Far From Reality

Title - Dreamdark: Blackbringer
Author - Laini Taylor
Genre - Fantasy
Page Count - 437
Rating - A

From the back of the book:
Magpie Windwitch, granddaughter of the West Wind, is not like other faeries. While most of her kind live in tranquil seclusion deep on their forests, escaped devils are creeping back into the world after millennia of imprisonment, and Magpie is all that stands in thier way. With her faithful clan of crows, she travels the world hunting down the bloodthirsty snags, just as her hero, Bellatrix did 25,000 years ago.
This hunt will take her back to the great forest of Dreamdark, a place of legents and Djinn, cunning imps and tattooed warriors, where she must unravel the mystery of the greatest enemy her folk have ever known. Will the determination of one small faerie be enough to defeat the impenetrable darkness that threatens to unmake the world?

Review:
Magpie is no ordinary faerie she wanders the world searching for snaggs (lesser demons) to vanquish, that the mannies (humans) have unleashed from thier captivity (but the mannies don't know they have done it). Magpie travels with her crow friends, who have taken care of her since she was little. But after learning that a great demon has excaped she must travel back to her old home of dreamdark in the forests to figure out what is going on, the story really picks up from this point on. The first few chapters were a little iffy for me, and i found it hard to get into at first though the idea of a tiny dragonfly winged faerie was intrigueing! When she returns to Dreamdark she meets up with her old friend Poppy, an unusual faerie with butterfly wings (all the faeries in dreamdark have dragonfly wings) who can talk to trees. Magpie also meets the supposed descendant of her hero Bellatrix, Vesper. Vesper has made herself queen of Dreamdark and Magpie first discovers she is not like other faeries when she accidently turns Vespers hair into worms! Don't be fooled by the supposed 'sillyness' of the book, talking crows, little faeries and all that, it is actually much darker then it lets on at first. An evil like no other has escaped, named Blackbringer, a horrible being that sucks anything it touches into its dark depths (think of a black hole but as a tangable moving blob) Blackbringer is destroying the outer forests and has its sights on Dreamdark, Magpie goes off in hopes of defeating this creature, so she must go find the creator of everything, The Magruwen. It is here in his well that she learns more about herself, and the story continues to get even more exiting! Magpie will meet and re-meet a slew of magical creatures such as imps, a fae warrior prince, dragons, and a really nasty demon named Gutsuck. I will take the time to tell you about Gutsuck, he dosnt have a really big part in the book but what it does say about him gives you a nasty visual, a demon that has a scar for a mouth most of the time, but when its time for him to feed (in this case on Magpie) he sucks in his scarred closed mouth and the teeth inside chew through the scar tissue and he eats it, revealing a now open mouth full of sharp pointed teeth, my stomach turned when i envision that. Dreakdark : Blackbringer is a rich fantasy that will leave you wanting more, luckily the second book : Dreamdark Silksinger is out! I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys faeries, or a book that dosnt take itself too seriously, I only hope Silksinger comes out as an ereader option soon!

Oh yes, i should also mention that during the book there are a few images that are beautiful, showing you what each major charactor looks like. these are scattered throughout the book and there are only about 4 or 5 but they are a very nice touch.