Publisher: Firebird (Penguin) c.2007. 437 p.
It was the fantastic art on the cover of this book that kept me coming back to this book. A faerie on a crow…..the illustration struck a cord…and conjured up all sorts of images in my own mind! I was hooked!
Devils are on the loose! Devils are hungry for faeries and Magpie Windwitch, grand-daughter of the West Wind, is the champion warrior faerie! She is a feisty, young “hundred-year-old sprout” of a faerie who has made it her mission to capture and destroy the ‘snags’ and devils that have been released into the world!
This heroine … Magpie Windwitch is like no faerie I have ever encountered and her world of faerie folk is far from being the conventional ‘fairy-fantasy’. A remarkable cast of rich, vibrant magical characters that make of the realm of Dreamdark and marvelous pen and ink illustrations sprinkled throughout the story will capture any reader’s imagination! One minute, readers will find themselves holding their breath, then racing full speed along with Mags, as she zips across her world trying to catch a recently released ‘snag’ that leaves no blood as a trail. Frustrated, Magpie ‘s search for this ‘new devil’ compels her to return to her birthplace….Dreamdark….where answers about this new formidable and frightening devil reveal his name to be “Blackbringer”. The name alone conjures fear and shudders to all in Dreamdark….similiar to our stories of the bogeyman! A vengeful, bitter antagonist that certainly had me hoping that Mags would succeed in her mission of capturing and containing him, thus keeping the Tapestry of the world whole!
I found this debut novel by Taylor to an extraordinarily refreshing YA fantasy novel. Highly recommend it and I hope that the author with continue the adventures of Magpie, the seven cigar-smoking crows and Talon in another book!…….ahhhhh…just discovered that book 2 is entitled “Silksinger“…….I will have to see about getting that one soon!
Reading Ability: Grade 6,7, 8 ( strong junior readers & intermediate)
Genre: Fantasy; Adventure
Theme: Identity; loyalty; Magic; Courage; Friendship
Who would like this book? This will would appeal to readers who love to read about dragons, magic, myths and legends.
Similar Reads: Wicked Lovely by M. Marr; Wondrous Strange by L. Livingston