Blackbringer

Laini Taylor has crafted something nice here. She’s got some great characters, first of all. I admit, I didn’t connect very well with the main character, Magpie, at first. She seems a bit like the typical “tough girl” appearing in fantasy these days (you know, the one who is the utter polar opposite of the “doormat”), at the beginning. But Taylor uses her story not only to develop Magpie, but to unfold and reveal her deeper layers. She doesn’t just stomp and demand, sniping at everyone for perceived slights and making stupid moves to prove her “independence.” It becomes very easy to like her when she admits her mistakes, apologizes when she’s rude, and has the strength to ask others for help. (Can you tell I’m getting tired of having to swallow angry, mean-spirited women as “strong female characters”?)

The supporting cast is quite well done as well, most of t... Read More

Silksinger by Laini Taylor

When last we left the intrepid — and tiny — heroes of Blackbringer, Magpie, Talon, and company were leaving on a task set to Magpie by the Magruwen (the Djinn King). Their mission: To find the last five of the Djinn who created the world.

In Silksinger we meet Whisper Silksinger, the last remaining member of a clan of faeries who weave flying carpets (because they’re all “scamperers,” meaning their wings are too small to carry them). She, too, has a mission. Her clan has long been the protectors of the Djinn known as the Azazel. As the last Silksinger, she must bring the Azazel (only an ember smoldering away in a teakettle) to his throne, where he will, she hopes, awaken. It’s a burden Whisper carries alone, as she doesn’t believe she can share her secret with anyone else.

Along the way she meets Hirik, a young mercenary wit... Read More

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

"Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well."

The “angels” and “devils” of Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke & Bone are not quite what those words would lead you to expect, but are given an original twist. The angels are closer to the angels we know — specifically the fearsome, fiery warrior type of angel, not the gauzy kind that helps adorable children cross bridges. They differ from the popular conception of angels in that they’re placed in a religious context of Taylor’s own invention. Their enemies are the chimaera, a race of human/beast hybrids whom the angels revile as demonic. These two races dwell in the realm of Eretz, parallel to our own world, where a war has raged between them since time immemorial.

But Kar... Read More

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

Laini Taylor, author of Daughter of Smoke & Bone, starts us off with a standard urban fantasy look. Her heroine, Karou, has tattoos, bullet wound scars and blue hair. She is trained in martial arts and frequently leaves her art school in Prague to “run errands” that take her all across the globe. Demon hunter, right? In fact, Karou is something very different, and Daughter of Smoke & Bone is one of the freshest fantasies I’ve read in a long time.

Taylor confounds expectations at almost every turn. There are demons, there are angels, there is a war and an incandescent love story, but none of it unfolds as I expected.

Karou, she of the plaintive wolf’s-call of a name, is seventeen. She has her own a... Read More

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

I was introduced to Laini Taylor through her three-story anthology Lips Touch: Three Times and was completely entranced by her imagery, ideas and use of language. When I spotted Daughter of Smoke & Bone at the bookshop, I therefore snapped it up without even reading the blurb. Some writers are just that appealing, and my faith was rewarded as I got exactly what I expected: four nights of intoxicating reading.

Seventeen year old Karou is an art-student in Prague who leaves a double-life. On the one hand she attends class, hangs out with her best friend, and tries to avoid the attention of an irritating ex-boyfriend; on the other, she’s an errand girl to a strange creature who collects teeth. Brimstone – who has a ram’s head, man’s torso, reptile’s fee... Read More

Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor

Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke & Bone was one of my favorite books last year, a sparkling, quirky gem of a fantasy. Karou, with her blue silk hair and the eyes on her palms, captivated me. The mysterious story ended darkly, but it was filled with humor and whimsy.

Days of Blood & Starlight has plenty of darkness, at least at the beginning. Karou has left Prague and her art student life and fled to Marrakesh, where she is helping her people, the chimaera, building magical bodies for their spirits to inhabit. Karou is grieving the murder of her family and the immolation of her love affair with Akiva, a seraph – the enemy of her people.

The most disturbing thing is that she has allied herself with Thiago, the White Wolf, the chimaera who tortured Akiva and... Read More

Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor

It seems like ages since I’ve been able to sit down and really let myself get lost in a good book, and Days of Blood & Starlight certainly kept me riveted over four consecutive nights. What with its extensive world-building, tightly plotted story and immersive poetic-prose, Laini Taylor’s Paradise Lost meets Romeo and Juliet story is shaping up to be an unforgettable trilogy of redemption, sacrifice, love, war, hope and death. I’m already anticipating the final instalment.

Keep in mind that this is the second book in a trilogy, and you don’t want to embark on Days of Blood & Starlight without first reading its predecessor, Daughter of Smoke & Bone Read More

Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor

I'm having a hard time reviewing Lips Touch: Three Times. Intelligent language seems to be failing me. I don't want to write a review so much as I want to jump up and down and squeal like a crazed fangirl. Lips Touch is chocolate in book form. It's dark, it's rich, it's delicious, and it's precisely to my taste.

Lips Touch is a collection of three stories; the common theme, as you might guess from the title, is the kiss. In fairy tales, a kiss is often the catalyst for transformation. Laini Taylor is, without a doubt, writing fairy tales here. From the threads of older stories, she weaves new tales that have all the power of the old.

The first story, "Goblin Fruit," is set in the present day and features an unpopular high school student, Kizzy, whose unfulfilled longings make her eas... Read More

Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor

Soul Meets Soul on Lover's Lips...

Although it’s been a while since Kelly reviewed Lips Touch: Three Times, (above) her enthusiasm for it obviously made an impact, for whilst I was browsing through the YA section of my local library, I saw a familiar-looking face staring up at me. It was the cover art for Laini Taylor’s book, an image which had clearly been stored away somewhere in the back of my mind, waiting for me to recognize it in the real world. And so, a few years later, I settle down to take Kelly’s recommendation. I’ve ended up with the same bouncy enjoyment, and can’t wait to track down more of Laini Taylor’s work.

Here Taylor has written three gloriously rich and atmospheric fairytales, reasonably short, but beautifully told. If Lips Touch was food, it would be dark chocolate; if it was music, it would ... Read More

Laini Taylor, who wrote the YA fantasy Daughter of Smoke & Bone, and was shortlisted for the National Book Award for Lips Touch: Three Times, has a great smile, a winning way with an audience, a wicked sense of humor and pink hair.

Taylor was on the last leg of her book tour promoting Daughter of Smoke & Bone when I met her at Copperfield’s Books in Petaluma, California. Taylor attended the Santa Rosa Junior College, just up the road from Petaluma, and graduated from Berkeley with a degree in English, so she is practically a local, even though she now lives in Portland, Oregon with her artist husband Jim and their daughter Clementine.

She spent a few minutes with me, discussing grow... Read More