Magpie Windwitch, granddaughter of the West Wind and a fairy, travels the world, hunting down demons that humans have released from their bottles. With her seven crows and their traveling caravan, their travels take them far and wide. But when the mannies release the worst demon of all, the Blackbringer, the stuff of legends and nightmares, Magpie, affectionately 'Pie, must return to a home she hasn't been to in 80 years: The forest of Dreamdark. As the destruction of her people becomes immanent, she appeals to the oldest and strongest power for help. If she can wake him from his sleep and gain his trust, those she loves might be saved. Secrets are unraveled and truths are revealed, though, and 'Pie learns that the Djinns aren't the only ones who could save the forest.
What book today isn't about the end of the world? At least this one approaches it creatively, I suppose. It doesn't come out right and say, "we have to save the world!" because that would be lame. And this book wasn't lame, thank the powers that be. I enjoyed it a lot, actually.
There was a sense of unpredictability and haphazardness about the book that was also nice. Everything fit together, but it didn't come together neatly. It sort of fell together, seemingly at random. Things that didn't seem important were important. There were twists and turns that weren't expected, but that had been there all along. There were items that seemed to have no importance, but changed the course of the plot. There were actions that were taken at page thirty and had great significances at page 200. It was a chaotic mess, but it was also a woven pattern.
And, you can probably see that I enjoy the illustrations from the picture above. There are a few good-full sized pictures of the three main characters, and they are very well done. I took this picture from the website listed down below, and there are several pictures from the book on that site. I didn't like the internal picture of Magpie, of course (I'm so picky), but I did enjoy the cover. The picture above is of Poppy, who is a 'flower fairy,' I suppose.
Of course, there were a couple things that could be spotted from a mile off. The slandered happy ending; the fact that the main character is going to be wonderfully and uncommonly gifted. One can see these cliches from a mile off. The things that aren't cliched pretty much balance those out, in my opinion.
Also, this isn't a soppy Disney fairy tale love story. I'm not saying those are bad or anything (I'm just implying it). The characters are still teenagers, maybe, in "fairy-years," relatively young teenagers. So, yeah. I like things like that. I'm not saying that it doesn't hold elements of sterotypical fairies (see above picture), but there are also non-sterotypical-fairy things. Like, demons. And swords.
I also like how the fairy tales seem to swirl around the characters: The saga of the hero Bellatrix, the story of Magpie's parents, the myths of the Djinns, the legends of the dragons. These add flavor to the world of Dreamdark, for what is a culture but their stories and beliefs? Even Magpie's parents realize this, as shown by their journeys to fairy villages to collect the old stories. Every little detail in this book comes alive, and either brings a new perspective or adds to a perspective that's already there.
There's another book in the series, a sequel. I think it's called "Silksinger." For sure, I'm going to look into it. Actually, Laini Taylor's written some other stuff that I like, and I didn't make the connect between her and the other stuff she's written before I looked at her site. I enjoyed "The Daughter of Smoke and Bone," but I haven't read the sequel to that one yet. So, that's two books I need to look out for.
You can find all the information here at www.lainitaylor.com It's a "google blogspot," or whatever they're calling this, if you care to know.
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