Review – Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Author: Laini Taylor

Publisher:  Little, Brown and Company

Publish date: September 27, 2011

ISBN-10:  0316134023

Available at: Amazon – Barnes and Noble

From Goodreads:

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?

Review:

Do you ever have wild expectations about a book? Do you ever expect a book to be extraordinary? That’s what I went into this book with. I was not disappointed.

This book was wholly entertaining. Maybe it’s because I’m also an artist and I could relate to Karou and her art, but I loved her. With her untamed blue hair and her outrageous tattoos and her mysterious nature, she was delightful. I felt for her and her loneliness. I think we can agree that we can all relate to loneliness on some level.

Akiva was haunting. A soldier of the Seraphim, he grew up only knowing war and killing. He was ruthless yet tragic. The love ignited between the two was poignant. I haven’t been moved by a romance like theirs in a long time. The twists it takes are heart-wrenching.

The world building was phenomenal. From the streets of Prague to the alleys of Marrakesh to the various places of Elsewhere. All of these vast environs were laid out for you in exact detail. From sight to smell, you could practically experience it all.

The Chimaera and Seraphim were magnificent in their differences. One so bestial, the other so beatific, both imparting awe in all their power.

It was hard for me to keep the images of what Brimstone, Issa, Yasri, and Twiga looked like down. There’s only a brief mention of what they look like in the beginning of the book. That didn’t keep me from enjoying the book. Neither did the moments of where the plot got rather predictable. There were also some rather far-fetched moments that stretched my belief a little thin. Like I said, none of these things kept me from enjoying the book.

Now all I have to do is wait for the next installment which is due out in November!

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