Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Book:  Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Author:  Laini Taylor

Publisher:  Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Date:  Available now

Source:  purchased

My grade:  A

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?

Initial reaction

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!!!   ::runs to buy sequel on Nook::  Whew!  Ok, now I can review this book.

Cover story

I love, love, love this cover like a fat kid loves candy.  It is absolutely gorgeous and it’s mysterious and dark but not in the least little bit embarrassing.  The title is wonderful as well and then when I saw how it fit into the story, it made me love it even more.

What’s the story?

This book seemed so different from the things that have been going on in YA fiction.  There is Karou, a solitary teen who lives in Prague.  She is very lonely because she only has a strange family of beast-humans and they don’t even live with her.  She goes to art school and lives in an apartment all alone and sometimes she has to leave and go on mysterious errands to pick up teeth for Brimstone, her monster father figure.  See what I’m talking about?  When is the last time you read anything even remotely resembling that???

I don’t really know where to begin with reviewing this book because I don’t want to give away even one single plot point.  The story just grabbed me and sucked me in and I felt like I was holding my breath until the last word, waiting to see what would happen next.  Taylor creates an entirely new world and mythology that puts the idea of angels and demons in a completely different light.  I was awed by the way she spun the tale and flawlessly weaved it together with our world.  She took an idea that we are all familiar with and gave it so many twists and turns, yet they all made sense.  It was incredible.

This book has been put on so many lists that it’s not even funny.  It is a YALSA top pick for teens, a Kirkus reviews best book and was nominated for many more awards.  There’s a reason that it has received that much recognition.  And to make it on the Kirkus list really impresses me because they never give anything a good review! Ha!

Just go read this book.  You won’t be sorry.

 Soundtrack

Dreams by Brandi Carlile

Orange Sky by Alexi Murdoch

White Blank Page by Mumford and Sons

Orange Sky by Alexi Murdoch

Where the City Meets the Sea by The Getaway Plan

Stars and Boulevards by Augustana

Somewhere Only We Know by Keane

The Final Grade

My final grade for this novel is an A.  I loved this story and I loved how different it was.  I may just have to push all my review novels to the side in order to read Days of Blood and Starlight because I don’t think I can wait much longer.  If you want a beautiful story that is not like anything else you’ve read, pick up this book.  Hopefully, you’ll fall in love with it too!