Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Book 1)

by Laini Taylor

Hardcover, 418 pages

Published September 27th 2011

by Little, Brown & Company

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Details 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?


REVIEW:

There once was a young artist called Karou who drew tales of monsters and demons that delighted and enthralled those around her.

But she has a secret, a secret that ties her to a dusty subterranean chamber, where her beloved guardian brokers dark deals in a place that is not here. A place that is Elsewhere.

Living with one foot in each world, Karou has never really known which one is her true home.

Now the doors to Elsewhere closing . . .

With so many fantasy combines of myth and legend It’s hard for an author to create a new ground for it. The ancient wars, star-crossed love, strange mythical creatures and all. Some of the authors made interesting concept of it but sometimes the execution of their work fails them. And I’m glad that Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone is not one of them.

The book swept me away by it massive concept and poetic beautiful writing style. Oh, I admire Laini for that. I am awe of what she did to the story that I first thought was some kind of a modern fantasy only. Yes she did takes the familiar angel demon war myth but she makes it appear new in our eyes, she open a fantastic lyrical new creation that I would love to... not live in, definitely live in. More on 'see'. To explore the midst of Karou's secret world. It was like I’m watching a haunting-violent version of Narnia with the respect for Brimstone like I have for Aslan. (I really love Brimstone's superior character)

One thing that I love in this book is that it’s started as some kind of urban fantasy. A girl who is normal or she think she is but she knows magic and she was raised by Chimaera, creatures from another world with mix human-animal features and she runs strange errands for them. Until she met Akiva, an angel who wants to kill her. But along the way they fell in love to each other. And that’s where the story unravels and became more interesting.

The novel will definitely leave you wanting more because it just isn’t enough – after such a well-rounded introduction it will be interesting to see how the author develops the depth and layers of her stunning world as she proceeds. Not even a world – but a whole Elsewhere to be expanded upon.

All in all this isn’t just another cliched fantasy story; it’s an absolutely stunning introduction to the newest master of modern fantasy combines of myth and legend story.
I'll give this book 4.75 to be exact.

I saw this amazing fan made poster from deviantart.