2021 EDIT: A sweet and beautiful thing. A refresher - a short, understated, hot-and-cold, slushy, velvety, chocolatey retread into the world of Laini Taylor, that can last for one night. A reread I won't soon forget.
I do not care one morsel for the grossly insensitive African stereotyping on page 34 (in text messages between Zuzana and Karou), however.
But the rabid fairy/marionette and violin boy romance in Prague - involving a scavenger hunt, puppets, snow in darkness, origami, a morbid café, a boat in a dock, peacock footprints, and of course cake - is enough to win me over.
The magic part should go without saying.
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
Oh to dive into the world of 'Daughter of Smoke and Bone' again!
'Night of Cake and Puppets' centers on our favourite mortal, earthling-but-wholly-otherworldly teen characters, Zuzana and Mik - the perfect odd couple whose love transcends physical bodies, blood and the stars.
This novella is about their first finding each other via a scavenger hunt, in the snow at night, started by the awesome Zuzana: "rabid fairy", puppeteer and theatre extraordinaire. She sneaks Mik a treasure map, and she's the treasure! With a little bit of magic - scuppies courtesy of her best friend Karou - things go a long way one single night in Prague, and in unexpected directions, too. "Jackass" Kaz, Karou's ex, also makes a cameo, and Zuzana thrills in chewing him up without lifting a finger.
Yet when it comes to first love, she's just so shy! But Zuzana's always a girl who takes charge of everything in her life. Of course she makes the first move; don't expect anything less of her or she'll give you pleasurable pain - the pleasure being all hers!
Told from both Zuzana's and Mik's perspectives, it's such a joy to read Laini Taylor's language again! So substantial and magical. I so desperately want to go to the Poison Kitchen café. The vivid imagery described and implemented in the story is spectacular and clever, as expected. I'm sure 'Night of Cake and Puppets' would make a classic, gorgeous picture book, to be read by everyone every Christmas.
The pretty fairy tale misses a star because, well, despite the lovely writing and chemistry between the petite-and-delightfully-morbid Zuzana and the darling violin boy Mik, I get underwhelmed by love stories easily, especially pure romance short stories like this. It's like, why would I want to read the emotions and overblown sensations of other people falling in love, when I either don't care (but I do care that they get together, one way or another), or they're too corny and co-dependent, or I've already experienced it myself? So it all seems a little redundant. How Zuzana and Mik become entwined with the universe - with each other - is interesting though, while the end goal is predictable. They end up together, the end. And at least there is some self-awareness of the stalkerish behaviour in the story. Love is a game these starry-eyed teens play, I guess.
'Night of Cake and Puppets' is a deliciously sweet, cute magical romance. A relief from the war-and-death intensity of the rest of the 'Daughter of Smoke and Bone' series. Small but adorable, like theatre puppets, and sugary and surprising, like cake. Like Zuzana herself. She would be a devil cake, and a puppet (or harlequin). Mik would be a yummy dark chocolate angel cake with vanilla icing, and an angel puppet. The couple would love dark flavours; with tea, in the snow, on a gondola.
Wow, I'm hungry now.
Final Score: 4/5
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