Review: Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke & Bone
Daughter of Smoke & Bone #1

Author: Laini Taylor

Publication Date: September 27, 2011

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Genre: Fantasy

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Synopsis:

Around the world, black hand prints 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 grows 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?

My Thoughts:  A LOT of people love this book, most people it seems (including Jenn and Meghan check theirs out!).  So, I am not sure what happened with me.  Maybe going into the book my expectations were too high or I was expecting something entirely different.  In different places in the book, my reading stalled and I just couldn't get into it.  Something just jarred me out of the world and it took me awhile to get me back.

I really enjoyed the characters, all of them.  They had a lot of back story and were really developed.  I could feel for pretty much all of them.  It made me sad when anything bad happened to any of the characters in this book which really speaks for the author.  Her characters were well fleshed-out and pretty awesome.

The plot was a little too up in the air for this to be a book that I couldn't put down.  Most of the time (not all) I could just put it aside at the end of a chapter with no immediate need to find out what would happen next.  That doesn't mean this isn't a great book, just one that didn't create a sense of urgency about the plot and where it was going.

Karou I liked especially.  She was flawed in ways that were obvious to the reader which was a welcomed reprieve from the goody-innocentness (a word?  I think not lol) of the MC that I have been reading a lot recently.

I loved when the main characters first met and the fight scene ensued.  I felt it had real chemistry and could go somewhere.  After that, I felt a little let down.  It was pretty much an instantaneous love and it confused me a lot.  So, I gave it the benefit of the doubt and continued on thinking that it had something to do with Karou's mysterious past.  When I found out the truth behind it, I have to admit I was just as disappointed.  These two seem to just fall in love out of the blue with each other and it kind of irked me a little.

I did enjoy reading about the past, but I think I would have liked it more if it were slowly leaked to me.  The dedicated chapters of past just tore me out of the present and I found it jarring.

I liked the world that Taylor created.  It was interesting to learn about and read about it.  The chimera in particular were wonderful and I loved creating their likenesses in my head. If I were any sort of artist I probably would have scratched a couple down - especially Brimstone.

In short, it took me a long time to make it to this book - it seemed like I just kept putting it off.  I am still glad I finally picked it up and will probably read the next one.

Review: Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Author: Laini Taylor

Publication Date: September 27th, 2011

Publisher: Little, Brown & Company

Genre: YA/Fantasy/Romance

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Synopsis:

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?

My Thoughts: This book has sat on my shelf for a couple months before I finally picked it up. I am so glad that I did! It's so strange and wonderful how a story that you love could just be sitting there waiting for you to explore it. Then you finally do and you wish you had of done so a lot sooner. Which is how I feel now. Why did it take me so long to read this book?! I loved it. Inside and out. It was such a great read!


It is a story about Angels and Demons, which of course is not a new idea. But this story brings in new lore new ideas, and new images, that are fresh, unique, and beautiful. Laini really knows how to paint a beautiful picture with words. Her words are a paintbrush and her book is a masterpiece. We get awesome detailed descriptions of all the beings, good or evil, throughout the story, but the two characters who get the most attention are Karou and Akiva. I could picture them in my mind down to the very finest detail, and even still I don't think my image of them probably did them justice. I wish I could see them brought to life. I'm sure it would be amazing. Especially Akiva hehe.


Akiva is an angel, who are at constant war with the demons, or Chimera. He is a soldier, so fighting them is what he was made for, trained at age five. It's all he knows, until he experiences an extremely life changing event.  Karou is undetermined, for the better part of the book. She has no idea who she is where she came from, where she belongs, she has nothing. She was raised by a Chimera named Brimstone, a sorcerer and collector of teeth. His domain is not in their world, but due to some magic there are portals to and from all over Earth. She assumes she's human, but knows for sure? She has gone her 17 years of life feeling empty, like she has a missing piece, just waiting for it all to come together. Her chance to find out about her past, which Brimstone has kept hidden from her, comes with the attack of the Angels. The Angels enter earth to burn and destroy all the portals that lead to "elsewhere".  Everything changes dramatically when Karou and Akiva come head to head. They are both turned on their heads, figuratively speaking. They are by nature, enemies. But something  that neither of them understands is pulling them together. The attraction here is so deep. I could feel it within myself. It's magnetic, they are literally pulled to each other. But none of it makes any sense. With Karou cut off from the only family she has ever known, thanks to the angels, including Akiva. Karou has no way to put the pieces together.


I love Karou. She is so fierce, strong, determined all the while being gentle, caring, considerate and soft. This seems impossible, but Karou is all these things and more. And the same applies to Akiva. His character is hard, strong, overwhelming, and yet he can be so kind, sensitive, and raw. These opposing qualities really pull us towards the characters I think. Knowing they are these strong people, even still, they have hearts and feelings, that can be hurt and broken.


Together Karou and Akiva try to put the pieces together. To find out what they feel so intensely about each other, they must first find out who Karou is. The answer is shocking. This book pulled me in so hard. I really liked it from the start, and my need to read and know more just kept climbing until the end. The more I read, the more I loved the story. I sighed with longing for more when it was over. I cannot wait for Days of Blood and Starlight!! When it was done, I hugged it. This is always a sign that I'm in love haha. How I react when the book is over is always the tell tale sign of how it affected me. If I readily close it and put it down, we know I didn't feel to strongly about it. But sometimes, you close your book reluctantly. If you're like me you right rub it, and even  hug it haha. I think you can tell I loved this book. So I think you know how many owls you're about to see. Go read this book! It's awesome! Thanks Laini Taylor for sharing with us this awesome story! I cannot wait to see what comes next!!