Lament by Maggie Stiefvater

Lament by Maggie Stiefvater
"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. When a mysterious boy enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of nowhere, Deirdre finds herself infatuated. Trouble is, the enigmatic and conflicted Luke turns out to be a gallowglass—a soulless faerie assassin—and Deirdre is meant to be his next mark. Deirdre has to decide if Luke's feelings towards her are real, or only a way to lure her deeper into the world of Faerie."- summary from Maggie's website (Amazon's product description only said "From the New York Times Bestselling author of Shiver." THAT EXPLAINS NOTHING!)

Stiefvater's debut is amazing and makes me wish I'd read it much much sooner (full disclosure: I've had it since October 2008 when it first came out; I know, I'm a horrible person). I loved Deirdre's character because she's a kick-butt heroine and very funny and made the story even more compelling. She was a character who also had her flaws and since the story is in 1st person, we see it all- the doubts, the wavering, and the times when she knows she's doing something she isn't supposed to do. Stiefvater's prose is very descriptive, but never flowery or unnecessary; anything that's mentioned is there for a reason, and not just to fluff up the book.

I also loved the character of James, Dee's best friend, and knowing Maggie, it probably didn't take long to come up with all the quips and jokes he has on hand. He's a great guy too and all-around awesome. What was also funny was that in one scene, James was wearing a shirt that read "Sarcasm! Just Another Service I Offer." which I own and am in fact wearing now as I write this review. I thought that was such a coincidence that I made a note to mention it in this review.

The plot was fast-paced and took some wonderful twists and turns. I found it hard to put the book down, especially during the latter half when everything went down. The climax was action-packed, and the ending was something I was not expecting at all, but fit the story very well. I felt like there were some loose ends at the end that I wanted to know more about and see how those ended, but I'll have to hope that maybe they're mentioned in the sequel, Ballad.

Overall, a wonderful debut and having read Shiver already, her sophomore novel, Stiefvater shows no signs of slowing down or deteriorating in quality. It's no wonder she made it onto the NY Times Bestseller list. Those who want a Stiefvater fix after reading Linger should read Lament and its sequel, Ballad, which I'll be reviewing later this week.

FTC: Bought book WAYYYY back when it first came out in October 2008 at Maggie's launch party. And yes, I've just now read it. Yes, that also means I have the original cover- a rarity now. Link above is Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.