Ballad

A Gathering of Faerie (Books of Faerie, Book 2)

By: Maggie Stiefvater

Narrated by: Andrew Eiden, Amy Landon, Carly Robins

From the author of the New York Times best-selling novel Shiver

Remember us, so sing the dead, lest we remember you. James Morgan has an almost unearthly gift for music. And it has attracted Nuala, a soul-snatching faerie muse who fosters and then feeds on the creative energies of exceptional humans until they die. James has plenty of reasons to fear the faeries, but as he and Nuala collaborate on an achingly beautiful musical composition, James finds his feelings towards Nuala deepening. But the rest of the fairies are not as harmless. As Halloween - the day of the dead - draws near, James will have to battle the Faerie Queen and the horned king of the dead to save Nuala's life and his soul.

"Readers of Holly Black's Tithe (2002) or Charles de Lint's The Blue Girl (2004) will enjoy this rich foray into faerie. The book's backdrop, so firmly rooted in Celtic myth, is scary, mysterious, magical, and horrifying." --Booklist

"Ballad is giddy, intoxicating, and threatening all at once." --Tamora Pierce

©2009 Maggie Stiefvater (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Love the story, female VO needs some work

The lady playing Nuala takes some time getting into the role. She really seems to be going for a whispy fairy voice, when the point of Nuala is that she ISN'T a whispy fairy. But the story is still amazing!! Highly recommend a read or listen whenever you get the chance!! (while having read Lament will explain some things to you it is not necessarily required reading for this story)

Not her best

I liked the story in general (not as much as The Raven Boys, though) and enjoyed the male narrator, but I’m sorry to say I was irritated by the female narrator (not the one who read Nuala’s chapters -especially when she impersonated male characters).

enjoyed

this was a great story, although I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more about Dee and Luke. I really enjoyed James and Nula's story. the narrator's were good although the one that was Nula I think was a little too melodramatic. all in all still 5 stars!

As usual, Maggie Stiefvater creates the beat characters!

Another brilliant story with real and enjoyable characters by Maggie Stiefvater! The human world collides with the Fae world.

As good as it was when I first read it years ago!

I loved these books when I first read them in print years ago and they are just as good as I remember. My only complaint is the narrator for Nuala could have been better. Ok Maggie seriously its time for book 3!

Cool characters

Not my favorite of hers, and good idea to read the run-up book to this one. Really enjoyed the characters and mythology but was a bit disappointed with the end, which felt a bit rushed and had some major holes, missed some vital details to round it out. But a fun time was had.

Absolutely not a children's Audiobook

Faerie ravishment. Bagpipe, bj and birth canal jokes. Watching your girlfriend slowly burn to death, then pulling her body from the ashes. Not a kids book. Save it for the New Adult category, or at least the upper teen shelf. One of the female narrators tries to do a male voice and a sultry queen voice. Please make it stop! As a "school story", pointless; the school theme was just a device to gather a cast of characters.
On my second time through, I thought, "Buffy" without Buffy. Am thankful to be introduced to the poetry of Stephen Slaughter. Final thought, better than the Dreamer Trilogy, but not nearly as good as"Bravely," which just reinforces my preference for younger YA fantasy over the "can-anyone-really-live-like-this?" adult fantasy.