Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

September 27th 2011, Little, Brown & Company
418 pages, Hardcover
Received from R.A.K
First in Daughter of Smoke and Bone series
Adult Fiction

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?

Opinion:

Poignantly beautiful love story that I would not categorize as Young Adult and the only thing that makes it so is the age of the main protagonist. It is a bit longer than the average YA, but that’s not what made it feel adult so much as the meaning and the maturity of all the characters.

Karou is an interesting character, but at times I felt certain things were forced for the premise to work instead of flowing naturally. This wasn’t too distracting but it did at times make me lose connection with a character I truly enjoyed reading about.

Akiva was such an interesting character. He had been so wounded by previous events that he was definitely the damaged boy type which instantly drew me to him. His flashbacks were very intriguing.

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone was primarily set in Prague. A city I know very little about, but Taylor did such a good job of illustrating the city I was instantly intrigued. The setting was probably my favorite part of this book, which is highly rare. A land that holds art in esteem and morbidity is embraced.

The plot took a turn I was not seeing in the least. It was such a surprising twist. I love when books take me on a journey and then completely surprise me. For some reason I thought this book was a standalone and was surprised when I read “To be continued”. It stood up on it’s own, which is so refreshing. I’m so tired of books ending in the middle and just leaving a huge cliffhanger for you to find out about a year later.

I really enjoyed this book, but I’m not as much of a raving fan as I’ve seen on twitter. Perhaps the hype made me have too high of expectations.

Rating:

Rie

I'm a wife, student, and a dog-lover who reads when I should be folding laundry (bane of my existance), I write (rarely as academic papers consume my life), and love getting wrapped up in fiction.

Categories: 4 Stars, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, First, Laini Taylor, Series, Young Adult