Ok. I tried, but maybe I'm just not in the mood for this type of book. I was a little bored, and it just didn't keep my interest.

Years ago, after reading one of Laini Taylor's books and enjoying the first half and then being left hanging at the end with no resolution, I said I wouldn't "be fooled again". Fast forward to two weeks ago, after having totally forgotten about that, I started listening to this book. And let's just say I'm really happy that I forgot, because this was awesome!

It is YA, there's only one thread going on so it's very linear, but there's a lot of really cool lore, a badass female lead, lots of classical fairy type stuff mixed in with new ideas. It's just really fun, and she left the "teen-romance" part almost completely out of it, it was there but really subtle and not a focus of the story (like many YA novels). The writing is beautiful and made especially so because it's read by Divina Porter, who read Mists of Avalon, one of the first audio books I ever listened to, back around 1995 on a Walkman, it was at least 2 or 3 boxes of cassettes I got from the library. ( )

When the ancient evil of the Blackbringer rises to unmake the world, only one determined faerie stands in its way. However, Magpie Windwitch, granddaughter of the West Wind, is not like other faeries. While her kind live in seclusion deep in the forests of Dreamdark, she's devoted her life to tracking down and recapturing devils escaped from their ancient bottles, just as her hero, the legendary Bellatrix, did 25,000 years ago. With her faithful gang of crows, she travels the world fighting where others would choose to flee. But when a devil escapes from a bottle sealed by the ancient Djinn King himself- the creator of the world- she may be in over her head. How can a single faerie, even with the help of her friends, hope to defeat the impenetrable darkness of the Blackbringer?
At a time when fantasy readers have an embarrassment of riches in choosing new worlds to fall in love with, this first novel by a fresh, original voice is sure to stand out.

3.75 stars, and not as good as her Daughter of Smoke and Bone series. This book follows the adventures of a young faery named Magpie, who along with her companions, a murder of crows, and prince Talon (a faery prince from the protectors of Dreamdark.) Together, they set out to stop a truly evil foe, who has escaped the prison to which he was relegated by the champion faery Bellatrix in days long passed. In order to succeed, she has to enlist the help of an ancient djinn. The novel moves along well, and the characters are likable as is the banter and camraderie among them. Neither Magpie, Talon nor Poppy appreciate their skills and strengths. The nature of the evil foe is fairly interesting and inventive. ( )

3.5

I'm not a huge fairy person, nor did I like [b:Daughter of Smoke & Bone|8490112|Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #1)|Laini Taylor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1461353773s/8490112.jpg|13355552] but I still wanted to see if I could jump aboard the Laini Taylor Hype Train when I found this for less than a dollar at a second hand shop. I can, and I have. I really enjoyed this book and am quite sad the the sequel can only be found used, and is selling for nearly $200. I need to know what happens next!

This book took me a bit to really get into it. Around page 70 is when I decided that this could actually be a great read, and it was. It was super fun well paced and the villain was great. I loved how all the characters has such clear and defined voices and dialects. It sounded so authentic and the banter was very enjoyable. The plot is great as well. It has a few downsides like a chosen one arc and prophecy but it's even done better then most and I really didn't mind it.

Magpie was such a great character. She had a strong personality that just bled through the page. All the characters did. Even the ones we didn't see a lot. I could easily picture what type of person they were and all that jazz. Even the animals and imps were great. They all had interesting motives and personalities and I loved reading about all of them and even felt sad when some of them died.

I'd also like to mentioned that I did enjoy the underlying messages about society and the idea that human killed off the dragons. It wasn't discussed at large which was nice, they were just sort of there, naturally, as characters learnt stuff about our world and their own. It was nice not to have something so heavy-handed.

This was a really great book for a middle grade book as well. It wasn't the writing style I expected after reading [b:Daughter of Smoke & Bone|8490112|Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #1)|Laini Taylor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1461353773s/8490112.jpg|13355552], which was honestly the saving grace of that book, but it wasn't such a step down either.

I think this is a very strong and enjoyable book and I recommend that anyone who can get their hands on a copy read it even if they didn't like her other works. ( )