Review: Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor

     

Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
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Pages: 272
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine
Published: October 1st, 2009
IBSN: 9780545055857

A girl who’s always been in the shadows finds herself pursued by the unbelievably attractive new boy at school, who may or may not be the death of her. Another girl grows up mute because of a curse placed on her by a vindictive spirit, and later must decide whether to utter her first words to the boy she loves and risk killing everyone who hears her if the curse is real. And a third girl discovers that the real reason for her transient life with her mother has to do with belonging — literally belonging — to another world entirely, full of dreaded creatures who can transform into animals, and whose queen keeps little girls as personal pets until they grow to childbearing age.

From a writer of unparalleled imagination and emotional insight, three stories about the deliciousness of wanting and waiting for that moment when lips touch.

Laini Taylor teamed up with husband Jim Di Bartolo, illustrator, to create three short stories about the power of a kiss, each emotionally wrenching and magical and imaginative.

Lips Touch: Three Times seemed to improve on what felt initially perfect with each new story. Goblin Fruit, Spicy Little Curses Such As These, and Hatchling, they were named respectively, and also in order of my favourites.

Goblin Fruit was of Kizzy, with longing for something more so tangible that even obvious malicious intent cannot dissuade her. Spicy Little Curses Such As These told the overlapping stories of Estella, liaison between worlds, and Anamique, the girl given the opposing gift of the most beautiful voice and the curse to kill whoever she lets hear it. And the last, Hatchling, introduced a world of rich imagination that I couldn't match with 20 more of me sitting down to brainstorm. The world of the Druj and their human pets and the redemption they find through them was so beautiful and bittersweet.

Each are of my favourite kind of fantasy: breathtakingly unique and teeming with tragedy and temptation (though I do hate myself after reading them for the amount of emotion they evoke that I don't know what to do with. I'm essentially useless after reading such emotionally exhausting books, but I can't stop myself). Kizzy's total abandon, Estella's painful compromises, and Mihai's perseverance all got under my skin.

Laini Taylor writes with a unique flair and a poetic style, perfectly executing otherworldly ideas and bringing characters which tug on the heartstrings to life:

"She was a girl and she was a queen and back in the mists she was a woman who had seized the moon from the sky and drunk its light so that she would never die."

All of this was furthered by the beautiful illustrations to accompany, detailing backstory in the beginning that will have you letting out an understanding "oh!" when you reach the point where that same story is woven in. I've already returned this book to my library (with more than one ignored "due soon!" notice  beforehand), but the image especially of Esme's mother suspended in the cage, rich red hair flowing outward and concealing her face, has stuck with me.

For Lips Touch: Three Times, Laini Taylor has crafted three worlds of contradictions: beautiful and dangerous; romantic and eerie. Three stories in anticipation of kisses that change everything feature fantasical settings that will have you wanted to pack up and move to them despite their malevolent lining.

I give Lips Touch: Three Times a 5 out of 5.

Psst. If you didn't notice, Laini Taylor's newest book, The Daughter Of Smoke And Bone (also brilliant!), is my current book of the month, and you can find your way to a giveaway up top.

Review: Daughter Of Smoke And Bone by Laini Taylor

     

Daughter Of Smoke And Bone by Laini Taylor
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Series: (#1)
Pages: 440
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: October, 2011
IBSN: 9781444722635

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.   In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

When Brimstone calls for an errand, Karou always comes. This is how it's always been. Brimstone is her family, and his store, her home. She is of both his world and of earth, but neither, truly, given that she doesn't even know who she is. But the door between the worlds is closing, and finding where she belongs is becoming all the more urgent.


"...they cupped their wings around their happiness and called it a world."

So I understand that not all quotes are created equally, but this one is just unfair. Laini Taylor's writing talent was clearly contrived from a wish on a gavriel.

The prose was lyrical and simply lovely. I was hanging off each word, even going back to bounce the occasional phrase around in my head and admire it. So many arresting, beautiful images were vividly created, and the story was so easily pictured. I was won over by the writing alone, and all the other amazing components -- the characters, the plot, the atmosphere, the emotion -- were added perks. Laini Taylor is the wonderful wordsmith she's esteemed to be and then some.

Taylor pulled off the best omniscient third person narration that I've ever read. She flitted between different perspectives, even in wonderful moments stepping out into an objective point of view. Changes in points of view were smooth and fluid, and each perspective gave something to the story.

Distance between us and the characters inherent in third person was kept minimal, giving us clear images of our characters. Karou and Akiva were brilliantly characterised, and they had strong, distinct voices. Their emotions were so arresting that there was an instant attachment to them. Each twist and devastating development felt like a weight on me as well.

The fantastical world was astoundingly imaginative. The world building was thorough and each element unique. Combined with the poetic prose, the effect was an eerie, alluring mood. Even in a human environment, in the romantic city of Prague, this tone is maintained. The atmosphere was compelling in its almost tangible feel, and in breaks I had to reacclimate to the real world.

The ending left me literally taken aback. Surprised (can you say that you saw that coming?) and devasted (can you believe that?). It concluded on a stunning note that left me wondering, "so what can...what do I do about this?". Apparently the answer to that is to impatiently wait for the next installment to wrap me up again in the incredible and heartbreaking world Laini Taylor built.

I'm not going to recommend this to certain kinds of people. This is an EVERYONE book. Everybody's life would be better for having read this book.

I give Daughter Of Smoke And Bone a 6 out of 5!