Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception (Books of Faerie #1)

4.5 Stars!
Lament was an interesting novel.
I liked the characters; Dee was strong and brave. I also liked Luke and James.
The plot was mysterious and kept me wanting to read more. Looking forward to more of this series.

Lament is a great read but for me there were some down points. I loved the characters and all their beautiful flaws. But when Luke told Dee what he really was, I think she didn't react enough. For some reason I think she needed to be more surprised and not just to accept it so easily. She needed to be more scared of Luke and not relaxed. How can someone expect their boyfriend to be a fairy thing and not to react about it? I don't know anybody who wouldn't! But other than that I thought it was brilliant.

LAMENT was a fast, compelling read. I really enjoyed the writing, flawed characters, and the engaging plot, and was thrilled to discover another book in this universe as well. While I had some quibbles with the music portrayed here (no competition I've ever been in allows a change at the last moment, and when does she practice??), I found this to be a fantastic read.

What can I say about this book except WOW? Lush prose, insightful detail, tension, flawed characters I loved to be around, desperate stakes ... and supernatural hotties. Along with supernatural baddies. What a stunning book. If all you've read of Maggie's work is her Wolves of Mercy Falls series, you are missing some of her finest work. I highly recommend Lament and its sequel Ballad to all readers.

Reader reviewed by Courtney Rae (Courtney Reads)

Reader reviewed by Jillian R

Summary: Seventeen year old Janie
is anything but normal. She is keeping a secret. If anyone found out,
they'd think she's a freak. See; Janie can enter people's dreams.
Sometimes, they're good ones, but then there are the nightmares. Either
way, she doesn't like having this so-called "power." Not one bit.

Reader reviewed by Margay Justsice

This is one of those books that will make you fall in love with the English language all over again. Maggie Stiefvater has a special way with words; they are magical and lyrical and they just flow across the page in a way that makes you forget that you are reading. Every scene made me feel that I was right there with Deirdre, feeling and experiencing everything as she felt and experienced it. This is a very intimate book in that you feel as if you are Deirdre. I felt the blossoming of love right along with her, cringed at the coldness of her aunt with her, and wondered what the heck was going on just as she did. I walked into a new world with her as she discovered her abilities to see the fey and learned everything she could about how to deal with them - and how to figure out what they wanted from her. When she was scared, I felt my heart pumping, too; when she was excited, I found myself smiling. And I learned about harp music, something I had never read about before this.

Reader reviewed by Em

Maggie's writing style is amazing. I devoured Lament. The characters were wildly believable. Deirdre was painfully beautiful in how true she was and how wonderful the story read. Of course, I was instantly taken aback by Luke (not that I wasn't immediately enamored by James, isn't he dreamy as well...). I'd love to talk and talk and talk about this book, but simply put, it just has to be read, enjoyed, loved. There isn't much more to it than that. I was happy, thrilled, and yet all at once disappointed with the ending. I can't quite put my finger on why. But it's definitely a must read. I don't know how I'll stay out of the book store until I have money to get Ballad.

Reader reviewed by Sara

Excerpt from back cover:
"Don't you know what happens to Cloverhands who cannot control the fey?"
Summary:
"On the day of an important music competition, talented but painfully introverted and nervous Deirdre Monaghan is helped to perfrom by the compelling and enigmatic Luke Dillon and find herself inexorably drawn into the mysteries and dangers of the faerie world."

This book, though it has its flaws, has been stuck in my mind since I read it couple weeks ago. Its sequel, Ballad, doesn't come out until the fall of 2009 and I find myself anxiously awaiting it. I'll start with the negatives about this book because I feel like they must be addressed as they might be distracting to the reader. The romantic plot line between Deirdre and Luke is very immuture and sudden at the onset of the novel. Luke and Deirdre meet and are immediately spending time together and expressing intrest to the extent of love. While this may work with characters that have a history or knowledge of one another, these two have just met at the beginning of the book and are Deirdre is already spending a lot of time alone with him. I find this odd and it was a bit of a distraction. I did get over it pretty quickly though because of their great chemistry together and I soon found myself rooting for their sudden relationship. I attributed Deirdre's easily given trust and affect to the fact that she is an introverted person who doesn't have a lot of experience with dating... even though she does seem pretty outgoing for someone who is supposed to be so shy.
Now on to the positives. The fey in this book are intriguing. I found myself eager to learn more about their world and why they were so interested in Deirdre's family. I also really enjoyed reading about Deirdre's best friend, James. He was a really funny character that was easy to become attached to and I found myself torn about the status of his character throughout the book.

I rate this book 9 out of 10 because the negatives are easily overlooked when one considers all the positives!

Reader reviewed by Kristen

Loved this book. I was tempted to read it through dinner at my future
in-laws house, but I resisted! At least until after dinner...

Deidre
is a harp player and when she is at a competition over the summer, she
finds a gorgeous young man named Luke talking her into playing a duet
with him. He is a little more than he seems at first and she's a smart
girl, picking up on that quickly. Her grandmother also is weary of him,
ominously giving her an old iron ring and telling Luke to stay away
from her.

Deidre can't help her feelings and discovers that she
has her own abnormalities - she can see into the minds of others and
she is starting to have serious problems sleeping at night. What she
finds is that she still loves Luke and instead of faltering away from
the problems arising constantly, she seeks to help him and herself in
the process.

Faeries are real and they're definitely not all nice.

I
just loved the tempo of this book - it pulled you in and kept the
action rolling throughout the whole book. Definitely the type of book
you try your best to read in one sitting.