Ah, little did I know what I would get into when I picked up the first book in this series. What a wonderful, sad, fitting end to this series. I will miss this little world, with its Men and Monsters. ( )

*Sigh*
Finally it's over.


Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer has a great concept with Magpie Windwich being a Devil Hunting fairy who travels with crows around the land to capture the escaped snags and put them back in their bottles. There's a new problem in her fun filled world and its called the Blackbringer and its going to destroy Dreamdark if Magpie cant stop it!

However the book just seemed to go on and on and on and on and on and....... and on and on.
While the plot was a gripping idea the actual story was....boring.
After reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone I knew that Laini Taylor was one for making poetry out of words, thus making the story longer. However in this story it never worked in favour and instead made this book long winded and hard to convince oneself to pick up the damn book and finish it.


At times this book was good and I found myself wondering what was going to happen next eagerly turning the page....to find Im back to reading something of no interest whatsoever.

I loved the crows in this book though, I love how caring they are towards Magpie and how they treat her like one of their own, the dialogue was also a good if not risky idea, as not many people can understand the aye's, nays and kens of the Scottish language. It gave the characters a bit more depth to them and made them a little more likable.


I did find myself thinking of this story to be much like Fern Gully, I know the story is a completely different thing but the way Magpie's character comes across made me picture the stubborn fairy in that cartoon.

the reason for the two stars is simple. I really wanted to but didn't enjoy the story, and I found its saving graces to be the minor characters and the dialogue.
I dont like rating less than two as I understand that a lot of effort goes into writing the stories and regardless of my opinion on a book (unless I find it truly terrible) no book deserves a one star rating

I look forward to the next installment of Daughter of Smoke and Bone Miss Taylor!
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Rivaling Tolkein and Robert L Jordan, Cornish has created an entire world (well, half continent), including creatures, language, everything. Truly a masterful fantasy storyteller. I enjoyed the entire series but I won't spoil the big climax. Suffice it to say that Rosamund in an enigma, hard to quantify. ( )

Good Reads Summary:Orphan Rossamund Bookchild has been sworn into the Emperor's service his duty is to light the lamps along the Emperor's highways and protect travelers from the ferocious bogles that live in the wild. But he's found it no easier to fit in with the lamplighters than he did with the foundlings always too small and too meek and his loneliness continues no matter how hard he tries to succeed.

But when a haughty young girl, a member of a suspiciously regarded society of all-women teratologists monster hunters is forced upon the lamplighters for training, Rossamund is no longer the most despised soul around. As Rossamund begins to make new friends in the dangerous world of the Half-Continent, he also seems to make more enemies, finding himself pushed toward a destiny that he could never have imagined.

My review: I actually enjoyed this book much more than the first because Cornish introduced a feisty female charcacter into the series and this was such a great balance to Rossamund's nice, bumbling along hero. As written for the previous book, Foundling :this series of books would appeal to lovers of fantasy like HP and also those who like their stories a bit on the dark side, and their heroes/heroines are not typical of what you might expect. ( )

FACTOTUM is a weak link. I love this series, and if you've read the first two there's a good chance you'll forgive a weak third installment -- I certainly do -- but I'm also going to call it like I see it.

I feel like the problem here is fundamental, inherent in the concept of the book. Pretty much the first thing that we find out is that Rossamund is, in fact, a monster. A monster employed by one of the Half-Continent's greatest monster-killers. As if that's not enough, he's soft-hearted and merciful by nature; two qualities that don't mesh very well with a brutal, mercenary lifestyle.

That would be conflict enough, but it's just the first paradox in a book that piles them one on top of another. Not only is Rossamund a monster, but the whole world finds out about his true nature at pretty much the exact same moment that he does. What chance does he have of building a life among the "everymen" as a known monster? Pretty much none, but he still tries.

And then there's the biggest paradox of all: Europe. She's always known that there are good monsters and bad monsters, and she's shown mercy on occasion. But that's about as far as she's been willing to go: mercy, and only when it'll be off-the-books.

It's not hard to believe that Europe would keep Rossamund's secret, or employ him as long as the rest of the world remains ignorant. But that's not an option. Rossamund's true nature is public knowledge (or, at least, a very widespread rumor), and that creates a lot of problems for her, too. Very early on, it's clear that Europe has a much bigger job protecting Rossamund than Rossamund has protecting Europe. She can keep him alive and well...but only at a great cost to herself.

I think that's meant to be FACTOTUM'S final destination, seeing Europe evolve to the point where she'll make a public stand on a private belief. But there's no real evolution. There can't be. From the get-go, she has to put her reputation, her fortune, and her life on the line for Rossamund, a monster. But the Europe we knew in FOUNDLING and LAMPLIGHTER wasn't ready to do that...the book suffers because she's shoehorned into acting against her true character, and we don't get to see an honest evolution.

FACTOTUM isn't bad...it's just weaker than the first two, which were so stunning and engrossing. I'll continue with the series, no question, so I do recommend picking up FACTOTUM and reading it. One thing in FACTOTUM'S favor: it sets us up for an intriguing sequel.
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