Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Review by Lauren
Source: copy from library; all opinions are my own
Official 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: I’ve been hearing wonderful things about Laini Taylor for years, and especially about this trilogy. With all three books finally released, I decided to dive in and see what I had been missing out on. And oh boy, I wish I had started these earlier!
The book starts in Prague, and Taylor does a fantastic job describing the setting, making me want to hop on a plane and visit. In this city is Karou, a young girl who grew up with a man named Brimstone (who is not human) and a group of ladies (also not human) that help him with his business. This is the business of teeth. As Karou got older she was sent on various errands around the world, using secret portals, to collect various teeth from all sorts of interesting characters. She’s learned a lot from Brimstone, but not the most important questions. What does he do with the teeth? Where is Karou from? Who does she truly belong to?
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from the beginning of the book |
Some of her questions begin to get answers when a beautiful man named Akiva comes into her life. He is fascinated by Karou, but he holds many years of secrets and pains within him. He might be able to provide answers to the questions of Karou’s life, but will she be truly thankful in the end?
Daughter of Smoke and Bone might be the best first book in the trilogy, but I didn’t feel like it was a set up or just one part of the book. I fell in love with Karou and her bright, blue hair. I found Akiva fascinating, yet unsure. I loved Karou’s friend Zuzana, a small by spunky girl. These worlds, ours and another, came alive for me and I’m excited to say that I’m already a ways into the second book as I write this!
Don’t delay– discover this world now!
Ah that's bad you're reading all the books I know I need to read!!!! I'm glad it was good, I heard so many wonderful things about this series. As I said I need to try!
I've been meaning to read Laini Taylor. I have one or two of her books. I always hear good things about her writing.
I really do need to read this series, so many people love it.
Wonderful review!
I've almost reached this book in my stack. The problem has been my friends who keep writing and publishing. I can't seem to get to The Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Still, I will. Thanks for nudging me.
I have all three books and need to finish the series too.
This is one of my all time fav books, the writing is gorgeous the story telling is amazinb. This is the best of the series. I am glad you loved it.
Enjoyed your review! I've got this one in my TBR pile, but haven't gotten to it yet. Sounds like I need to move it up the stack, especially since it's a complete series now!
Terri @ Alexia's Books and Such…
I'm so glad you finally picked this up and enjoyed it, Lauren! It's such a fantastic trilogy and the sequel is the best book in the trilogy, IMO, so I can't wait for you to read it. Lovely review, dear! 🙂
Oh, yes! I enjoyed this one too! I'm glad you had the same experience. You are making me feel like doing re-listen 🙂
Great job!
This sounds like a fabulous series! What age range would you think it would be appropriate for?
I really need to join the bandwagon and read this series.So glad book one was so rewarding 🙂
You've convinced me to, finally, check out this series – it sounds awesome!
xx
I really want to read the series now it's finished, but I did try and start it a while back when it first came out but couldn't get into it (but my taste in books has changed a lot since then) so hoping second time around it'll be different. And glad it doesn't feel like most first books in as series, since they usually do feel like more of a set-up and introduction to characters. 🙂
That sounds like a great book. I am trying to make more time to read.
I'm glad that you finally ended up giving this one a go and loving it, it really is a great series, I still need to read the final book. I hope you enjoy the rest of the series just as much 🙂
I LOVE this series. This book in particular is on my Top 5 best YA books EVER list, and I really hope you enjoy the other two installments as well. Word on the street is that she's working on some sci-fi novel set in historical New York. How awesome does that sound?!
Dagnabit! I've had this one to read forever. One of my 2015 resolutions is to get caught up on my review backlog, but another one is to work on books from my TBR that I've been dying to read. Hoping I can do both this year and get this one read. 🙂
Like you, I've been hearing about this book for years. I always knew that I needed to read it, but now you've convinced me that I need to start it ASAP! It sounds amazing!
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
It's so good to finally start a series you've been wanting to try forever and you end up loving it. That's awesome. I'll have to check this out. Great review.
*dances* Yay! I'm so happy you enjoyed this one, this series is a favorite of mine and I can't wait to see what you think of the other books.
HOORAY LAUREN! So glad you loved this! I read this one ages ago and although the ending went a bit off the rails for me with so much dumped on the reader, I really enjoyed it too. I loved the world building, so artsy and luscious. Can't wait to see what you think of book two! Brilliant review Lauren, really enjoyed it <3
I loved Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but my love for the trilogy decreased with each book. I liked the last one, but I thought they got less interesting and original as the series went on.
Yassss Lauren!!!! SO happy you've started this series and SO ecstatic you loved it!! I just love the world and characters too and Laini is just SUCH a talent. Really cannot wait to hear what you think of book 2 and 3 (and also you should read the novella Night of Cake and Puppets which is so wonderful!). I think Book 2 was my favourite of the lot 🙂
This book has intrigued me for quite some time now and I actually bought it not that long ago! I keep hearing nothing but good things about it so I may need to move it up on my to-read list!
Liliana @ Lili Lost in a Book