DreamDark: Blackbringer - Laini Taylor, 2007, Firebird Fantasy Press. Review by Kevin Gerard

Laini Taylor is a genuine wordsmith. I love picking up a book and within a few pages realizing the rest of the prose will be a joy to read. Her descriptions of characters, places, and action are wonderfully constructed. I rarely had to "read" the story. The sentence structure flowed so smoothly I just sat back and let the characters dance inside my head. I could also tell that Ms. Taylor's story originated from deep within her heart, or more to the point, her infinite soul. These are the most rewarding stories I believe, for author and reader, the tales an author has waited his or her whole life to tell.
Magpie Windwitch, a tiny wisp of a faerie, travels with a group of crows, including her favorite, Calypso, who she refers to lovingly as "feather". The unusual but somehow fitting relationship between faeries and crows struck a chord with me right away. The pairing would seem odd in random discussion, but in this well written fantasy tale, they group together effortlessly. The crows are both companion and critic to the faeries. They are friends I would value in any world.

Almost every character in the book talks, plays, laughs, eats and jokes among the various groups introduced by the author. They exhibit all types of moods and behaviors in many different scenarios. A large assembly of crows intermittently flies in and out of the story. Other faeries, including Poppy and Talon, or older and wiser warriors, healers and ancients, and Djinns, the creators of Magpie's world, guide her through the tale of DreamDark and the Blackbringer. While some oppose her, most support her during her journey to save DreamDark.

The Magruwen is one of the original Djinn, a creature of fire if I remember correctly. It wants to assist Magpie in the battle against the Blackbringer, but it is distrustful of faeries and other inhabitants of the world it helped create. The interactions between the Magruwen and Magpie are wonderfully written, as are the battles against the Blackbringer, a horrible entity that takes down many of Magpie's friends and fellow warriors. The Blackbringer must represent one of Ms. Taylor's youthful horrors; the character is described with such fervor that I found myself rereading some of the passages where it appears, wreaking its own brand of mayhem.

The battle between the faeries and the Blackbringer sizzles in the last sixty pages. Ms. Taylor possesses a gifted and frightful imagination; I can only hope the ensuing novels mirror the ingenuity of this book. The romance between Magpie and Talon surely will blossom in future novels. The Djinns will no doubt be exposed as the story delves deeper into the murky depths of DreamDark. Hopefully, Calypso and his band of whimsical crows will remain a crucial element in the story, guiding and cajoling Magpie along her unknown path as an important faerie and champion. Will she become the next Bellatrix? I'm anxious to find out.

Favorite character: The Blackbringer, what a freaky monster!

What I liked about DreamDark: Blackbringer - Originality. Much like another story I know very well, DreamDark is truly unique. The world needs authors with exceptional imaginations; where would we be if every story contained identical plots and characters?

What I didn't like about DreamDark: Blackbringer - Like many entries into the Y/A fantasy genre, this story tends to focus on conversation a bit too much. At times, the dozens of pages of discourse between the characters tends to drag on. Young readers lack the patience for this type of exchange.

Laini Taylor begins a wonderful story in Blackbringer. I already have the next novel in the series on my desk. I'm sure I'll get to it soon, now that I've given myself a taste of Magpie's story with the first book.


Kevin Gerard is the author of Conor and the Crossworlds, a fantasy series for young adults.

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