Daughter Of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor- Review

THE DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE
By: Laini Taylor
418 Pages
Little, Brown & Company
Release Date: September 27, 2011

SUMMARY (Goodreads): 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?

MY REVIEW: I really loved this book so much. I found it to be absolutely captivating and unique. It’s definitely one of the most original creations I’ve come across in a long time, particularly in the YA realm. I can practically say I have loved every aspect of this book. It has action, romance, and mystery. The structure of this book of the book is different and unusual. It starts with Karou, an art student, with her friends in this normal human life. There’s no mention, and you have no idea about her other world with the Chimera, and until this point in her life, neither world came together. Then Karou goes to see her Chimera family and you learn all about her world here. There’s some unexplained happenings going on, and Karou is starting to question her blind faith in her Chimeras. Why she’s suddenly being called more frequently than usual to retrieve more teeth for her father figure, Brimstone.   What are the teeth for anyways? Why must she never touch the wishbone hanging on his neck? Are there more Chimera?  Why there’s that one door in the all the doors of portals to other worlds, that she’s not allowed to enter, and when someone visit from there, she must hide. She’s even unsure who she is. How she ended up with Brimstone and the Chimera anyway? I really want to give you all these answers so as your reading, you really understand that there really are answers and reasons for all this abnormal things.  There’s so much going on, you have to read the whole book to figure it all out. While it really seems like this book is all on this dark side, a girl raised by a devil-like creature that collects teeth, the world, the creatures, it’s all just so beautiful.

Characters: I LOVED LOVED LOVED these characters in this book. I also love all the names in this book, so unique. Karou, oh Karou, what can I say, well Karou is the most fascinating character I’ve come across in a long time. She has blue hair, yes it does it grow out of her that color, and there is a reason for it. She’s multilingual, very creative, artsy, smart, she can handle things on her own, and she’s a little sassy. She does however, get a little girly and loses herself when she comes across Akiva. He sort of knocks her beside herself with his AMAZING ANGELIC BEAUTY. There’s a strange attraction and a strong connection between them. So, now, my favorite character, Zuzana. WOW! I loved her. She’s petite and mighty. A riot, she’s a loyal friend and is there when she’s most needed. She alone is reason enough and worth reading this book. Brimstone, known as the Wishmanger, gives wishes. In exchange for teeth, the traders can receive wishes. There’s actually different levels of wishes, the smallest are beads, and they can earn higher level wishes and wish for bigger things. I just thought that was so neat. At first, Brimstone came off more fierce and scarier than he really was. Before the end your seeing who was and what Karou really means to him and everything he’s gone through and done for his daughter figure.

Writing: I found the writing wonderful, it’s complex and beautiful. I applaud the author’s work. It’s such a unique and creative idea, and rather complex I couldn’t imagine trying to write and put all these details together and make all the ends meet like the author. No one else could have written this book as well as the author did. I could only imagine the outline of this book, it would seem like it’s all these puzzlelike pieces, but I must say, Laini Taylor puts them all together VERY WELL!

Rating
5 Stars Out Of 5 Stars

REVIEW BY:

LINKS
Author Website
Author Twitter

Question(s) For The Reader
Did you read this book? If not, do you want to read it now?
Would you like to have blue hair that actually grew out that way?
What do you think the teeth are for?