Mundie Moms

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Book Review: Daughter of Smoke & Bone


Published by: Little Brown
To Be Released on: September 27th, 2011
Source: ARC from publisher to review
5 stars- Incredible Story Telling! Go pick it up

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 otherworldly 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? - quoted from Goodreads

What a beautiful, dark, and an engaging story. Laini Taylor was written an outstanding, and truly fascinating book! I can honestly say there is not another book like it. This is an awesome, completely unique, and incredibly intriguing story line. The writing is incredible, the world building is fantastic and well developed and the chemistry with the love interests is sensual and beautiful, and I couldn't get enough of it. I loved the well developed lore and forbidden romance that is the heart of this story.

I'm so glad I didn't go in reading this book with any expectations, because those would have been blown away. There's something about the way Laini wrote this story that captivated me. I'm not sure if I was more drawn to the beautifully detailed settings, the well developed history that makes up the story, the romance or variety of in-depth paranormal characters that are apart of the story. Combined together, all these things made for an incredible (I apologize now, as I will more than likely use incredible one too many times while talking about this book), beautiful story that is really unlike any other paranormal book I've ever read. I'll admit, the beginning was a little confusing, and despite wanting to rush ahead to find out what happens, I'm glad I didn't, because everything gets explained through out the course of the book.

Karou, the blue haired main character is fabulous! I loved her from the moment she wished a certain "itch" would happen to her ex-boyfriend. I laughed a little too hard when I read this and when you read this scene you'll know what I'm talking about. I wanted to high 5 her. She's an artist living in Prague, and she does some collecting of "things" for a character named Brimstone. She has the ability to go through portals, is fluent in many languages and has this mystery about her that kept me invested into her story. She's part of two worlds, the human world and a world were chimaera's exist, she doesn't know much about herself, or her special powers.

It's not until Akiva, the angel/warrior enters Karou's life do my questions start to get answered. These two have a sizzling, sensual relationship that was fabulously written. Let's just say the way they go from being enemies and wanting to kill each other, to feeling drawn to each other and then falling for each other flowed beautifully into Karou's story. One of the things I loved about this forbidden romance was the chemistry. It's not about the kissy scenes that made this chemistry so hot. It was the way they move around each other- it's their nearness to each other, the gentle touches, and the way their feelings were described that made it sizzling. Just as things heat up Laini throws some unexpected twists into the story that explains why they feel the way they do, among a few other things.

Laini Taylor is an amazing story teller! The way she describes everything and the way she writes this story is just stunning to me. One of my favorite lines from the book: "Hope is the real magic, child." The romance is only part of this incredible story. There's an entirely fascinating world that Laini's created that hooked me from the moment I started this book. There's so much to this story and this world that I couldn't even start to describe how incredible (sorry I said it again) it is. This is a book I highly recommend picking up. You really have to experience this story for yourself.

I would really recommend this to older YA readers. It's a book I'd classify as a beautiful YA/Adult cross over. There's nothing that I'd give a warning to other than the fact there a lot of darker undertones in the story and the style it's written in, is for mature or older readers. Sequel? YES PLEASE!! I'm definitely looking forward to jumping back into this world when the second book is out.


10 comments:

  1. Ooo, what a tantalizing review! We know a little bit about how special Laini's writing can be -- we read and adored Lips Touch by her -- but we're really looking forward to this one. Sarah is reading it now, and the rest of us can't wait to borrow it!

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  2. Oh man this looks SO good and love the Prague setting. Cool!

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  3. We Heart YA- Thank you so much! This is the first book I've read of Laini's and after this one I definitely want to read more of hers. She's an amazing story teller! I can't wait to read your review!

    iwriteinbooks- The setting is beautiful! This is one I definitely recommend picking up

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  4. Oh wow what an amazing review! I want this book even more now. Can't wait to read :-)

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  5. This is on my to buy list, so looking forward to it. Thanks for featuring it!!

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  6. NIce! This sounds great everyone says nothing but good things about it. Great review!

    Giselle at Xpresso Reads

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  7. Samantha- Thank you so much! I can't wait to hear what you think about it. I think you're going to love it!

    Deb- You're so welcome and I'm so excited for you to read it.

    Giselle- Thank you! It's definitely one I'd recommend picking up.

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  8. Thanks for the great review. I can't wait to read this. I'm hoping to go to Laini's book signing in Ann Arbor next week if it doesn't conflict with my daughter's swim meet. You've gotten me really excited.

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  9. OMG I've just finished reading the chapter sampler (thank you NetGalley!) and I want more! I really can't wait for September 27!

    Great review Mundie Moms :D

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  10. Natalie- You are so welcome! I hope you can make it to Liani's signing!

    Maria- Thank you! I can only image how fabulous that chapter sampler was! I hope you enjoy the entire book!

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