Genre: YA Fantasy
Published: September 27, 2011
Pages: 422
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 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 beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery 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?
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 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 beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery 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?
I listened to the audiobook version of this book, and it still took me forever to finish "reading" it (although that's largely because I downloaded the audiobook onto my iPad which I almost never use for listening to books while doing other things as it doesn't easily fit into my pocket.) I'm glad I listened to the audio because I'm pretty sure I would have had some serious issues with character name pronunciations reading on my own. Also, the narrator's voice was very pleasant.
As far as the story goes, I was absolutely intrigued. For the longest time, I felt like there were two different stories being told, so I was pretty much constantly wondering how they were connected. While part of that connection was very obvious, I knew there was more to it than what I could see at the time, although the assumptions I made were way off.
One of the things I enjoyed about the story is that it twisted things I "know" to be true, like that angels are the good guys. I mean, in this story they still might be, but I'm not positive that they are. There are a lot of questionable actions on both sides, and it's possible that no one is the "good guy." At this point in the series, I'm not even sure who I should be rooting for, and I'm okay with that, because the adventure so far has been entertaining.
Overall I give Daughter of Smoke and Bone 4.38764 stars. - Katie
Laini Taylor is the author of the National Book Award Finalist Lips Touch: Three Times, as well as the novels Blackbringer and Silksinger. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, illustrator Jim Di Bartolo, and their daughter.
Yay! So glad you "read" this one at my insistence!
ReplyDeleteSomeday I'm going to finish "reading" (listening to the audiobook of) the sequel. But it's on CD.... and I don't actually OWN a CD player. Oh wait, I do, but it's in the basement. :\
I'm pretty sure I have the Audible version of the sequel as well...and then I own the third in paperback...I'll get around to listening to it at some point. - Katie
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