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Hatchling
Esme ha quattordici anni, quando scopre che la sua vita non è quella che ha sempre creduto. Inizia una fuga senza tregua da un'orda di creature da incubo, determinate a impadronirsi della sua anima. Quello che non sa è che ne porta già una dentro di sé. E che basta un bacio per risvegliarla dal suo lungo sonno.
ebook
First published January 1, 2009
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About the author
Laini Taylor
33 books39.6k followersHi! I write fantasy books. My latest is STRANGE THE DREAMER, about a young librarian, a mythic lost city, and the half-human children of murdered gods. Check it out :-) Before that I wrote the DAUGHTER OF SMOKE & BONE trilogy, which has been translated into 32 languages. It's about a blue-haired art student raised by monsters, a broken angel, and a war that has raged for 1000 years in another world. I also wrote LIPS TOUCH: THREE TIMES, which was a National Book Award finalist, and the DREAMDARK books. As well as various short stories and novellas.
Thanks for reading!!
www.lainitaylor.com
@lainitaylor
Thanks for reading!!
www.lainitaylor.com
@lainitaylor
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 10, 2021
Six days before Esme's fourteenth birthday, her left eye turns from brown to blue. She wakes up hearing howling of wolves. Surely, that can't be right, after all, wolves in London is unheard of. Then she starts to remember things that she has never experienced before. Are these memories hers?
Hatchling is a short-story by Laini Taylor. Her books have been a bit of a hit or a miss for me. I do like her unique ideas but the execution doesn't always work for me. Hatchling is such a story based on Zoroastrian mythology - a unique idea but I didn't care as much for it as I have for the writer's other short-stories. I have great love for mythology, even though there was mythology woven into this, most of it was disturbing and perhaps that's another reason I couldn't enjoy it as much as I had wanted to.
3.3 stars
Hatchling is a short-story by Laini Taylor. Her books have been a bit of a hit or a miss for me. I do like her unique ideas but the execution doesn't always work for me. Hatchling is such a story based on Zoroastrian mythology - a unique idea but I didn't care as much for it as I have for the writer's other short-stories. I have great love for mythology, even though there was mythology woven into this, most of it was disturbing and perhaps that's another reason I couldn't enjoy it as much as I had wanted to.
3.3 stars
August 5, 2015
I found Lips Touch at a crazy cheap price and jumped on the short story collection, desperate to get my fill of Laini Taylor’s beautiful work. Hatchling is the third and longest short story of the three in the collection, and as beautiful as the two other stories.
As you would expect from Laini Taylor, even though it’s a short story, we’re quickly thrown into some wonderful world building (there is a crazy amount of world building for such a short story, you really will question whether you’re reading a full-length novel) with her lyrical prose bringing her amazing imagination to life in no time at all. I’d been fearful we would not get the full works because it is such a short story but I couldn’t have been any further from the truth. So much happens in so few pages. We’re given an entire story, we’re given characters we can love, we’re given mythology (as with the other books in the collection, it shouldn’t have been possible for her to fit so much into so few pages), we’re given emotion – in short, we’re given it all.
As always, it’s a wonderful Laini Taylor read.
As you would expect from Laini Taylor, even though it’s a short story, we’re quickly thrown into some wonderful world building (there is a crazy amount of world building for such a short story, you really will question whether you’re reading a full-length novel) with her lyrical prose bringing her amazing imagination to life in no time at all. I’d been fearful we would not get the full works because it is such a short story but I couldn’t have been any further from the truth. So much happens in so few pages. We’re given an entire story, we’re given characters we can love, we’re given mythology (as with the other books in the collection, it shouldn’t have been possible for her to fit so much into so few pages), we’re given emotion – in short, we’re given it all.
As always, it’s a wonderful Laini Taylor read.
July 13, 2015
I dont understand how Laini Taylor is able to bring out a whole new world with a fantastical element in a short story … but she does.
June 26, 2024
This gave me the ick. The additional star is purely there because of Taylor's writing.
October 30, 2017
Loved it! My love for Laini's writing will never cease!
April 27, 2020
Turning this story to a YA short story instead of a high fantasy adult series was the greatest sin Ms. Taylor committed.
June 8, 2020
😡😡MABBBBB😭😭
September 25, 2020
Lizard: 4⋆.
Wombat: 4⋆.
Overall: 4⋆.
Wombat: 4⋆.
Overall: 4⋆.
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August 4, 2015Mulle meeldis, isegi väga. Laupäeval, vahetult pärast Poole Kuninga lõpetamist vigisesin lugemisvara puudumise üle ja kohe ulatati mu ette kindle koos selle looga. Kontrast kahe raamatu vahel oli korralik. See siin siis klassikaline ulmelisest elemendist nõretav fantasy lugu ja pigem täiskasvanud naistele suunatud lühilugu.
Ehk siis lugu surematusest ja natuke sellestki, kuidas üks kildkond inimesi selle surematuse saavutas, millise hinna selle eest maksis ja pole üldse kindel, et nad selle üle uhked või õnnelikud olid. Jah, nad olid surematud, ei vajanud toitu ja suutsid enda lõbustamiseks inimeste kehasid üle võtta. Tõsi, mitte kõikide inimeste omi - vanurid olid liiga eneseteadlikud ja nende sisse hästi ei mahtunud ja millegi pärast oli iidne tabu pandud ka loodete peale... Nad olid inimesena sündinud, kuid unustanud.
Surematuse süsteem oli värskendav ja ka kaasnähud ja tagajärjed olid veenvad. Jaburalt egoistlikud põhjused, juhused ja kokkusattumused, kuid siiski lugu süvendavad ja täiendavad ja... Ja siis lõppes see täiesti lambist ära. Olles eelnevalt pununud intriigi, andud vajaduse ja kohustuse end lahti kirjutada, jäeti asjad ja suhted ripakile. Sellest loost oleks saanud palju terviklikuma kirjatüki, kui viimase plärts-visatud lause järel oleks olnud veel peatükk või paar.
Aga täitsa soovitan lugeda, ka meeslugejatele. Plinkiv-roosat armastust ei olnud, kellelegi hambaid kõrri ei löödud (kui kassipoeg välja jätta). Oli vaid üks perses situatsioon, millele keerati veel paar vinti peale ja lõpuks - lõpuks meile ei öeldudki, kas asjad läksid sellest paremaks või halvemaks, ei üldplaanis ega konkreetsete peategelaste suhtes.
Ehk siis lugu surematusest ja natuke sellestki, kuidas üks kildkond inimesi selle surematuse saavutas, millise hinna selle eest maksis ja pole üldse kindel, et nad selle üle uhked või õnnelikud olid. Jah, nad olid surematud, ei vajanud toitu ja suutsid enda lõbustamiseks inimeste kehasid üle võtta. Tõsi, mitte kõikide inimeste omi - vanurid olid liiga eneseteadlikud ja nende sisse hästi ei mahtunud ja millegi pärast oli iidne tabu pandud ka loodete peale... Nad olid inimesena sündinud, kuid unustanud.
Surematuse süsteem oli värskendav ja ka kaasnähud ja tagajärjed olid veenvad. Jaburalt egoistlikud põhjused, juhused ja kokkusattumused, kuid siiski lugu süvendavad ja täiendavad ja... Ja siis lõppes see täiesti lambist ära. Olles eelnevalt pununud intriigi, andud vajaduse ja kohustuse end lahti kirjutada, jäeti asjad ja suhted ripakile. Sellest loost oleks saanud palju terviklikuma kirjatüki, kui viimase plärts-visatud lause järel oleks olnud veel peatükk või paar.
Aga täitsa soovitan lugeda, ka meeslugejatele. Plinkiv-roosat armastust ei olnud, kellelegi hambaid kõrri ei löödud (kui kassipoeg välja jätta). Oli vaid üks perses situatsioon, millele keerati veel paar vinti peale ja lõpuks - lõpuks meile ei öeldudki, kas asjad läksid sellest paremaks või halvemaks, ei üldplaanis ega konkreetsete peategelaste suhtes.
January 1, 2023
"Human eyes were like windows left open in a storm and it was a small matter to slip inside and mess about".
This is the third and final short story you can find within the Lips Touch collection, although it is by far the longest of the three. Taylor writes so beautifully that it's always so hard to put a book down when you start it; they all feel like some ghostly, eerie story your (slightly eccentric) grandma might tell you during a dark night. This particular world is stunning and riddled with shape shifters and evil queens stealing the eyes of her victims. It is vicious, ugly and perfectly dark.
It's quite a complex story actually, considering its length, with multiple characters to learn about and understand, and of course a nasty twist at the end!
Compared to Taylor's other tales of a similar nature however, this isn't as surprising or crafty as I've come to expect, it also veered towards slightly boring sadly - it wasn't quite as dark or creepy in nature, which she really is a master of, and I kind of noticed that lacking element too much to ignore it. But otherwise, a really cool and definitely unique short story.
This is the third and final short story you can find within the Lips Touch collection, although it is by far the longest of the three. Taylor writes so beautifully that it's always so hard to put a book down when you start it; they all feel like some ghostly, eerie story your (slightly eccentric) grandma might tell you during a dark night. This particular world is stunning and riddled with shape shifters and evil queens stealing the eyes of her victims. It is vicious, ugly and perfectly dark.
It's quite a complex story actually, considering its length, with multiple characters to learn about and understand, and of course a nasty twist at the end!
Compared to Taylor's other tales of a similar nature however, this isn't as surprising or crafty as I've come to expect, it also veered towards slightly boring sadly - it wasn't quite as dark or creepy in nature, which she really is a master of, and I kind of noticed that lacking element too much to ignore it. But otherwise, a really cool and definitely unique short story.
November 12, 2019
Another lovely little story by Laini Taylor. This one was the longest in the collection and the most satisfying of the three. The mythology that Laini created was fascinating and really well developed for a novella.
Hatchling is the story of Esme, a fourteen year old girl who lives isolated from society with her mother, whose past is remarkable but tragic. One day one of Esme's eyes turns from brown to blue and due to the change that she's going through, she is introduced to a hidden world of demons.
Although some of the events of the story are tragic, it is essentially a love story. It's beautiful and I loved it - it's probably the best in the collection.
I've read nearly all of Laini's short stories now and I know that soon I will be longing for more of her beautiful writing (I think a re-read of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy is in order!)
Hatchling is the story of Esme, a fourteen year old girl who lives isolated from society with her mother, whose past is remarkable but tragic. One day one of Esme's eyes turns from brown to blue and due to the change that she's going through, she is introduced to a hidden world of demons.
Although some of the events of the story are tragic, it is essentially a love story. It's beautiful and I loved it - it's probably the best in the collection.
I've read nearly all of Laini's short stories now and I know that soon I will be longing for more of her beautiful writing (I think a re-read of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy is in order!)
October 12, 2013
Click Here to see my review of Lips Touch: Three Times, which includes this and two other stories.
September 7, 2013
this was my favorite story of the book. so beautifully written and such an interesting take on the changeling mythology
December 27, 2015
a little confusing but nonetheless, <3
January 14, 2022
Read 10th January 2021: 8/10
August 11, 2016
4 very strong stars. Full review to come sometime in the future may be ... .
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews