Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Title:  Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Author:  Laini Taylor

Genre:  YA Fantasy

 

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?

 

What I thought:

Let me start out by saying how much I truly enjoyed this book.  The writing is fabulous and the story is captivating.  I couldn’t put it down and read it in a day!  Now, I happened to be recovering from bronchitis at the time and couldn’t move or even speak without coughing so I didn’t have much that I could do besides reading!

Karou lives in two worlds.  She is a 17 year old art student in Prague who entertains her friends and classmates with the magical world she captures in her art journals.  A world that is filled with fantastical creatures and magical stories of the WIshmonger and the wishes he trades in.  Except this world isn’t imagined at all but the world orphaned Karou grew up in with these fantastical creatures as her guardians and family.  Karou travels through magic doorways between the human world and the chimaera world until one day these doorways are all destroyed, cutting her off from her family.

I love Karou.  She is just fun!  She lives this magical life (blue hair that grows out of her head that way, wish beads that she wears around her neck, her drawings of another world) and has mastered the art of telling the truth without telling the truth!  It is fun to watch.  She is the perfect heroine for this story.  Independent.  Sarcastic.  I love her.

Akiva is wonderful as well.  He is a beautiful warrior angel who finds Karou in the streets outside one of the doorways into the chimaera world.

The one and only thing I struggled with in this book is the quick change in directions the author took in the developing relationship between Karou and Akiva.  One moment they are enemies and fighting in the streets of Prague with the intent of killing each other; the next they are in love.  I would have liked to see a bit more time taken to develop trust and a relationship.  I think one might need more time to trust a man that just stabbed you!  That said, it really didn’t detract from my love of the story.  I can’t wait to read more!

WWW Wednesday 5/14/14

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of ShouldBeReading.  You play along, just answer three questions:

What did you recently finish reading?

What are you currently reading?

What do you think you will read next?

Since last week, I’ve been busy.   Monday is our last day for the year, so I have been studying as much as possible with my kids.  But I’ve also been reading!  A lot!  I’ve been sick with bronchitis so talking and doing pretty much anything too active has been an impossibility!  So while the kids have been busy at their independent studies, I’ve been reading!

This week I’ve read

I loved it!  Having read a couple reviews on this book, I knew it was one that I would enjoy and I did!

This was my first Netgalley review book.  From the description, I didn’t really know what to expect other than SciFi, but it wasn’t the story I read.  I don’t read much SciFi.  What I have read has been either fabulous or “eh.”    I have to say “eh” on this one.

I just started listening to:

and reading:

I have no idea what I will read next.  My daughter has been after me to read Insurgent, so maybe.  We usually hit the library on our way home from school that last day for all the fun books that kids haven’t had time to read during the school year, so maybe I’ll pick something up then.

WWW Wednesday 5/7/14

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of ShouldBeReading.  To play along, just answer three questions:

What did you you recently finish reading?

What are you currently reading?

What do you think you will read next?

 

I have finally finished reading:

Don’t let the fact that it took me FOREVER to finish this book fool you into thinking I didn’t enjoy every word of it.  Life just got in the way of reading.  Lost Lake completely lived up to my expectations!  You can read my review here.

I listened to The Raven Boys one on audiobook and loved it!  I’m working on a review now.  Can’t wait to start the second book in the series!

 I am currently reading:

We are currently in our last two weeks of school.  Which means I should have no time to read.  I should be sitting with my children going over school work, revising final projects and studying for final exams.  However, Monday I came down with something and I can hardly move without coughing and talking is completely out of the question.  So I get to read (and worry about my kids’ school work!).  I started The Daughter of Smoke and Bone last night and could hardly put it down!

I think I will be reading:

But I never really know until I start.  There are just too many books that I haven’t read yet!