Previous SFF Author: K.J. Taylor
Laini Taylor is an artist who created Laini’s Ladies line of gifts and stationery. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband Jim Di Bartolo, an illustrator, and their daughter Clementine. She likes mangoes and chocolate. Learn more at Laini Taylor’s website.
Click here for more stories by Laini Taylor.
Laini Taylor, who wrote the YA fantasy Daughter of Smoke & Bone, and was shortlisted for the National Book Award for Lips Touch: Three Times, has a great smile, a winning way with an audience, a wicked sense of humor and pink hair.
Taylor was on the last leg of her book tour promoting Daughter of Smoke & Bone when I met her at Copperfield’s Books in Petaluma, California. Taylor attended the Santa Rosa Junior College,
Yesterday I was very lucky for the chance to meet with Laini Taylor and discuss her recently-completed DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE trilogy. Arriving in Christchurch, New Zealand for our biannual Writer’s Festival, Laini was kind enough to share some insights into her epic story. Involving a star-crossed romance, a perspective flip on angels and demons, and an upcoming film adaptation, her trilogy has ensnared thousands of readers — and hopefully you as well.
Here are the New Zealand covers of Laini’s books:
I hope you enjoy the interview!
Although now best known for her DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE trilogy, I was interested in checking out some of Laini Taylor‘s early work, specifically her duology DREAMDARK, made up of Blackbringer (2007) and Silksinger.
Magpie Witchwind is a young faerie that travels the globe, searching for devils (or “snags”) that are gradually creeping back into the world. Originally trapped in bottles and other containers,
Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Laini Taylor | Children | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
When last we left the intrepid — and tiny — heroes of Blackbringer, Magpie, Talon, and company were leaving on a task set to Magpie by the Magruwen (the Djinn King). Their mission: To find the last five of the Djinn who created the world.
In Silksinger we meet Whisper Silksinger, the last remaining member of a clan of faeries who weave flying carpets (because they’re all “scamperers,” meaning their wings are too small to carry them).
Beth Johnson Sonderby (guest)´s rating: 5 | Laini Taylor | Children | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
I’m having a hard time reviewing Lips Touch: Three Times. Intelligent language seems to be failing me. I don’t want to write a review so much as I want to jump up and down and squeal like a crazed fangirl. Lips Touch is chocolate in book form. It’s dark, it’s rich, it’s delicious, and it’s precisely to my taste.
Lips Touch is a collection of three stories; the common theme,
Kelly Lasiter and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Laini Taylor | Short Fiction, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well.”
The “angels” and “devils” of Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke & Bone (2011) are not quite what those words would lead you to expect, but are given an original twist. The angels are closer to the angels we know — specifically the fearsome, fiery warrior type of angel, not the gauzy kind that helps adorable children cross bridges.
Kelly Lasiter, Tadiana Jones, Marion Deeds, Terry Weyna and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4, 4.5, 5 | Laini Taylor | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor
Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke & Bone was one of my favorite books last year, a sparkling, quirky gem of a fantasy. Karou, with her blue silk hair and the eyes on her palms, captivated me. The mysterious story ended darkly, but it was filled with humor and whimsy.
Days of Blood & Starlight has plenty of darkness, at least at the beginning. Karou has left Prague and her art student life and fled to Marrakesh,
Marion Deeds and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4, 5 | Laini Taylor | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor
What do you get if you cross Paradise Lost with Romeo and Juliet? Laini Taylor’s DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE trilogy, a story that centres on an epic war between angels and demons with a pair of star-crossed lovers caught in the middle. Only the angels and demons aren’t exactly what you’d expect. In the world of Eretz, “angels” are winged humanoids known as seraphim and the “demons” are half-human,
Rebecca Fisher, Marion Deeds and Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4, 4.5 | Laini Taylor | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Night of Cake & Puppets by Laini Taylor
For years Laini Taylor’s been a favorite here at FanLit, and now I know why. I picked up Night of Cake & Puppets, a stand-alone novella set in Taylor’s DAUGHTER OF SMOKE & BONE world, because it was short and available on audio at exactly the length I needed for a recent car trip: two hours and forty-five minutes. Perfect. That’s not all that was perfect about Night of Cake & Puppets.
Kat Hooper and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4.5 | Laini Taylor | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
On first look, it might seem that Laini Taylor was a little too ambitious with her latest offering, Strange the Dreamer (2017), kind of like an overenthusiastic cook that goes a bit overboard with their cake ingredients. The blurb doesn’t help matters, citing a war between gods and men, a mysterious city, a mythical hero, a librarian, alchemy, nightmares and monsters as some of the components of the story — which will no doubt have raised an eyebrow or two.
Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4 | Laini Taylor | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Previous SFF Author: K.J. Taylor
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…
this sounds like a fun one