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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Goblin Fruit: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
Spicy Little Curses: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
Hatchling: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spicy Little Curses: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
Hatchling: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I'm clearly in the minority here, but I thought this was awful. I'm a huge fan of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but I just could get into this. The chapters aren't likable and there is no depth in the stories.
As a general observation, I've decided that I do not like Taylor's writing. I know you all think me crazy but it's a matter of taste and Taylor's prose has too much flourishes and lyricism for my taste. I like metaphors and I love it when the writer creates with artistry visually beautiful scenes, but in moderation otherwise it tires me and I space out. It's the story I'm interested in, that's why I'm reading a book.
Also, I feel like Taylor loves "the sound of her voice" way too much. She just goes on and on and on and on....it is so tiresome hearing her saying the same thing over and over in a million different ways! Sometimes it feels like she's caught marveling at her own creation endlessly describing and forgetting the plot. There was little dialog, and I prefer dialog to narration, and the unraveling of backstories just didn't work for me; it hindered the story because it ruined the pacing.
Taylor has a wonderful imagination and her stories are always so rich and very original and if delivered differently I'd be enthralled but I really don't like Taylor's narrative.
Now as far as [b:Lips Touch|6369113|Lips Touch Three Times|Laini Taylor|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1341175359s/6369113.jpg|6556598] is concerned I liked it much better than [b:Daughter of Smoke & Bone|13528340|Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone, #1)|Laini Taylor|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1338060846s/13528340.jpg|13355552], though I wouldn't count it amongst my favorite books. It's a series of dark, twisted and imaginative fairy tales that wetted my appetite but failed to saturate.
Kizzy's story:
Summarily: Our desires define us; what we yearn for and what we're willing to sacrifice for it.
I can relate to Kizzy's need to conform, to be like any other kid, to be what is generally perceived as beautiful. There isn't a teenage girl that can't relate, the need to be beautiful, to be wanted...I've felt that too, I used to be that awkward teen with the voluptuous body, she thought of as fat and hid under oversized tracksuits, with the owlish glasses and the unruly hair.
But Taylor is just too out there for me. The very first conversation Jack & Kizzy have includes the following phrase:
Not to mention that the weird girl nails the hottest guy alive is old! I know looks are the one think everyone focuses on at sixteen but the first time I fell in love it was to a funny guy with a lot of charisma who made my laugh, not the hottie I thought I wanted.
Estella's story:
Estella's, or Anamique's, story appealed to me more than Kizzy's. At times it bored & irked me, Taylor would halt the narration right as we'd reached a crescendo to give backstory, but it had this timeless quality of a dark fairytale. I kept imagining the whole thing as an opera, the Demon, the descent to hell, Estella, James...maybe it's because of the whole 'the girl with the angelic voice cursed to kill anyone who hear it' but I kept drawing comparison to "The Phantom of the Opera" and I A.D.O.R.E. that opera! I'd pay just to see Anamique signing while walking through the flames of Hellfire!
Estella's story was also heartbreaking. The fate of someone who cannot break free of the past, charged to silently bare the weight of the world, hated all the while. She was a tragic hero.
That being said I was kinda put out by the whole 'choose who deserves to live or die' thing. Yeah, it might sound like a no brainer if you have to choose between the life of an innocent child and that of a slaver but life if more complicated than that and death though not always fair it is always unbribable and the force that maintains a balance in the world. The whole thing was oversimplified I felt
The last story:
Of all three I felt that that was the darkest and most twisted and, oddly enough, my favorite. Yes, it still got too melodramatic and wordy for my taste but there was something raw and passionate about it and if I'm being honest what raised the rating to 3 stars instead of 2.
Also, I feel like Taylor loves "the sound of her voice" way too much. She just goes on and on and on and on....it is so tiresome hearing her saying the same thing over and over in a million different ways! Sometimes it feels like she's caught marveling at her own creation endlessly describing and forgetting the plot. There was little dialog, and I prefer dialog to narration, and the unraveling of backstories just didn't work for me; it hindered the story because it ruined the pacing.
Taylor has a wonderful imagination and her stories are always so rich and very original and if delivered differently I'd be enthralled but I really don't like Taylor's narrative.
Now as far as [b:Lips Touch|6369113|Lips Touch Three Times|Laini Taylor|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1341175359s/6369113.jpg|6556598] is concerned I liked it much better than [b:Daughter of Smoke & Bone|13528340|Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone, #1)|Laini Taylor|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1338060846s/13528340.jpg|13355552], though I wouldn't count it amongst my favorite books. It's a series of dark, twisted and imaginative fairy tales that wetted my appetite but failed to saturate.
Kizzy's story:
Summarily: Our desires define us; what we yearn for and what we're willing to sacrifice for it.
I can relate to Kizzy's need to conform, to be like any other kid, to be what is generally perceived as beautiful. There isn't a teenage girl that can't relate, the need to be beautiful, to be wanted...I've felt that too, I used to be that awkward teen with the voluptuous body, she thought of as fat and hid under oversized tracksuits, with the owlish glasses and the unruly hair.
But Taylor is just too out there for me. The very first conversation Jack & Kizzy have includes the following phrase:
[...]"Really. You should quit. Cigarettes make people taste ... yellow." [...] "So how do nonsmokers taste?" she asked, trying to appear unruffled. "Like licorice," said Jack Husk [...]For real? That's flirting? And then they have a breakfast picnic at a cemetery!!! Maybe I'd do that with family while visiting a relative's grave but for a first date with a stranger in a cemetery where I have no relatives? That's just cuckoo!
Not to mention that the weird girl nails the hottest guy alive is old! I know looks are the one think everyone focuses on at sixteen but the first time I fell in love it was to a funny guy with a lot of charisma who made my laugh, not the hottie I thought I wanted.
Estella's story:
Estella's, or Anamique's, story appealed to me more than Kizzy's. At times it bored & irked me, Taylor would halt the narration right as we'd reached a crescendo to give backstory, but it had this timeless quality of a dark fairytale. I kept imagining the whole thing as an opera, the Demon, the descent to hell, Estella, James...maybe it's because of the whole 'the girl with the angelic voice cursed to kill anyone who hear it' but I kept drawing comparison to "The Phantom of the Opera" and I A.D.O.R.E. that opera! I'd pay just to see Anamique signing while walking through the flames of Hellfire!
Estella's story was also heartbreaking. The fate of someone who cannot break free of the past, charged to silently bare the weight of the world, hated all the while. She was a tragic hero.
That being said I was kinda put out by the whole 'choose who deserves to live or die' thing. Yeah, it might sound like a no brainer if you have to choose between the life of an innocent child and that of a slaver but life if more complicated than that and death though not always fair it is always unbribable and the force that maintains a balance in the world. The whole thing was oversimplified I felt
The last story:
Of all three I felt that that was the darkest and most twisted and, oddly enough, my favorite. Yes, it still got too melodramatic and wordy for my taste but there was something raw and passionate about it and if I'm being honest what raised the rating to 3 stars instead of 2.
Oh. My. Goodness. This is one gorgeous book, & very romantic. It is beautifully illustrated in graphic novel style, where the story is told without words, but then comes the text after the images to fill in the gaps, and it's really cool. The book is not a novel but three stories that have at their heart a kiss--and the kiss can be magical or not, a good kiss or a bad kiss, but it's crucial to the story. The stories have a multicultural feel, melding elements of India and Russia and England and bits of distant religious lore and supernatural magic. From demons in Hell who force curses on babies in exchange for other children's souls (it's really not as dark as it sounds!), to star-crossed lovers who wait centuries to be reunited, to goblins and werewolves and immortal coldhearted beings who wish only to recapture their long-scattered souls, oh my, this is one heckuva book. ;-) So lyrically written, I had to keep going back and rereading passages that sung to me.
1 okay and 2 very good stories, but come on 3 stories does not a book make, even if you do have a few pictures.
Laini Taylor's writing flows like the most natural thing in the world. She combines everyone's favorite topics: intrigue, mystery, magic and ancient folklore and effortlessly blends it into a really irresistible cocktail. Needless to say, I wish there were more of her unique fairy tales in this book. And a point to illustrations and the order in which the stories have been presented, from shortest to the longest. I also felt the stories progressively got better. But I think my favorite one was "Hatchling". I just loved that concept. So absolutely unique and refreshing.
Here’s a little synopsis of my thoughts as I listened to the first story:
…Remembering that fairy tales weren’t always about feisty princesses living happily ever after….
…Remembering that half of the time what they were about is “encouraging” teenage girls to keep it in their pants OR ELSE. Boo. On second thought, I want the princesses back.
…Hoping that this is heading in a different direction….
…Damn. If that’s all this is about then why am I reading it? Sure it’s gorgeous, but I could just be reading Grimm’s Fairy Tales. This is just yet another case of recycling the old into the “next” big…
Wait, what?
*Head explodes with awesomeness, and just a dash of guilt for not trusting my goodreads friends*
Yep, I loved it. I hadn’t read any reviews before starting (not even the synopsis), so I really didn’t know what I was getting into, but I enjoyed it all the way through. This is a collection of three stories, which all feature different mythologies and worlds, but are tied together by the blissful, tantalizing, dangerous qualities of a first kiss. The third story is my favorite by far. I love the whole world that she builds in that one, and the dark and wanting demon race that inhabits it. I feel like the first story is an amuse bouche for the rest – which is handy, because it’s quite short. So, if you don’t like that one, it’s an easy out.
This book made me realize that the current state of paranormal romance is such a shadow of what we once had. I feel like we all had this sort of hasty knee-jerk reaction. We wanted away with the obnoxious moralizing and scary demonic creatures, but we went too far, and lost so much of what made these tales great. We lost the shock and the fear, mostly. I am sure that there are other examples of fairy tale retellings done the right way, and I will be on the look-out for them. I would highly recommend this to anyone that can appreciate dark fairytales with unexpected endings.
I listened to this one on audio, so I missed out on all the illustrations :(. Cassandra Campbell was excellent as always, though.
Perfect Musical Pairing
The Smashing Pumpkins – Bodies
This was my favorite band back when I had my first kiss, so it seems appropriate. It’s also the first band I ever saw in concert, which was about one hundred times better than my first kiss.
…Remembering that fairy tales weren’t always about feisty princesses living happily ever after….
…Remembering that half of the time what they were about is “encouraging” teenage girls to keep it in their pants OR ELSE. Boo. On second thought, I want the princesses back.
…Hoping that this is heading in a different direction….
…Damn. If that’s all this is about then why am I reading it? Sure it’s gorgeous, but I could just be reading Grimm’s Fairy Tales. This is just yet another case of recycling the old into the “next” big…
Wait, what?
*Head explodes with awesomeness, and just a dash of guilt for not trusting my goodreads friends*
Yep, I loved it. I hadn’t read any reviews before starting (not even the synopsis), so I really didn’t know what I was getting into, but I enjoyed it all the way through. This is a collection of three stories, which all feature different mythologies and worlds, but are tied together by the blissful, tantalizing, dangerous qualities of a first kiss. The third story is my favorite by far. I love the whole world that she builds in that one, and the dark and wanting demon race that inhabits it. I feel like the first story is an amuse bouche for the rest – which is handy, because it’s quite short. So, if you don’t like that one, it’s an easy out.
This book made me realize that the current state of paranormal romance is such a shadow of what we once had. I feel like we all had this sort of hasty knee-jerk reaction. We wanted away with the obnoxious moralizing and scary demonic creatures, but we went too far, and lost so much of what made these tales great. We lost the shock and the fear, mostly. I am sure that there are other examples of fairy tale retellings done the right way, and I will be on the look-out for them. I would highly recommend this to anyone that can appreciate dark fairytales with unexpected endings.
I listened to this one on audio, so I missed out on all the illustrations :(. Cassandra Campbell was excellent as always, though.
Perfect Musical Pairing
The Smashing Pumpkins – Bodies
This was my favorite band back when I had my first kiss, so it seems appropriate. It’s also the first band I ever saw in concert, which was about one hundred times better than my first kiss.
First story was hmmm. Second was the best. Third one was bizarre as hell.
I simply devoured this book, which seems fitting for a book about the dangers of forbidden fruit, taboos, and kisses. I spied Laini Taylor at this year's ALA conference and knew I had to find out what made her so interesting. This has taken the tropes that we are familiar with - evil fay, temptation of the young, the goblin market - and brought them to life again with her gorgeous storytelling. Accompanied by amazing artwork by her husband, Jim Di Bartolo, this is a book sure to enchant and make you hungry for more Laini Taylor books.