Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Summary from 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 Thoughts:

This review won’t be long because, well, this is the week of insanity for me…

I wasn’t so sure about Daughter of Smoke and Bone, to be honest. It seemed like it just all of the sudden cropped up, it has kind of a weird cover (though makes sense after reading it), and the description just didn’t really grab me. But I saw some great reviews on it. So I decided to go ahead and get it.

Wow, am I glad I did! I think this may be my favorite book of 2011. Taylor’s writing is complicated and lyrical, but still has the power to hook you and draw you in. And the world in this book and how things were connected together were simply fantastic. I kept smiling as I read and my husband would just chuckle and shake his head as he watched me. I loved every moment of this book.

This may sound weird but Daughter of Smoke and Bone really reminded me of Harry Potter. Maybe it was the well-built world, or maybe it was the weird creatures Taylor came up with, but honestly, I would place the two side by side in quality. Just as a note- I’ve probably read the first Harry Potter book about 7 times since I first read it about 10 years ago. And I liked Daughter of Smoke and Bone just as much!

So, word of advice: Read this book! Now!

5 out of 5 stars!