Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Featuring necklaces made of wishes; an underground shop dealing in teeth; magical tattoos; a wishbone on a cord, DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE is a thrilling story about Karou and her secret life as an apprentice to a wishmonger. Karou manages to keep her two lives in balance. On the one hand, she is a seventeen-year-old art student in Prague; on the other, errand-girl to an inhuman creature who deals in wishes and is the closest thing she has to family. Her life is surrounded by mysteries she is desperate to unveil

"Once upon a time an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well". This is the introduction to the book, easy to ignore if you just skip straight to chapter one, but I noticed it and was struck by two things. One, oh no, I thought this was going to be something original, not another battle between heaven and hell and two, wow, I can tell that the writing in this book is going to be superb.

  

I was right about one of those things, you know which? Number two, Laini Taylor's writing is extraordinary and totally took me into this whole new world, yes I was wrong about the heaven/hell angel/demon concepts, the storyline and most of all the execution was absolutely fantastic. The story is totally original and took me into this world that she'd created that was Prague on one side and demon world on another. I totally loved the character of Karou from page one, not only is she independent and strong but she shows a vulnerable side which I totally loved to see. Akiva was a character that I wasn't keen on at the start (an angel seeks vengeance and is show the error of his ways when he falls in love with a human), but I started to like him a lot more the more I read and the last hundred pages totally had me understanding him.

The romance aspect doesn't overwhelm the whole story but is also there as a massive part of it and I was so supportive of the relationship. Despite feeling that at the beginning I was reading yet another love-at-first-sight YA cringy romances, the reasons behind Karou and Akiva's connection are given later in the book and totally understandable.

One thing that I wasn't keen on was the last hundred pages. While the flashbacks to the past do give us the answers we want and show us this chimera world, I felt like I was reading a completely different book and this did feel very disconcerting for me. I liked the story in these pages itself but I wish there were more of the present day mixed in, with Karou and Akiva's reactions to the memories, maybe? I guess that's just me though.

The writing as spectacular. Taylor manages to weave this fantastic tale and the book doesn't just feel like it's written in third person, it's as though the narrator is an observer of the events and is commenting on everything that happens, almost in a fairytale like way. I found myself being drawn in by this narration and never felt a second of boredom because I was so captivated by the tale being told.

All in all, Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a book that I expect will totally fly off the shelves in September and for good reason. The fantastic storytelling, amazing world building and original story is bound to captivate readers and have them begging for more, just like it did me. Picture this, in September I will brag to my friends about getting and ARC and they will set up their own blogs just for the chance to receive ARCs of books as amazing as this. Thats how great it is... stop gushing Jade!

Overall rating: A+

Stand alone/series: First in a series

UK Release: September 29th 2011

Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton

Book obtained via: Received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review (THANKS SO MUCH!)