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Book Review: Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer by Laini Taylor (Series, #1)
Summary:
Magpie Windwitch has spent most of her life traveling the world with her parents fighting to save the faerie magic and rid the world of demons and devils mannies accidentally loose from their bottle prisons. Now chasing after a surprisingly powerful demon has brought her and her crew of crow guardians back to her birthplace of Dreamdark, a faerie land no mannie can enter. Here she encounters more members of her generation of faeries, including Poppy who can speak to plants and Talon who possesses an extraordinary knitting talent. Soon Magpie will discover not only secrets about the world, but about herself as well.
Review:
I’ve been working at reading from the bottom of my print TBR pile, and I really do wish I could remember what led me to pick up this book. Faeries and fantasy are generally not my thing, but clearly something caught my eye about this story, and rightly so, for I found myself swept into the tale and really quite enjoying it.
Taylor has created a fun heroine with all the usual traits of a chosen one in fantasy. Blessed by those more powerful, something special about her, has a few flaws such as a strong will, yadda yadda. One thing that really sticks out though is that she’s a girl. The chosen champion is a girl, and so was the most famous prior champion. Nice to see that difference! Plus, seeing a guy fall for a girl because she’s exciting, adventurous, and strong-willed is always fun to see depicted for a change. I truly enjoyed Magpie and Talon, and to me they are the ones who held the story together.
The faerie world is richly imagined without crossing over into being overly romanticized or sexualized like so many faerie stories are wont to do currently. The entire setting reminds me of the books about the adventures of animals in the woods that we humans just can’t see that I used to so enjoy reading as a child. It’s just that in this case in addition to the animals, there are faeries.
The author was inspired by her own drawings, and they pepper throughout the book. They are truly beautiful drawings, and I found myself stopping reading entirely just to get lost in them. Don’t read this one on the tiny screen of an iPod.
The mystery itself is logical within the setting, although it honestly seemed a bit trite and commonplace among fantasy. I was hoping for something a bit more unique. Must every fantasy story be about saving the whole world? Additionally, there were a few side-plots that seemed totally unnecessary, particularly once all was revealed at the end of the book.
On the other hand, the more progressive aspects of the story-telling excuse these short-comings in my mind. Taylor gently expresses a necessary respect for all living creatures, as well as non-gendered expectations and inter-racial relationships. I confidently recommend this to those seeking a fantasy story for middle-grade or YA readers with these positive elements.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: PaperBackSwap
Friday Fun! (The Gym and Body Image)
Hello my lovely readers and a happy April Fool’s Day to you! There’ll be no tricks on my blog, but if you want to have some fun, be sure to check out ThinkGeek‘s home page today. :-)
In any case, today I want to talk to ya’ll about body image and the gym, because I think it’s something that keeps a lot of folks out of the gym when it shouldn’t. When I joined the gym one of the things I was the most nervous about was exercising, changing, showering, sauna-ing (is that a word? It should be) around other people who might be judging me. Yes, I have fairly good body image, but I’m still a person and struggle with it periodically. I mean really, who doesn’t? Beyond not wanting to have men hogging the weights and hitting on me, I also joined a women only gym purely because I wanted to be in the company of other women who hopefully wouldn’t be judgmental pricks like certain girls in highschool tend to be. But I was just like “Fuck it. I won’t let the possibility of some women being bitches to me keep me from being healthy,” so I joined. And you know what? It has been the best body image experience of my life, and no, that is not just because I’m getting more confidence in my body’s abilities.
I have not once heard a single woman say a single derogatory thing about another woman in my gym. Not once. The women are astoundingly kind. The women are universally thoughtful of each other and profusely kind at sharing equipment and amenities. I have never once heard a personal trainer say the f-word (fat). I have never seen a trainer yelling at a woman. I have never seen a class instructor without a smile on her face. I’ve only heard trainers and instructors encouraging women, telling them, “Society tells you you can’t do this because you’re a woman, but I’m telling you that your body is amazing, and you can.”
But it goes beyond that. I see women of all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, races in the locker room, and you know what? That has just totally opened my eyes to the fact that the Hollywood ideal, society’s mantra of what a woman *should* look like just simply does not reflect reality. And I find every woman I encounter in the locker room and sauna beautiful in her own unique way. And I got to thinking, if I find them beautiful, if they’re here doing their thing with their body, then why should I ever diss my own body or get down on it or not embrace it? My body is amazing. It can do seriously amazing things. I can bench press weights. I can hold the dancer’s pose. I can run. I can do chin-ups. I can almost touch my forehead to the floor. Plus, my body can nurture life or not, as I see fit. My body can do all these things and is simultaneously uniquely mine, and that is what makes it so awesome.
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Opinions of a Wolf 