Name: Daughter of Smoke & Bone
Rating: 4.056451612903226 (930 reviews)
ISBN: 9780316134026

Laini Taylor

Seventeen-year-old Karou, a lovely, enigmatic art student in a Prague boarding school, carries a sketchbook of hideous, frightening monsters--the chimaerae who form the only family she has ever known, in a unique fantasy by an award-winning author about forbidden love, an epic battle and hope for a world remade.

Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a book unbounded by genre but located at a magical crossroads where The Passage meets Philip Pullman and Twilight meets Pan's Labyrinth.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Luke Harkness

Amazing fantasy book that surprised me with its writing and intelligence 

I'd heard good things about Daughter of Smoke and Bone. But I thought, like many other YA fantasy novels, it would be because a bunch of teenagers had enjoyed the imaginative world and love story. But no, there's far more to this story than I thought there would be and am surprised this book isn't spoke more highly of in the fantasy world. The love story was a little bit much at times but the fantastic, genuine characters, the brilliant world that Taylor is building and the clever storyline really made this a sleeper hit for me!

The first book in the New York Times bestselling epic fantasy trilogy by award-winning author Laini Taylor. 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?

chloe rae

when I read this as a teenager, this was probably one of the most life-changing pieces of fiction I've ever read. looking back now, I used to be a hopeless romantic and that's probably why I had rated it 4 stars.

fairuza hanun

I really enjoyed the first half with her in Prague, balancing her two lives and friendships (esp zuzana I love her that is my babygirl!!! let her be happy with violin man!!!!) but I can’t lie I was not as enthralled once all the madrigal stuff came in, I did not like that as much. the writing is very rich and pretty! I will be reading the next one!

fris🐝

Melissa Palmer

Book #78 Read in 2012
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Karou collects teeth for Brimstone, a magician of sorts. Little does she know how her past is going to come colliding with her present. Then she meets Akiva, an angel, and she is drawn to him in ways that she does not understand. Her world is then rocked when Brimstone, and her connection to the other world, is destroyed. Karou then truly feels alone and without meaning. Akiva wants to help change that, but cost may be incredibly high.

This was a good young adult fantasy read. This is the first in a series. Karou is an interesting female lead character. She is tough, intelligent and has a sarcastic sense of humor that I enjoyed. Akiva is a good romantic lead. He is a flawed hero which draws readers in. Secondary characters are interesting--the concerned best friend, the slightly odd actor ex-boyfriend and Brimstone, a man of mystery. I enjoyed this read and hope to get to the sequel soon.

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

Briar's Reviews

I had high expectations of this book after hearing it from many people that it was incredible, but I wasn't impressed.

Laini Taylor is an amazing writer, but I found this novel to have many issues.

My list of issues:
It was to slow - I found myself two hundreds pages in and it felt like I could have been in the fourth novel. It wasn't that the book is to long, it just doesn't move fast enough for my liking.
There is to much content that wasn't explained. By the time I got through the novel I still didn't know half of what was going on. It was very thrilling and exciting, but I just felt utterly confused. If less content was explained more with a fast pace and adventure or action, it could have been better.

Overall, not impressed at all. I might pick up the next book, but I'm not impressed enough to go get it now. 

One out of five stars.

Zaira A 

I finally got around to finishing this book. The first half of the book made me so confused I had to set a side and re read some chapter to get a grasp of the story. Taylor goes into a lot of details of this new world so makes very vivid. At the same time the overly detail narration makes it a little tedious to progress through the storyline. The book has very good twist and Taylor tied every loose end from this part of the book. Akiva and Karou love story is not your typical love story, can't go into too much detail without spoiling it. I really enjoyed this book, very likely going to read the other two to see where the story leads.

The 10th anniversary edition of the first in Laini Taylor's breathtaking fantasy trilogy 'Remarkable and beautifully written . . . The opening volume of a truly original trilogy.' GUARDIAN Errand requiring immediate attention. Come. The note was on vellum, pierced by the talons of the almost-crow that delivered it. Karou read the message. 'He never says please', she sighed, but she gathered up her things. When Brimstone called, she always came. In general, Karou has managed to keep her two lives in balance. On the one hand, she's a seventeen-year-old art student in Prague; on the other, errand-girl to a monstrous creature who is the closest thing she has to family. Raised half in our world, half in 'Elsewhere', she has never understood Brimstone's dark work - buying teeth from hunters and murderers - nor how she came into his keeping. She is a secret even to herself, plagued by the sensation that she isn't whole. Now the doors to Elsewhere are closing, and Karou must choose between the safety of her human life and the dangers of a war-ravaged world that may hold the answers she has always sought.

Enter Another World in This Magical SUNDAY TIMES Bestseller

Now one thing I can hate about books is that they are so predictable- but this book had me surprised at every turn. I loved this book so much, it kept me wanting to read and more to explain wtf happened in the book to my coworkers to see their reactions match my shock. I only cried twice and I can’t wait to read the next one!

Marz

everything about this is perfection!!!! the interconnected stories could have gotten so lost but they were tied together so perfectly!! 

Ralie Sutton

Janna Romano

I fast read.

Though, reading goodreads reviews after rating it made me think. I really don't know if I should reread this because I feel like I lost something that others did like. It's okay.. as I rated it. But not the kind of book I'd dwell on... Perhaps, I was still thinking of Sarah Dessen's. 

However, the scenes were well-described.

Errand requiring immediate attention. Come. The note was on vellum, pierced by the talons of the almost-crow that delivered it. Karou read the message. 'He never says please', she sighed, but she gathered up her things. When Brimstone called, she always came. In general, Karou has managed to keep her two lives in balance. On the one hand, she's a seventeen-year-old art student in Prague; on the other, errand-girl to a monstrous creature who is the closest thing she has to family. Raised half in our world, half in 'Elsewhere', she has never understood Brimstone's dark work - buying teeth from hunters and murderers - nor how she came into his keeping. She is a secret even to herself, plagued by the sensation that she isn't whole. Now the doors to Elsewhere are closing, and Karou must choose between the safety of her human life and the dangers of a war-ravaged world that may hold the answers she has always sought.

Colleen

3 Stars

*This review contains some spoilers.*

Last year I read Strange the Dreamer, and it was my favorite book of the year. It was my first experience with Laini Taylor, and I was utterly captivated. While I wait impatiently for the sequel, Muse of Nightmares, I thought I would check out some of Taylor’s earlier work. Sadly, Daughter of Smoke and Bone was NOWHERE NEAR as good as I expected. 

Yes, some of that had to do with my high expectations. Between my enjoyment of Strange the Dreamer and the glowing opinions on Goodreads about Daughter of Smoke and Bone, I really expected to enjoy this book. But even if I had not read Strange the Dreamer first, I would have had the same issues with Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Because despite an extremely interesting setup, the story is suffocated by an extremely angsty, ridiculous love story. I just can’t stand those overly-dramatic, doomed love stories. 

It was awkward right off the bat due to a misunderstanding. You see, within the first few pages, the author says that the main character’s ex-boyfriend is twenty-years-old. The exact words are “at twenty, he was several years older than Karou.” I’m a literal person. I interpreted that as Karou being thirteen which was completely disturbing because she was in a sexual relationship with this guy. That totally grossed me out and almost made me stop reading. As it turns out, it was just a misuse of the word “several.” Karou is actually seventeen, but that was not explicitly stated until a couple of chapters later. Until that point I kept wondering why the hell people were so excited about a book with pedophilia. Even after that was cleared up, I still felt skeeved out. So it was not a good start.

Overall, the writing felt more New Adult than Young Adult both in characters and writing. Karou does not sound like a seventeen-year-old most of the time. Maybe because of things like the description of her covered in tattoos and drawing a nude male model. There were tons of casual references to sex. No, there is nothing explicit in the story. But things are clearly referenced and alluded to. There were many scenes that took place in bed obviously post-coitus. And since some of this involved non-humans, it felt a bit like bestiality at times. Too many references to stroking horns… (I half expected someone to get accidentally impaled mid-shebang because surely, antlers really get in the way??) Maybe young readers would miss some of the in-between the lines stuff, but I doubt it. The overall tone of the story felt New Adult to me.

On the positive side, Taylor’s lyrical writing was still evident although clearly not as developed at the time. There were beautiful descriptions of Prague that definitely piqued my wanderlust and set the atmosphere excellently. The ideas behind the fantasy aspects to the story were intriguing and imaginative. From mysterious doors to magical teeth to the enigmatic wish system, I was excited about how it would all turn out.


  “It is a condition of monsters that they do not perceive themselves as such. The dragon, you know, hunkered in the village devouring maidens, heard the townsfolk cry 'Monster!' and looked behind him.”

Unfortunately, there was a major hurdle that nulled my excitement. MASSIVELY ANGSTY INSTALOVE. (view spoiler)[I can’t get into the insta-love. Even though some will argue that it isn’t instalove since it is from reincarnation when Karou loved Akiva in her previous life. But neither of them know that at first which leads to a bizarre love triangle where Akiva loves Karou and who Karou was in her previous life… it was a bit chaotic and muddled. (hide spoiler)] I was never the least bit invested in the love story. And since that ended up monopolizing most of the book, I had a hard time continuing at times. In fact, I got the part where the Big Reveal is supposed to happen and had no trouble putting down the book for days. I finally picked up it up again, read two pages, and put it down again. Prior to that point there were so many instances where characters knew info and withheld it for dramatic suspense which was annoying. I don’t like being kept in the dark like that especially when it drags on and is combined with a saccharine, tragic love story. I never truly recaptured my engrossment after that point. The info about the past and the other world came too late in the story. And as I mentioned, it focused more on the doomed love than worldbuilding. The abundance of angst really pushed me out of the story. This was a story with creative and interesting concepts that got swamped by an unbelievable, extremely angsty love story which resulted in the overall story barely getting three stars.

And then the ending was so abrupt. I had no idea it was coming. I was reading the ebook, and it was only at 79%. So when the story abruptly cut off with a “to be continued” I was shocked and more than a bit peeved. It turns out that the version included sneak peaks for three different books as well as the typical acknowledgements, about the author, etc.. It’s just not cool to have a book end at barely over three-quarters of the way through. 

It simply was not anywhere near as captivating as Strange the Dreamer. That may not seem fair, but I did have high expectations. On the one hand, I think that this shows that Taylor has significantly grown as a writer since writing this book. But it kind of makes me nervous to read Muse of Nightmares now, because what if Strange the Dreamer was a fluke? Honestly, I’m not really anxious over that, but the thought did cross my mind. 

I will probably try the next book in the series eventually, but it is getting knocked way, way, way down the list. 


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 2 Stars
Level of Captivation: 2 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

Daughter of Smoke & Bone

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