Daughter of Smoke and Bone Review

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Laini Taylor

Little Brown

September 27th 2011

Summary:

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:

Being raised by a family of monsters, Karou is used to the unusual. Laini Taylor has created a world so vivid it leaves little to the imagination. Going into Daughter of Smoke and Bone I didn't know what to expect, I heard it was a superb book with an awesome main character with blue hair. What really stood out about this book was the amazing world that was created, it is so magical, and is written so well that you can picture it in your head. All the monster and Angel, and magical aspects of the book are playing like a movie in your head. It's fantastic. Laini Taylor has a talent and she sure knows how to use it to it's full advantages, the blurb from the book was right she is a master story teller.

For the first 3/4 of the book I was truly amazed of the story and what one person could create and turn into words. There was just the right amount of action, lots of fantasy and magic, interesting monster like characters, and a very unique main character, Karou. I really enjoyed how slow the romance developed, it just kind of snuck up on you, and was super cute when it did happen. It's a very believable and you can really tell that Karou and Akiva have feelings for eachother despite that fact that they are supposed to be enemies. I just love me some forbidden love. For the last 1/4 of the book I was really confused about what was happening and why. It sort of ruined my overall enjoment of the book, and is the reason that I didn't LOVE Daughter of Smoke and Bone. It's a shame because I was loving this book up until this point. I won't say what it was that had me confused and not liking the book, but it has something to do with Karou finding out who she really is.

Would I reccomend this book to you? Yes, no questions asked. It is still an amazing book that deserves all the praise that it has been getting. I can promise you that you will be sucked into the mystical world that Laini has created, you will love her descriptive writing and her interesting writing style and characters. This is not a light read, it has depth to it that will leave you thinking about it for a while. I would reccomend reading this book slowing so that you have time to digest what you are reading and get the full experience of it. I am definitely looking forward to see where the rest of the series leads Karou and Akiva. I love Akiva, he is awesome. Also this book ends on a cliffhanger of sorts, so beware.