After reading the mesmerising Lament, I was eagerly awaiting this book with so much anticipation, that I wondered on more than one occasion, whether the story would live up to my expectations. For those of you who know me, I am a serious Maggie fan girl, heck; I even started a fan forum for her. This does not mean I am biased, it just means that I respect wonderful pieces of literature and give them the praise they are due.

Ballad starts right where Lament left off; James and Dee have enrolled at the prestigious Thornking Ash Music School, and are struggling to deal with the aftermath of the events of the previous summer. However, the story this time is told from James’s perspective, rather than Dee’s. Now, this is what I had been looking forward to, more of James, as I do feel that we didn’t get to see enough of him in Lament.

James's decision to enrol in music school was made with Dee in mind, even though he is a piper and they have no programme in place which will suit his level of expertise. But once he gets there, Dee barely talks to him. Their short conversations are punctuated with awkward silences and forced jokes, fake smiles. Uncomfortable, not the way it was before, before Them. James doesn’t realise things are about to get worse, as They are far from finished destroying James’s life.

Enter Nuala, a faery muse, who feeds on human souls until they die. She chooses humans for their musical abilities, and gifts them with exceptional music. This forms the plot line that danger can be attached to something so brilliant, that excellence can also be a curse rather than a gift. She fills their dreams with agonisingly beautiful images, full of longing and suffering, enough to drive them crazy with wanting. But she has been without a human for too long and the desire she feels for James is too strong, he shines to bright, she has to have him. She is intent on making James hers and all she needs is an invitation. One that James does not want to give, but will he change his mind??

James fans will love this book, as boy is he back with a bang. His snarky, quick on the mark comments had me in fits of laughter. James shines in the book, his personality reaches out and grabs you, keeping you enticed until the very last page. His vulnerability in this book tugged on my heartstrings, longing for a girl who would never love him back, all alone in a sea of people. I felt his pain whenever he was with Dee and to be honest, I didn’t like her as much in this instalment, but I think that was the whole point.

The perspective jumps from James to Nuala throughout the book, punctuated with small snippets of text messages from Dee meant for James. The voices for both of these characters were so distinctive, that I didn’t need to read the top page of the chapters, to see whose story I would be following this time. As Nuala got to know James, I liked her more and more, even though she was a threat to James in one way or another.

Ballad is a more powerful novel than Lament; I got drew into the pages a lot deeper and faster than when I was reading Lament. The characters were more fully formed in this novel and spoke to me in a way that those in Lament did not. My love affair with this book started on the first page, like it was written just for me and me alone. That is how Maggie’s writing makes you feel, like she has selected everything you love about books and shaped them into a novel, wrote just for you. Stunning does not do this book justice.