. I'v read this in a day and I cant express how much you should all read this :) If you like romantic faerie themed books, then go ahead and read this one!

Sixteen-year-old Dee is a cloverhand-someone who can see faeries. So when she finds herself irresistibly drawn to beautiful, mysterious Luke, Dee knows that he wants something more dangerous than a summer romance. But Dee doesn't realise that Luke is an assassin from the faerie world. And she is his next target.

Hannah Wall

The book had a rocky start and I could not become the character in some books but it really was a good book.

Sophia De La Garza

Olivera Mitić

I thought that I didn't know a lot about this book when I started it, but as I realized: EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS IN THE BOOK IS IN THE BLURB. Like seriously- everything that happens in the first 250 pages is already told. 
There are also plenty of other things that bugged me about this. For example: Deirdre was the most annoying female character I've read in quite some time. All of the things she did just didn't make sense. Like, seriously, HE IS A KILLER and she DOESN'T RUN AWAY AS SOON AS HE TELLS HER. I could go on for hours about her idiotic decisions, but I honestly don't want to go through that again. 
The only thing I actually loved was Luke Dillon. There. I said it. I am one of those girls. I loved the broken aspect of his character and I loved the way he was around Deirdre, but on the other hand, I totally disliked the romance. Do you get me? I really didn't understand what made him fall in love with her. Not a single thing. The insta love was the main theme here and I just couldn't deal with it. Sorry. 
Luke man, you rock! 
I swear, if he had been taken away from this story and just put in some other (where the love interest isn't as dumb as this one) it would be such a great thing and a book I would actually enjoy a lot. 
A great part of this novel reminded me of Twilight. Twilight is okay. Honestly. I don't mind Twilight. But a book that is Twilight but not really? Nope. 
I just couldn't see anything from Maggie Stiefvater in this novel. Where did the nice characters go? Where did the good romance go? Where, oh, where did the beautiful writing go? 
I am still a big fan of her's, but this was just a flop. I don't even know whether I will pick the sequel up or not.

Renee Delcourt

I loved the Shiver series that Maggie Stiefvater wrote and when I saw she had another series I was so excited. I think this was a very very different feel from the last series which is good, but just wasn't for me even with how much I love my fae stories. It ended up feeling rushed in the relationship between Dee and Luke without much interaction. The other relationships weren't built on very well and felt loose and vague. Dee's personality at times felt very superficial in a way. She has no inner depths. I think the writing is well done I just expected more from the book I guess.

Laura Springall

Ballad: DNF

I can’t believe I’m giving a Maggie Stiefvater book 2 stars but here we are

So. Let me just describe the plot of this book and you tell me what other book it sounds like, cool?

A girl in high school feels invisible to everyone around her and has very few friends. Her best friend is in love with her but she doesn’t feel the same way. Out of no where, a pale and beautiful man appears. He seems otherworldly and acts way older than every other 17 year old. She knows something is up but doesn’t care because he’s hot. He eventually tells her that he’s a *insert mythological creature here* and he’s very dangerous and she should stay away from him. He’s killed before and it’s his biggest regret. She still doesn’t care because he’s hot. She discovers that she has some powers similar to those of the *insert mythological creature here* and others of his kind are coming after her because of them. There is a chase, a battle, many near death experiences, but after an extremely anticlimactic fight everything turns out ok.

So that’s the plot of Lament. It’s also the exact plot of Twilight. Like literally the exact same, just with faeries instead of vampires. And before people get upset, I’m not accusing Maggie of plagiarism. I’m just pointing out that Lament has a highly unoriginal plot line. It was extremely fast paced and super confusing to follow. The main character is kind of an idiot. The characters aren’t that interesting. The plot twists were predictable. Overall, there wasn’t a whole lot I liked about it.

Maggie is my all time favourite author (which tbh is the only reason this got 2 stars instead of 1) but this book was just not it. I’m sure if I’d read it when I was like 13 I would have been ALL OVER THIS, but yeah it’s just not great and I’m so sad about that. Still gonna read Ballad because I love Maggie regardless, but yeah. Wasn’t a great book. Please don’t kill me

b.andherbooks

While throwing up before a public harp performance, Dee meets Luke, a dreamy and otherworldly boy who goes on to play a duet with her on stage. From then on they have an immediate attraction and odd things start happening to Dee, including but not limited to four leaf clovers sprouting all over her lawn, visitations by other "odd" beings, and telekinesis. Plus, it turns out Luke may have an ulterior motive to wooing Dee. And there's fairies. Lots and lots of fairies.

Not my favorite Stiefvater book by far, but still a lyrical tale. Love that happenes immediately just isn't my kind of story; I want to be hoping and praying for that first kiss just as much as the characters (see Raven Boys/Dream Thieves). I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment.

Krystal Campbell 

I don’t know what it was about this book. I couldn’t put it down but I also feel like not a lot happened. I’m excited to continue the series and see where the story leads

Lament the faerie queen's deception

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