Book Title: Blackbringer
Author: Laini Taylor
Series: Dreamdark #1
Series: Dreamdark #1
Date Started: July 10th 2013
Date Completed: July 13th 2013
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Action, Romance, Mystery
Rating: Four stars
Review:
Blackbringer is your typical epic fairytale: female protagonist that hunts devils finds her biggest mission yet, but discovers she has extraordinary abilities in the process and eventually has to unite forces and challenge herself in order to succeed - but the new ideas and concepts presented in this novel changed my perception of fantasy, and raised it to a new level.
Blackbringer is set in the faerie land of Dreamdark, where Magpie, a young faerie who hunts devils with her clan of crows, finds a puzzling scene left she tracks clues back to a boat in the middle of the ocean. When she realises that this is no ordinary demon she is after, the faerie returns home in order to source evidence of what this new danger might be. But darkness is falling over Dreamdark, and with the Djinn's Champions died out, who is going to save the mystical land?
Since this is Taylor's first published novel, it was inevitably less sophisticated than her bestselling Daughter of Smoke and Bone series (which, if you know me reasonably well, you'll know is my favourite book of all time).
I found the writing, not bad, but slightly less smooth and slick than what I'd usually read. This wasn't that important, but I found it took a while for me to get into the book just because I had to get used to the language: a lot of slang for faerie's dialect was peculiar with the almost formal style of the main text. It just took a little bit of getting used to, but once I had, it worked very well, and actually enforced the fantasy idea, since it was very different from much I've read in the past.
Sometimes I did find it a little hard to keep up with what was happening; sometimes I'd be reading a scene and suddenly a new character I wasn't aware was present would say something and I'd have to glance back to see if I'd missed their entrance. Again, that might have been me getting tired and finding it hard to focus, but the amount of times it happened, I think some of it might have been the actual writing.
The action and events were written very well; I could picture most of what was happening. For example, in the ending battle scenes, I could imagine Magpie and Talon and the Blackbringer and everything else fairly vividly. This added to the story a lot, because obviously I felt more involved with the story and closer to the characters.
Although it seems like your bog-standard, run-of-the-mill story when you're reading it, looking back, a lot actually happened that I've never really seen before. I didn't really predict what was happening, or what was going to - so it wasn't that typical of its genre. On the contrary, a lot of the twists were very different from a lot of things I'd experienced in the past. However, I suspect this is more to do with the fact that the ideas and concepts created by Taylor are so original and fascinating that that allowed her to create a reasonably normal story, and still interest a the reader.
The end was very good; you don't get a lot of writers that are able to completely lure the reader into a false sense of security and then take it away so swiftly. I liked that a lot.
Magpie was good as the main character. I liked the way she was very strong and fierce, but didn't act like she was putting it on to appear that way - she obviously just had that personality very naturally. She was also very loving, in the way that was gentle and innocent - but not to the degree where you're just reading it and roll your eyes because you're bored of how perfect she is. Magpie's definitely a flawed character, but she's a lot more normal than most. (I suppose that could be a negative too - I didn't really see anything particularly weird about her that might appeal more to a teenage audience, but it didn't make that much of an impact on the story in the end.) I would have liked to discover a little bit more about why she was so special etc, etc, but that might come more in the sequel.
Talon. I can't even. He's amazing. I'm so happy that the male stereotype wasn't used here - and especially since Magpie isn't particularly fitted for that stereotype either. Talon is a hunter, and a warrior, and strong, and good-looking, and frankly very alluring - but he's talented in creative ways and he's passionate about creating things - not banging in the heads of every bad guy on the planet. (The man knits for heaven's sake! I mean, what better destruction of the stereotype can you have?) But I was waiting for the whole book and then...(spoilers). I need sequel - I need to know if...(spoilers).
Honestly, I cannot tell the difference between all the crows (I know there's Calypso, Maniac, Mingus...well my memory failed there). I can't even remember how many of them there are, so I'm going to describe them in one. I really liked them. I think the idea of Magpie being basically raised by this loveable creatures was brilliant, and it definitely emphasised her wild character. They're all very likeable, and clearly feel strongly for their 'lass'. I also liked the way they interacted with the other characters: they were always wise and somehow superior, yet they were also humble.
Poppy was okay - I didn't particularly like her, but there was nothing to make me dislike her either. I suppose she was needed, but her character I feel was either not involved enough if her character was really key in the story - or included too much if she was just really there to show that Magpie had friends.
Snoosti is the best name in the world, first of all. And secondly, she was a very loveable character that you can clearly picture bringing Magpie up.
The Magruwen was very good: godlike, but also bad-tempered to the degree where you consider him being the bad guy. I'm glad he wasn't.
I wish the Blackbringer actually had more of a character. He was referred to as a person, and then he did have a bit of speech at the end, but I felt like it should have been more goading and threatening, rather than literally just a shadow that laughs and eats things...
Like I've already mentioned, I did find it quite slow to start with, but that was more because of the style of writing, rather than the story. The plot actually starts very quickly, and we're more or less enveloped in it straight away.
When I was reading it, it felt like everything that was written was needed in order to make the story work really well and allow everything to make sense, but I actually can't remember what the second third of the book really includes. I'm sure there is a lot of important stuff in there, it just feels a little bit like it may have been important, but it wasn't exciting enough to make me remember that (although that might just be me being very tired).
I was impressed at the end, however, when the pace picked up dramatically and then dropped, and picked up again - there was so much tension that at the very end I wasn't quite sure whether I should expect something else to happen.
Laini Taylor has such an imaginative mind. I love the concepts in her other books, and she doesn't disappoint in her earlier works either. The ideas she comes up with are so original, even if I didn't like her characters and stories (which I do), I'd read all her books just to learn about this wonderful creatures and their magic, and cultures etc.
The Moonlight Gardens were a lovely idea of heaven for the faeries; the god-figures of the Djinns; Bellatrix the dead Champion; the pomegranate seed; the tapestry that creates all magic and devils and everything in the fairy world; the spiders; even the Blackbringer himself, a shadow that leaves no trace of anything ever being created where he attacks. I particularly liked the idea of the skins that faeries could put on to turn into animals - especially since it meant Talon could actually fly.
The best part about all these new ideas and concepts, is that it made the story so new and unpredictable, even though - when broken down - it's a fairly typical fairytale. It just brought everything to life.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy, first of all. It's a very fantasy-driven book, but it's new and different from anything I've read in the Young Adult genre. It's also very good for action, and story, and characters. There's a little bit of romance, but I have a feeling that will come more in the second book. It really is a good book - despite my criticism; it's hard to write a review about the early works of an author who wrote your favourite book ever.
It may be a bit slow to start off, but it definitely does pick up - especially at the end where you're treated to a very epic conclusion of the book.
Image Source: http://thebooksmugglers.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Blackbringer.jpg
Blackbringer is your typical epic fairytale: female protagonist that hunts devils finds her biggest mission yet, but discovers she has extraordinary abilities in the process and eventually has to unite forces and challenge herself in order to succeed - but the new ideas and concepts presented in this novel changed my perception of fantasy, and raised it to a new level.
Blackbringer is set in the faerie land of Dreamdark, where Magpie, a young faerie who hunts devils with her clan of crows, finds a puzzling scene left she tracks clues back to a boat in the middle of the ocean. When she realises that this is no ordinary demon she is after, the faerie returns home in order to source evidence of what this new danger might be. But darkness is falling over Dreamdark, and with the Djinn's Champions died out, who is going to save the mystical land?
Since this is Taylor's first published novel, it was inevitably less sophisticated than her bestselling Daughter of Smoke and Bone series (which, if you know me reasonably well, you'll know is my favourite book of all time).
I found the writing, not bad, but slightly less smooth and slick than what I'd usually read. This wasn't that important, but I found it took a while for me to get into the book just because I had to get used to the language: a lot of slang for faerie's dialect was peculiar with the almost formal style of the main text. It just took a little bit of getting used to, but once I had, it worked very well, and actually enforced the fantasy idea, since it was very different from much I've read in the past.
Sometimes I did find it a little hard to keep up with what was happening; sometimes I'd be reading a scene and suddenly a new character I wasn't aware was present would say something and I'd have to glance back to see if I'd missed their entrance. Again, that might have been me getting tired and finding it hard to focus, but the amount of times it happened, I think some of it might have been the actual writing.
The action and events were written very well; I could picture most of what was happening. For example, in the ending battle scenes, I could imagine Magpie and Talon and the Blackbringer and everything else fairly vividly. This added to the story a lot, because obviously I felt more involved with the story and closer to the characters.
Although it seems like your bog-standard, run-of-the-mill story when you're reading it, looking back, a lot actually happened that I've never really seen before. I didn't really predict what was happening, or what was going to - so it wasn't that typical of its genre. On the contrary, a lot of the twists were very different from a lot of things I'd experienced in the past. However, I suspect this is more to do with the fact that the ideas and concepts created by Taylor are so original and fascinating that that allowed her to create a reasonably normal story, and still interest a the reader.
The end was very good; you don't get a lot of writers that are able to completely lure the reader into a false sense of security and then take it away so swiftly. I liked that a lot.
Magpie was good as the main character. I liked the way she was very strong and fierce, but didn't act like she was putting it on to appear that way - she obviously just had that personality very naturally. She was also very loving, in the way that was gentle and innocent - but not to the degree where you're just reading it and roll your eyes because you're bored of how perfect she is. Magpie's definitely a flawed character, but she's a lot more normal than most. (I suppose that could be a negative too - I didn't really see anything particularly weird about her that might appeal more to a teenage audience, but it didn't make that much of an impact on the story in the end.) I would have liked to discover a little bit more about why she was so special etc, etc, but that might come more in the sequel.
Talon. I can't even. He's amazing. I'm so happy that the male stereotype wasn't used here - and especially since Magpie isn't particularly fitted for that stereotype either. Talon is a hunter, and a warrior, and strong, and good-looking, and frankly very alluring - but he's talented in creative ways and he's passionate about creating things - not banging in the heads of every bad guy on the planet. (The man knits for heaven's sake! I mean, what better destruction of the stereotype can you have?) But I was waiting for the whole book and then...(spoilers). I need sequel - I need to know if...(spoilers).
Honestly, I cannot tell the difference between all the crows (I know there's Calypso, Maniac, Mingus...well my memory failed there). I can't even remember how many of them there are, so I'm going to describe them in one. I really liked them. I think the idea of Magpie being basically raised by this loveable creatures was brilliant, and it definitely emphasised her wild character. They're all very likeable, and clearly feel strongly for their 'lass'. I also liked the way they interacted with the other characters: they were always wise and somehow superior, yet they were also humble.
Poppy was okay - I didn't particularly like her, but there was nothing to make me dislike her either. I suppose she was needed, but her character I feel was either not involved enough if her character was really key in the story - or included too much if she was just really there to show that Magpie had friends.
Snoosti is the best name in the world, first of all. And secondly, she was a very loveable character that you can clearly picture bringing Magpie up.
The Magruwen was very good: godlike, but also bad-tempered to the degree where you consider him being the bad guy. I'm glad he wasn't.
I wish the Blackbringer actually had more of a character. He was referred to as a person, and then he did have a bit of speech at the end, but I felt like it should have been more goading and threatening, rather than literally just a shadow that laughs and eats things...
Like I've already mentioned, I did find it quite slow to start with, but that was more because of the style of writing, rather than the story. The plot actually starts very quickly, and we're more or less enveloped in it straight away.
When I was reading it, it felt like everything that was written was needed in order to make the story work really well and allow everything to make sense, but I actually can't remember what the second third of the book really includes. I'm sure there is a lot of important stuff in there, it just feels a little bit like it may have been important, but it wasn't exciting enough to make me remember that (although that might just be me being very tired).
I was impressed at the end, however, when the pace picked up dramatically and then dropped, and picked up again - there was so much tension that at the very end I wasn't quite sure whether I should expect something else to happen.
Laini Taylor has such an imaginative mind. I love the concepts in her other books, and she doesn't disappoint in her earlier works either. The ideas she comes up with are so original, even if I didn't like her characters and stories (which I do), I'd read all her books just to learn about this wonderful creatures and their magic, and cultures etc.
The Moonlight Gardens were a lovely idea of heaven for the faeries; the god-figures of the Djinns; Bellatrix the dead Champion; the pomegranate seed; the tapestry that creates all magic and devils and everything in the fairy world; the spiders; even the Blackbringer himself, a shadow that leaves no trace of anything ever being created where he attacks. I particularly liked the idea of the skins that faeries could put on to turn into animals - especially since it meant Talon could actually fly.
The best part about all these new ideas and concepts, is that it made the story so new and unpredictable, even though - when broken down - it's a fairly typical fairytale. It just brought everything to life.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy, first of all. It's a very fantasy-driven book, but it's new and different from anything I've read in the Young Adult genre. It's also very good for action, and story, and characters. There's a little bit of romance, but I have a feeling that will come more in the second book. It really is a good book - despite my criticism; it's hard to write a review about the early works of an author who wrote your favourite book ever.
It may be a bit slow to start off, but it definitely does pick up - especially at the end where you're treated to a very epic conclusion of the book.
Image Source: http://thebooksmugglers.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Blackbringer.jpg
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