After walking in on her boyfriend making out with her mom, Val runs away to New York, and takes up with a group of kids who live in the subway tunnels. Val soon discovers that these kids make deliveries for a troll to the local fairy population of New York. After breaking into Ravus’s (the troll’s) home, Val finds herself in servitude to him, making these deliveries as well – taking medication to the fairies in New York that will help them live in such close proximity to iron. Of course, after spending so much time in Ravus’s company, Val begins to realize she has feelings for the troll.

I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to read this book; I liked Tithe a lot, and always meant to pick up Valiant but never got around to it. I enjoyed Valiant even more than I expected to, and in fact even more than I remember liking Tithe; I’m not sure if that’s because I had forgotten how much I enjoy Black’s writing, or just because I like the story better… at any rate, I’m happy I’ve rediscovered Black, and am not going to wait quite as long this time to read Ironside.

I love stories that have elements of fairy tales, but I think I’ve mentioned that on numerous occassions. I love how this book was all Beauty and the Beast ish, as it is one of my favourite fairy tales. The whole “all that is gold does not glitter” (borrowing from Tolkein for the moment) idea and theme really is such a wonderful thing to be reminded of every once in a while, and when it includes fairies or something magicial, it makes it an even more enjoyable reminder.

I think I can probably relate more to Val than any of the characters in the first book, which is a reason why I enjoyed this book better than Tithe. We’ve all been in a position like Val’s – where we know we’re making bad choices, but are happy about it because gosh-darn-it, we’re the ones making the choices, no one else is telling us what to do.

As Val jumped down into the litter-strewn concrete after them, she thought how insane it was to follow two people she didn’t know into the bowels of the subway, but instead of being afraid, she felt glad. She would make all her own decisions now, even if they were ruinous ones. It was the same pleasurable feeling as tearing a piece of paper into tiny, tiny pieces.

And then in the end, even after making all these bad choices and being in a position where she’s addicted to drugs and whatnot, she’s still the one to save the day. She’s still the little mortal who can beat the bad fairies.

I’m not sure whether this is an addition or a substitution for the Once Upon a Time Challenge… I’m half way through Le Morte D’Arthur and loving it, but am having a hard time picking it up again because it takes so long to make any visible progress in it.