ALA Booklist (Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 CDT 2005)

An exile from the Seelie court, the hunky, sensitive troll Ravus resides in a secret laboratory inside the Manhattan Bridge, ministers to other city-dwelling faeries with healing potions, and has exotic golden eyes and jutting fangs. Runaway Val meets the troll through a trio of homeless teens, runners in Ravus' potion-distribution network. They introduce Val to subway squatting, Dumpster diving, and Never--the drug faeries use to protect themselves from iron, but which affects humans like heroin. A twisted Agatha Christie-style plot unfolds as faery partakers of Never begin to expire, and Ravus is accused of murder; Val's feelings for the troll prompt her to clean up her act and investigate the true poisoner. As in Black's companion novel Tithe (2004), the plot matters far less than the exotic, sexy undercurrents (including a scene where Val overhears teens having sex), the deliciously overripe writing, and the intoxicating, urban-gothic setting, where everything was strange and beautiful and swollen with possibilities.

Horn Book (Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2005)

Val runs away from a problem at home but discovers greater trials on the streets of New York City in this gritty urban fantasy. While making deliveries of magical potions (which she and her new friends also use to shoot up), Val becomes entangled in a faerie murder mystery. The realistic and fantasy scenes are woven skillfully together. An edgy, but ultimately life-affirming read.

Kirkus Reviews

Murdered mermaids, runaways addicted to magical drugs and trolls inhabit a New York City that draws heavily on the conventions of urban fantasy. Valerie runs away from home when she finds her boyfriend and mother having sex. She joins punks Lolli and Dave in their squat in an abandoned subway station. Dave helps deliver a magical drug to the city's mythical denizens, and he and Lolli steal the drug, which they call Never, to use themselves. High on Never, the mortal users can control a little bit of faerie glamour. When being caught breaking and entering binds Val into a contract with an erudite troll, Val, despairing, becomes a Never addict. Her spiral into squalor is complicated by her increasing regard for the troll and the intrigues of the faerie exile community. Though Val doesn't grow much as a character, she does rescue her troll and return home, safe at last. Val's story, while not the best of the genre, makes for a compelling, edgy read complete with faerie murders and shaven-headed heroines. (Fantasy. YA)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

When 17-year-old Valerie Russell finds her boyfriend having sex with her mother, she splits Jersey for Manhattan, takes in a Rangers game and falls in with some creepy homeless teens who live on an abandoned subway platform. They survive by rooting through trash, and shoot up to take the edge off their urine-scented, rat-infested existence. It isn't until Val realizes that they're shooting up faerie drugs that this unevenly paced companion to Black's debut novel, Tithe, takes off. Val joins her fellow squatters as a courier for the faerie healer Ravus, a troll who, in a Beauty-and-the-Beast-inspired twist, becomes Val's romantic interest while turning her skills with a lacrosse stick into prowess with a sword. But Val succumbs to addiction, siphoning Ravus's potion for personal thrills. When she finds one of the troll's customers (a mermaid) murdered, she gets caught in the internecine politics of rival faerie courts. Black draws on a grab bag of fairy and folk motifs to create a labyrinthine plot with a decidedly dark edge in a narrative rife with expletives. Val, though sympathetic, is not as memorable as Tithe's Kaye, and that book's fans may miss the trips into the enchanted faerie world. The squatters' actions spiral inexorably toward a death, but the victim turns out to be a cop-in a horrifying incident that is never mentioned again. The climax connects with the plot of Black's first novel, and fans of Tithe will probably stick with the long build-up to get to the exciting finish. Ages 14-up.

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-The author of Tithe (S & S, 2002) returns to her dark, dangerous, and amazing world of Faerie. When 17-year-old Valerie catches her boyfriend and her mother fooling around, she runs away to New York City. There she falls in with a small group of teens who live in the subway tunnels. But there is something more to their stories than that of normal street kids. When Valerie begins to notice odd things about the deliveries they make, and when she meets Ravus, a troll, she understands that there is an entire world that she has never known existed-the world of Faerie. Valerie and her friends begin to steal from Ravus's deliveries, using the Never that he provides to the faeries as a drug. But those who receive the deliveries are being found dead. Is Ravus the poisoner or could it be another of the fantastic creatures they have met? This dark fantasy includes drug use and strong language, but beneath its darkness readers find well-rendered characters, a gripping plot, and pure magic.-Tasha Saecker, Caestecker Public Library, Green Lake, WI Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Voice of Youth Advocates

Black, author of the best-selling Tithe (Simon & Schuster, 2002/VOYA October 2002), follows up with another "modern fairy tale." Seventeen-year-old Val runs away to New York City after catching her boyfriend and mother engaged in a sexual encounter. Val is befriended by three street urchins who live in the city's subway system and who claim that faeries exist. After accompanying one of the urchins on a delivery of Never, a medicine that allows the faeries to survive in the city, Val's curiosity is piqued. In seeking to prove the existence of faeries, she is bound into service by an enigmatic troll, falls in love with him, and becomes embroiled in a struggle to prove his innocence. A subplot develops when Val and her new friends use Never as a drug and become addicted. Several characters and scenes seem inserted for their sensational value and do little to enhance the plot. Why is Ruth, Val's best friend at school, gay? Why does the author choose to advance the story by having Val catch her mother and boyfriend together? This reviewer also has concerns about the explicit descriptions of drug use and the way the story ends. Val runs away for a month but seems to suffer few consequences. Nevertheless this novel's appeal to teen readers is undeniable. It is escapist fantasy complete with romance and a happy ending. It is likely to circulate regularly, especially if teens at your library enjoy fantasy and if the author's last book has been popular.-David Goodale.