YA Novel by Laini Taylor
An amazing tour de force for a first
novel, Laini Taylor's world of Dreamdark is a wonderfully written
world with its own creation myths, creatures and magics. A rich,
thoroughly engrossing book that will grab you at the start, and not
let go until the very finish!
At just over 1000 years of age, Magpie
Windwitch is barely more than a sprout (the faerie world for child),
yet she has already killed several demons, along with the seven crow
brothers who she travels with, and who are like family to her. When a
new and terrible creature, far worse than any demon ever seen before,
is released from its bottle by the foolish tamperings of men, it
takes her back to her childhood home, the forest of Dreamdark, and
adventures she never could have imagined.
Magpie Windwitch is just the kind of
heroine I love: independent, able to take care of herself, and
fiercely loyal to those she cares for. She has a warrior spirit. I
love her kinship with the crows, and her spunky character.
I also liked the secondary character of
Talon Rathersting. A young faerie man from a warrior tribe, his
improperly grown wings make it impossible for him to fly. He has
always been left out of raiding parties and battles, and really
looked down upon. But he soon proves that, despite his disability, he
is as able to fight as the others, and he has other talents, far
beyond that of those that surround him. I find him an inspiring
character, dealing with the lot that fate dealt him and finding a way
to move beyond it, to become more than he would have been had he been
born normal.
The crow characters threw me a little
at first. I have come upon a lot of anthropomorphic characters, and I
am used to furry animals that can use their paws like hands and wear
clothes, but I had never come upon bird characters that were as
humanised as these. The crows can use their claws to sew, they like
coffee, and smoke cigars and dress up in costumes to perform plays. I
liked the characters of the crows once I got used to this. I think
the cigar thing was the most confusing to me, probably I just don't
watch enough cartoons, where, apparently, animals do things like this
all the time. Not that this book was at all cartoonish, it was very
vivid and imaginatively written.
I also enjoyed the language in this
book. Taylor used what seems to be a mix of mostly mild Scottish
accents and vocabulary, 'ye', 'ye ken', 'lass', 'lad', and vocabulary
for an imaginary faerie and creature language that included things
like 'feather' as a polite way to address a bird, 'shivered' for
scared, 'sprouts' as children, and 'skive' as a curse word. The names
of the faeries were also good, not too pretty. These weren't pretty
little useless faeries (at least, not the main characters). While the
warrior faeries had tougher names like Talon Rathersting, Nettle,
while Magpie Windwitch, a traveller has the name of a bird and the
wind. They are all names of things the faeries would see everyday
about them, and are both appropriate, and not too cutesy.
There is probably so much more I could
say about the book. I love the mix of mythologies, with the faeries,
the Djinns and the demons. I loved the idea of the Djinns dreaming
things up and the tapestry, but I don't want to give too much away.
This is definitely a book you should go read!