Review: Blackbringer

The past few weeks we've been discussing heavy issues like racism, bullying, and human trafficking and how to deal with those into our stories. This week, to give us a bit of a breather, I'm going to be reviewing one of my favorite fantasy books of all time, Blackbringer. Enjoy!

Title: Blackbringer

Author: Laini Taylor

Page Count: 448 pages

Stars: 5 of 5

• 5 = An amazingly well-crafted story. Definitely one of my all-time favorites.

Teaser: When the ancient evil of the Blackbringer rises to unmake the world, only one determined faerie stands in its way. However, Magpie Windwitch, graddaughter of the West Wind, is not like other faeries. While her kind live in seclusion deep in the forests of Dreamdark, she's devoted her life to tracking down and recapturing devils escaped from their ancient bottles, just as her hero, the legendary Bellatrix, did 25,000 years ago. With her faithful gang of crows, she travels the world fighting where others would choose to flee. But when a devil escapes from a bottle sealed by the ancient Djinn King himself, she may be in over her head. How can a single faerie, even with the help of her friends, hope to defeat the impenetrable darkness of the Blackbringer?

Age level: Pre-teens and up (12+)

Violence: 2 of 5

• 2 = PG-level violence that is significant in the story (other than one rather gruesome description of a devil, the violence is not severe)

Romance: 0 of 5

Language: 1 of 5

• 1 = replacement swear words/made-up swear words

Christian worldview: The world in Blackbringer is "created" by several djinn, who at the time of the story have little or no involvement in the world. Obviously, this is a different view of creation than the Christian perspective. However, the djinn are not worshiped as God but seem to be reminiscent of Tolkien's Valar. As such, I didn't feel that the story significantly contradicted a Christian perspective. (Also, the story had an afterlife which I can't tell too much about to avoid spoilers. It wasn't a Christian view of heaven--God wasn't there--but it cohered with the rest of the fantasy world and as such didn't bother me.)

My thoughts: I picked this book up in the library for the first time over six years ago and fell completely in love. This is a flawless stand-alone fantasy book suitable for a wide audience. (Blackbringer does have a sequel, Silkslinger, which is very imaginative and sweet with a bit of romance in it. I don't like it quite as much, though, because it doesn't have the same grandeur or darkness that this book has in it.) 

Anyway, back to Blackbringer: it's got a spunky main character who is very tough and brave, with relatable strengths and weaknesses. The various side characters have fully developed personalities that are quite enjoyable and make me want to cheer them on. Plus, who can't love a story with diminutive faeries with wings?!

The setting is fantastic, too. The interaction between the human world and the faerie world is fascinating. Taylor's descriptions are quite vivid and easy to visualize. Oh, and did I mention that the author included beautiful illustrations of the main characters? It's totally fantastic.

But most of all, what I love about the story is that the villain is truly one of the best-crafted villains I've read. Scary, ominous, mysterious, dark, surprising...all of that and more. There are even a few "minor" villains scattered throughout to keep up the tension. The conclusion is dramatic and everything it should be. Really, I couldn't ask for a better story.

Comments, anyone? Have you read Blackbringer before? Or do you have any book recommendations for me?

Top Blog Posts of 2012

The year 2012 is almost at an end--and what a year it has been! As we think over what this year has brought us, let's also look back at some of the highlights of the blog this past year. So, without further ado, here are the top 15 blog posts of 2012! (Posts are listed in chronological order.)

The Hows and Whys of Naming God in Your Fantasy Story

The Weapons in Fantasy Series -- Swords, Bows, Armor

The Fashion in Fantasy Series -- Females, Males, Shoes

The Villain Series -- 5 Ways to Kill Your Villain, Recipe for a Dark Lord

Easter and Fantasy

The Names Series -- Names in the Bible, How to Name Your Characters

Costs and Benefits of Self-Publishing

The Colors in Fantasy Series -- Tools, Opposites

So go ahead and click those links to read any posts you missed! And if you liked other posts from the blog, be sure to comment and let me know. I look forward to an even better 2013!

A Recipe for a Dark Lord

In the last post, we talked about how to kill off our villains. However, that doesn't help anything if we don't have a villain to kill off in the first place!  Before we begin, though, why do you need a villain at all? 

Here's why: every story is only as good as its villain. The villain is the one who opposes the hero, who prevents him/her from meeting his/her goals. Without the villain, your story has no conflict—no purpose. Without the villain, your hero could do and have whatever he wanted, instantly, without any obstacles. Without a villain, your story would be--prepare yourself!--boring.

Okay, so you need a villain. That still leaves an important question: how does one go about creating a Dark Lord of the Universe? After all, sometimes it can get a little tough to think of a really evil villain on your own. That’s where this post comes in. I decided to mix and stir and bake an arch-evil-villain, so that all of you can read my recipe, be impressed by all the hours I spent slaving over a hot computer, and bake your own villains.

So, without further ado: a recipe for creating your very own Dark Lord.

4 cups goal

3 cups motivation

6 tablespoons backstory, sifted

2 handfuls minor villains

1.5 teaspoons weakness

½  cup accessories

1 pinch gold or lapis lazuli

Preheat the oven to 873 degrees Celsius (1,603.4 Fahrenheit).

In a large black bowl, combine goal, motivation, and backstory. Blend at light speed for ten minutes, until dough forms blackish lump. Should have the same consistency throughout

(Note: the villain should want something—his goal—that is directly opposite what the hero wants. Your villain must have a good reason for wanting this goal—a motivation. Usually, the motivation is not isolated in space and time, but is the result of the villain’s history and upbringing—his backstory. You need all three of these elements to make the villain believable.)

In a separate, smaller bowl, stir minor villains until thawed. Then quickly fold into the main batter until completely engulfed.

(Note: minor villains are important because your hero always, always, always needs opposition. Without opposition, there’s no suspense or tension or conflict in your story. In other words, it’s boring. But, hey, your arch-villain can’t be everywhere at once, can he? So that’s where the minor villains come in. Minor villains provide conflict against the hero in minor situations. Usually, they’re tied to the main villain and the main conflict of the story as well.)

Add the weakness and knead carefully, spreading weakness throughout the whole lump. This is a most delicate phase—too many weaknesses will make the dough fall apart, but too few will make it dry and fossilized.

(Note: in other words, your villain can’t be all-powerful. He needs to be relatable, and the way to do this is to bring in weaknesses. Often, you can find his/her weaknesses if you dig around enough in the villain’s past.)

Once weaknesses have been kneaded in, sprinkle accessories on top. This is the point in the recipe where you can add your own distinct flair: the curling walrus moustache, the pocketwatch that doubles as a sword, the bright red hair standing on end, or the evil villain cape of awesomeness, for example.

Bake for 1,095 days in the back burner of your mind. Remove from oven and let sit. Should be burned black around the edges.

If desired, add a pinch of gold or lapis lazuli for effect. Serve frozen or boiled in the lava of revenge.

Feeds 1 story.

5 Simple Ways to Kill Your Villain

Today's post is easy as pie: five ways storytellers have killed off villains before--and the pros and cons of each one of them. Plus, I've included a bonus point at the end. So pull on your gloves, and let's get down to business to defeat the Huns! Er, villains. Or both.

1. Falling from a height

-- Examples: Tangled, Lord of the Rings: Saruman
-- Pros: doesn't force the MC to kill the villain, which satisfies your reader's sense of justice. The MC doesn't have to resort to morally evil means to kill the villain.
-- Cons: very overused. Can also seem like a "deus ex machina," otherwise known as unrelated elements taking a hand in the climax to provide an instant happy ending. Too easy, in other words.

2. Suicide

-- Examples: Saul in the Bible, Denethor (Steward of Gondor) in Lord of the Rings
-- Pros: the villain is messed up already anyway! Psychologically, if he's set up for it, then it works nicely as a logical result
-- Cons: only works if the character has the psychology and situation for this. after all, villains have ambitions and goals, and they think these goals are justified (in their own view of morality), so they wouldn't be likely to just abandon their schemes and kill themselves on a whim

3. Villain's Plans Backfire

-- This form of death is when the villain's plans are turned completely on their head, and he ends up with the punishment that he was going to bestow on the hero.
-- Example: Jafar from Aladdin wants to become the most powerful genie in the world but does not realize that he will also be a slave to the lamp; in Batman Begins, *spoiler* the villain is caught on train that he was going to use to blow up the city's water supply
-- Pros: satisfies our sense of justice
-- Cons: can be very tricky to set up. Plus there's a fine line in whether the hero has the option of sparing the villain's life

4. Killed by Sidekick

-- Examples: Saruman in LOTR is killed by his henchman Grima Wormtongue; Scar from Lion King is killed by his henchmen the hyenas.
-- Pros: good because hero doesn't have to "dirty his hands" in killing the villain
-- Cons: don't let this be a cop-out option! set the villain-sidekick interplay well beforehand, and make sure the hero still has the main role in defeating villain. Perhaps hero saves villain's life, but sidekick, in a fit of jealous rage, kills villain. The important part is that justice is served in every way.

5. Killed by Hero

-- Examples: Maleficent was killed by a direct stab from the prince's blade; in the Star Wars saga, Anakin {a hero at this point} kills Count Dooku under prompting by Darth Sidious/Palpatine
-- Pros: it shows the hero has the strength to do what it takes to defeat the villain; he's not willing to let someone else do the dirty work for him.
-- Cons: morally...a tough question. For Anakin in the example above, Count Dooku was begging for mercy and Jedi laws said that unarmed foes should not be killed. After all, when you kill your enemy after he's down, doesn't that make you just as bad as the villain? There could also be lingering guilt questions and unsolved tension in your reader (and that's the last thing you want at the end of your story! You want the reader to finish with deep admiration of your hero. Or, you probably do.)

Bonus Point: Killed by Fantastic Powers

-- Hey, guys, this is fantasy, and we are the writers. We can kill our villains however we want to!
-- Examples: the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz dies by melting
-- Pros: works brilliantly in fantasy books. After all, you have magic, so why not use it for the best possible use--killing the bad guy?
-- Cons: unless the powers are set up well beforehand, this can seem like a cop-out, like you're taking the easy way out. You still need to make it difficult--in fact, almost impossible--for hero to kill villain.


Naturally, countless more ways remain to kill villains. What are some of your favorites? Can you think of other examples? Happy writing!