History Literature / ModernFaerieTales

* CanNotTellALie: Faeries can only "bend the truth until it snaps under its own weight," i.e, they can't lie per se, but are very, very fond of leaving out important information or "little details" that could be willfully damaging to the hearer. This becomes a plot point in ''Ironside'' when [[spoiler:Kaye is required to find a faerie that can tell an untruth for Roiben's quest. 'Cause she's a wily girl, she uses a ProphecyTwist to solve the riddle.]]

* MirthlessLaughter: In ''Ironside'', after Kaye [[spoiler:reveals to her mother that she's a faerie]], she starts laughing nervously and can't stop.
-->The nervous giggling wouldn't stop. It was like the absurdity and the horror needed to escape somehow and the only way out was through Kaye's mouth.

* LiteralAssKissing: Used as a joke, a CMOA and as a source of horror in ''Tithe'': after finding out Rath Roiben Rye's TrueName, the main character sarcastically tells him to kiss her ass, not realizing he's magically compelled to obey.

* KinkyCuffs: In ''Ironside'', Kaye buys a pair at a fetish store, and later uses them on Ethine.

* ArmoredClosetGay: In the original edition, Ruth responds to Jen's homophobic behavior by calling her a "closet case."

* ArmoredClosetGay: How Ruth interprets Jen's homophobic behavior in the original edition.

All three books were republished as an {{omnibus}} in 2019. Additional short stories with the characters and setting are "The Land of Heart's Desire" from the anthology ''The Poison Eaters and Other Stories''; "The Lament of Lutie-Loo", included in the omnibus; and "A Visit to the Impossible Lands", included in the paperback of ''[[Literature/TheFolkOfTheAir The Cruel Prince]]''.

All three books were republished as an {{omnibus}} in 2019. Additional short stories with the characters and setting are "The Lament of Lutie-Loo", included in the omnibus, and "A Visit to the Impossible Lands", included in the paperback of ''[[Literature/TheFolkOfTheAir The Cruel Prince]]''.

''Literature/TheFolkOfTheAir'' is set in the same universe, as is ''Literature/TheDarkestPartOfTheForest''.

* NobodyPoops: Averted in ''Valiant'', when Val has to pee in a bucket while staying with the squatters in the subway.

* EvilRedhead: Nicnevin is an evil faerie with blood-red hair.

* WhiteHairBlackHeart: Roiben.

''Tithe'' begins with Kaye Fierch returning to her childhood home of New Jersey after her rocker mother's boyfriend attempts to stab her mother after a gig. Once home, Kaye tries to reconnect with some of her old childhood friends--including some of her "imaginary" ones, a trio of [[TheFairFolk faeries]]. While she's no stranger to the Fair Folk, she stumbles into the dangerous faerie courts when she meets a completely different faerie, Roiben, a knight from the Unseelie Court.

''Valiant'' introduces a new protagonist: the {{Tomboy}} runaway Valerie Russell. She runs to New York and gets caught up with teen vagrants Lolli, Dave, and Luis. Her new friends are hardly normal, and are in fact couriers to a fae named Ravus, a troll that literally lives under a bridge and who makes a special drug for the exiled fae that eases the iron sickness.

''Ironside'' is a sequel to ''Tithe'', and returns to Kaye as the protagonist. Roiben is soon to be crowned King of the Unseelie Court. Kaye drunkenly swears her love to Roiben during his coronation, and is consequently forbidden from seeing him until she finds the impossible: a faerie who can tell a lie. At the same time, guilt from being a changeling causes her to expose the truth to her mother and find her mother's true child, somewhere in the Seelie Courts. While there, she gets caught up in the Seelie Queen's plans to take over the Unseelie Court, and must find a way to save both herself and Roiben.

Additional short stories with the characters and setting are "The Lament of Lutie-Loo", included in the trilogy omnibus, and "A Visit to the Impossible Lands", included in the paperback of ''[[Literature/TheFolkOfTheAir The Cruel Prince]]''.

* ArmoredClosetGay: How Ruth interprets Jen's homophobic behavior.

* RaceFetish: Kaye[[spoiler:'s human appearance]] is half-Japanese and blonde. Janet brings this up when Kaye indicates that she's not planning to dress up for an outing, implying that Kaye is failing to take advantage of an attractive trait. Later, one of the guys they hang out with presses her about her ethnicity and then makes some fetishizing comments about Japanese schoolgirls.
-->"What are you going to wear?"\\
"This." Kaye indicated her faded T-shirt and jeans with a sweep of her hand.\\
Janet sighed and made a face. "Do you know how many girls would die to be Asian and blond?"\\
Kaye shook her head morosely. What boys liked about Asian girls was weird. It was all mailorder brides and kung fu at the same time.

** Between the events of ''Tithe'' and ''Ironside'', Ethine cut her hair in mourning of her brother Roiben, [[IHaveNoSon who she declared dead to her]].

* InterspeciesRomance: [[spoiler: Val and Ravus.]]

* ShoutOut: Ruth has a "Still Not King" badge on her bag in ''Valiant'', a ShoutOut to Cassandra Clare's ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' fanfic ''Fanfic/TheVerySecretDiaries''.

* TrueSight

* ImportantHaircut: In ''Valiant'', Val shaves her head on the train [[spoiler:after discovering her boyfriend's affair with her mother]].

* LongHairedPrettyboy: Roiben, an elf with "long pewter hair". Kaye first encounters him in the rain and severely injured, i.e., sopping wet and covered in mud and his own blood, and even in that state Kaye describes him as "beautiful in a way that made her breath catch" (this is one of the reasons she knows he's a faerie).

* RaceFetish: Kaye[[spoiler:'s human appearance]] is half-Japanese and blonde. Janet brings this up when Kaye indicates that she's not planning to dress up for an outing, implying that Kaye is failing to take advantage of an attractive trait. Later one of the guys they hang out with presses her about her ethnicity and then makes some fetishizing comments about Japanese schoolgirls.

* RaceFetish: Kaye is half-Japanese and blonde. Janet brings this up when Kaye indicates that she's not planning to dress up for an outing, implying that Kaye is failing to take advantage of an attractive trait. Later one of the guys they hang out with presses her about her ethnicity and then makes some fetishizing comments about Japanese schoolgirls.

* FiveFingerDiscount: Kaye and Janet are mentioned to shoplift. Kaye got her two pet rats this way, and shows her skills to Janet while they're hanging out at the mall. [[HonorAmongThieves She has personal rules about what stores she hits]], to "minimiz[e] [her] karmic damage." [[ChekhovsSkill Her skills come in handy later]] when she has to slip something into someone's pockets.

* GlassWeapons: The faerie-made glass sword in ''Valiant''. When Val is stopped by a police officer for carrying it on the subway, she manages to convince them that it's ornamental by unwrapping it a bit to show that it's made of glass.

* {{Deathseeker}}: [[spoiler: Luis falls temporarily into this when his brother dies. He tries to kill himself using Corny's withering curse--but the curse is broken the instant he brings Corny's hands to his face, since his tears act as running salt water.]]

* ShoutOut: Ruth has a "Still Not King" badge on her bag in ''Valiant'', a ShoutOut to Cassandra Clare's ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' fanfic ''FanFic/TheVerySecretDiaries''.

* SharedUniverse: The kids from ''Valiant'' make a cameo in the first ''[[Literature/TheMortalInstruments Mortal Instruments]]'' book, author Creator/CassandraClare is a close friend of Holly Black's.
* ShirtlessScene: Roiben has several.
* ShoutOut: Ruth has a "Still Not King" badge on her bag in ''Valiant'', a ShoutOut to Cassandra Clare's Literature/TheLordOfTheRings fanfic ''FanFic/TheVerySecretDiaries''.

* StraightGay: Corny. Also [[spoiler: Luis]].