One faerie, the last of her clan, must fight to complete her sacred duty
Whisper Silksinger is the last of the secret guardians of the Azazel, one of the powerful Djinn who dreamed the world into being. Relentlessly pursued by bloodthirsty devils, she flees to the city of Nazneen to restore the Azazel to his temple. At the same time, Hirik Mothmage is also on a secret quest, to find the Azazel and restore his disgraced clan?s ancient honor.
And behind them all flies Magpie Windwitch, first champion of the new age of faeries, desperate to rescue Whisper and the Azazel alike before they fall in the clutches of a sinister hidden enemy.
From School Library Journal
Grade 5–9—In this second volume in the series, the adventures of Magpie and the other fairies of Dreamdark forest continue as they quest to find the remaining five djinn that created the world. Two legendary clans with special magical gifts, the Mothmage and the Silksingers, both long-thought extinct, reemerge as Magpie and her followers search for the djinn Azazel in Nazneen. Evil is brewing there, and many surprises await the fairy heroes as they try to protect the world's tapestry from unraveling. Silksinger defies genre barriers. It certainly feels like fantasy, but it has elements of adventure and horror as well. With excellent world-building and deft pacing, this story is difficult to put down. The characters are well developed, and their close relationships and rapid-fire dialogue enhance the story. Make no mistake, these are not girly Disney-esque creatures. Taylor's fairies are tough and can take care of themselves. Occasional sword violence is offset by a rigid respect for all life in this fairy culture. While Taylor does a good job of weaving details from the first book into the second, Silksinger will be best enjoyed if it is read in sequence. This is series fantasy at its best: readers who loved Blackbringer (Putnam, 2007) will certainly gobble up this installment.—Kristin Anderson, Columbus Metropolitan Library System, OH END
Review
"...another ripping yarn, once again taking readers into an uncommonly well-articulated world...where the fairies are anything but the sugarplum sort." --Kirkus, starred
"This is series fantasy at its best: readers who loved Blackbringer (Putnam, 2007) will certainly gobble up this installment." --School Library Journal
About the Author
Laini Taylor is a writer & artist living in Portland, Oregon. Her debut novel, Dreamdark: Blackbringer was published to much acclaim, including stars from Booklist, Bank Street College of Education, and KLIATT; it was a Book Sense Children’s Pick; winner of the Baker & Taylor/PYRG Teen Readers Sweepstakes; is on the Sequoyah Book Awards Master List; and has received glowing praise from such luminaries as Holly Black, Newbery Honor-winner Shannon Hale, and New York Times bestseller Brandon Mull. A Fuse #8 Production states, “If you read only one fantasy book this year, read this one.” The companion volume Dreamdark: Silksinger will be published in September 2009, followed in October by a short-story collection Lips Touch.
Laini Taylor is also the creator of Laini’s Ladies, a gift product line she began making by hand to sell at a local art fair, which has expended to seventeen product lines—from stationary to garden object to holiday ornaments to jewelry—that have retailed in over 5,000 gift and specialty stores throughout the United States and Canada.
Laini Taylor lives with her husband, artist Jim Di Bartolo, and her elderly dog, Leroy, in a bright yellow house filled with lots of books and marionettes and robots. They spend their time drinking coffee and making stuff up, and are currently awaiting the birth of their first child.
