Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1)
Author: Laini Taylor
Pages: 420
Publisher: Little Brown
Genre: Fantasy
Release: September 27th, 2011
Buy the Book at: Book Depository / Chapters.Indigo / Barnes & Noble / Amazon

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 has 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?

Magically wondrous!

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is the first book of Laini Taylor I ever read. Now, I must confess that she highly surprised me with a prose that I wish I could see more often in the books I read. I think that, definitely, Taylor's captivating writing will keep readers drawn to see how the story unfolds. Action, magic, flashbacks and romance, Daughter of Smoke and Bone has it all!

Karou is a very particular character and nothing I have ever seen before. Karou herself and readers, have no knowledge of who or what she exactly is, and the mystery of her real identity kept me wrongly guessing about this during the whole read. Lovable and strong, Karou is someone I will definitely want to see again for many, many more books to come. She is not only lovable, but she also has a big heart. Disregarding appearances, Karou loves more than anything her adoptive "family" composed of Chimaeras, monster-like creatures from Greek Mythology that regardless their frightening and even demonic appearance, she loves them like the family she has always considered them to be.

Unknown identity and Chimaeras are not everything that wonders the world Taylor created. In Prague, the city Karou lives in, she discovers there are other creatures besides the ones of her adoptive family members. In fact, Angels are also real in this world and there is one in special who reveals right in front of Karou's eyes, Akiva. Akiva is an Angel who's been living in war since the day he was born and, once, he had the Utopian dream of ending that war with love. Now, hardened by its tragic past, he keeps fighting and hating the monsters that destroyed his dream... until he meets Karou. Then, his world is inevitably  turned upside-down.

Set in the beautiful city of Prague and the mythitical world of Eretz, Laini Taylor combines reality and myth into a captivating story with alluring characters that you will be longing to see again. Also, there are certain Doors, or better said portals, around the world that can easily transport you from one place to another. I loved this addition of magical concepts as well as the mix of  monsters and angels and the war that's been going on between them. I also love the side characters. Not only Karou's adoptive family but her human friend Suzana as well. I think she is a great addition that brings, whenever she is in, a sense of normalcy in this complex mythical world. I also really love the fact that Laini Taylor inserts goodness in the stereotype of Evil. Although, it seems that most of them (in Taylor's world) are, in fact, Evil. Yet, Taylor still give us the message of to not judge or generalize by appearances. Contrary to Nietzsche's famous quote "There is no Beast without cruelty" Laini Taylor brings up the possibility that even in beasts, we could find virtue.

Magically wondrous, Daughter of Smoke and Bone will engage readers with a fascinating world and a story of unfortunate love. This book is definitely one of this year's new releases that you don't want to miss! Go pick it up!

Watch the trailer!

Visit Laini Taylor's website at http://www.lainitaylor.com/
Visit the book's website at http://daughterofsmokeandbone.com/