REVIEW: Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception (Books of Faerie #1) By Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: Books of Faerie #1
Publisher: Flux
Date of Release: October 8th 2008
Pages: 325

Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but Prodigiously gifted musician. She's about to find out she's also a cloverhand - one who can see faeries. Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy who enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of thin air. Trouble is, the enigmatic and gorgeous Luke turns out to be a gallowglass - a soulless faerie assassin. An equally hunky - and equally dangerous - dark faerie soldier named Aodhan is also stalking Deirdre. Sworn enemies, Luke and Aodhan each have a deadly assignment from the Faerie Queen.

Namely, kill Deirdre before her music captures the attention of the Fae and threatens the Queen's sovereignty. Caught in the crossfire with Deirdre is James, her wisecracking but loyal best friend. Deirdre had been wishing her life weren't so dull, but getting trapped in the middle of a centuries-old faerie war isn't exactly what she had in mind...

Lament is a dark faerie fantasy that features authentic Celtic  faerie lore, plus cover art and interior illustrations by acclaimed faerie artist Julia Jeffrey.

To be honest... I had a love/hate relationship with this book. When I first saw the cover I thought 'please let this book be as amazing and beautiful as the cover', however, it sadly did not live up to my expectations.

Deirdre Monaghan is a highly talented musician, gracing the world with her precious harp she stuns the audience into silence immediately. Of the evening of one of the biggest competitions in the county, Dee is extremely nervous which is understandable. She is immediately greeted by a delicate and angel-like boy, Luke, who instantly sweeps her off her feet with love and affection, then offers to take part as a duet with her, which she agrees to on-the-spot (which I found a little strange seeing as she just met the guy, she doesn't even seem to be worried he'll ruin their performance... I would be.) After their performance, they begin to slowly build a relationship which appears to be constructed of lies and secrets, until the bomb suddenly hits. He's an assassin and has been sent to kill her, like all the others. As their relationship goes down the paths of the dark and shadowed, Dee begins to realise why she has always been so distant from the others and why she lets NO-ONE in, except her best friend James. She also uncovers hidden mysteries to her families history and that the stories you were told when you were younger, of the monsters lurking round the corner... well basically they come to reality, ready to strike the second your back in turned.

Deirdre is not one of my most favourite characters in the world. She comes across as a bit selfish and a little rude at times, she also doesn't seem to think that there is no hidden meaning behind how VERY quickly the relationship of herself and Luke evolved, with him knowing everything about her when she has never met him before and knowing where she lives straight after their performance of which she only talked to him for a little while (I would find that a little creepy.) However, she isn't one of those characters who whines all the time. She thinks through the situations and so comes up with her own sensible conclusions and solutions. It is also nice to see the way her character develops throughout the story, as at the beginning she seemed to just do what everyone told her to do, and so in a way she was being bossed around. But as the story evolved she seemed to gain more confidence in expressing her thoughts and feelings towards others and starting to take charge in making her own decisions. Meaning towards the end of the book I DID start to warm to her.

Next we have Luke, his past and present a mystery he seems to be built of devastating and world-crashing secrets. He can be a little awkward at times, however, he is very loving and caring towards Dee and is always expressing this through his gift of words. But I did find his relationship with Dee to be very instant and in a way, it was like an escape for them, that neither would tell their secrets. But their relationship was very sweet and you could easily see the chemistry between them.

What I really loved about this book was the idea of secret, evil Faeries coming to take everyone away and the way danger played a very strong and present part throughout the book. The mystery behind the freckled boy was also really interesting, the way he would appear shadowed one moment and the next he would be out in the open, talking to those around her as if nothing was happening. And the way peril just shone off of him...

The story line at times I found to be a little slow and in ways, did not catch my attention. However, there were some really strong scenes of which really pulled me in such as Luke's scene of which we discover he is an assassin, I found that scene very emotionally and vividly (with his memories and actions) powerful.

Over all this book, in my opinion, was absolutely amazing in places but there was just somethings that I didn't like. But, it is full of mystery, danger and suspense of which I love so I will definatly give the series a try.

The next book in the series, Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie.