Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Author: Laini Taylor
Publisher: Little Brown & Company
Summary: Goodreads
Buy: Amazon
Rating: 4 stars


Summary: 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 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'll be the first to admit that I never wanted to read this book. Ever. There was no particular reason why I wouldn't give the book a chance; the reviews about this book are constantly raving about it, and I've seen it in every book store and library I went to. And yet I always passed right by it without a second thought, automatically assuming I wouldn't like it. See the thing was, I knew it involved angels and for me that was more then enough of a reason not to read it. I've grown tired of reading books with an angel theme simply because they seem to lack originality and they all seem the same. But after reading this book I feel like such an idiot for waiting so long to give it a chance. Daughter of Smoke and Bone has to be one of the most original and captivating angel stories out there.

"Once upon a time, an angel lay dying in the mist. And a devil knelt over him and smiled."

When I first started reading I was surprised by how strange everything seemed. In fact, when I think of a word to explain this book and the world Laini Taylor has created, I think of the words like strange, weird, fascinating. I felt like I was thrown into a whole new world where people with weird names was common and a girl with blue hair and tattoo's was a whole new level of bad ass.

“She had been innocent once, a little girl playing with feathers on the floor of a devil's lair. She wasn't innocent now, but she didn't know what to do about it. This was her life: magic and shame and secrets and teeth and a deep, nagging hollow at the center of herself where something was most certainly missing.” 

My view of Karou changed throughout the book.  I usually find it hard to connect with the main character if it's not in first person point of view but with Karou I found myself making an exception. I always liked her but as I got to know her better and really see her grow I found myself really connecting with her.She doesn't really have a family,and she doesn't know who she is, or what. She does have people (or should I say creatures) that she considers family and I really liked them, especially Brimstone. I don't want to give away much about the characters because I feel like half the fun of this book was getting to really know and discover the characters. But just know: Karou is more strange and complicated then you could imagine.

“Your soul sings to mine. My soul is yours, and it always will be, in any world. No matter what happens. I need you to remember that I love you.” 

I've read some reviews where some readers felt like they couldn't really connect with Akiva and actually didn't want Akiva and Karou together but I completely disagree.If anything after finishing the book I felt like they needed to be together even more then when Akiva was first introduced in the book. I loved how flawed he was, not only him but all the characters. Akiva has definitely made mistakes and one in particular really makes me want to throw something at him but what can you do? We all make mistakes, even angels. I just hope that he can redeem himself and find a way to fix things. 

“Have you ever asked yourself, do monsters make war, or does war make monsters?”

The book ends in a definite cliffhanger and I really can't wait till the sequel comes out. If you're tired of reading angel books with the same plot and looking for something fresh and mind blowing, then read this. I can almost guarantee it'll be like noting you've ever experienced.