Guide Note

In Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie, the second book in Holly Black's Modern Faerie Tales series, a teenager named Valerie runs away from home when she discovers that her boyfriend is having an affair with her mother.

Fast Facts

1. Author: Holly Black
2. Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
3. Publication Date: 2005
4. Publisher: Simon Pulse
5. ISBN 0689868227
6. Pages: 320

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. 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 never knew existed– the world of Faerie. While Valerie and Ravus develop a close relationship she and her friends begin to steal from Ravus's deliveries, using the necessary drug that he provides to the faeries to feed their own addictions. Soon, the faeries receiving Ravus' deliveries begin to turn up dead. Ravus is blamed for their deaths and it's up to Valerie to prove his innocence and find the murderer.