Book Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Author: Laini Taylor

Publisher: Little Brown and Company

Published on: September 27, 2011

source: own copy (gifted)

Around the world, black hand prints 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 grows 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?(goodreads)

My Thoughts:

How could I have left this book unread in my shelf for 10 months and didn’t even turn one page? Gosh, it was so good. If it were chocolates, I would still be licking my fingers, savoring every chocolate bit. It was that good! Can’t wait for Days of Blood and Starlight! 

Looking into the book in details and more scrutiny, let me start with the story. The main story in itself is based on myth or characters not unknown to us, but Laini Taylor was able to weave it into a story that is unique and very creative- one that I haven't thought possible. At first I thought and expected that Daughter of Smoke and Bone would just be like any other angel book, and the usual "war between angels and demons". But the evil people here weren't even the usual sinister antagonist we know of. 

I also like how the story was told. We start reading with Karou doing her usual mundane activities. At first I admit  I was kind of confused with some things, then once I got a grip on the story, I was able to follow through. Like her, I too slowly learned what the truth really is. It was like watching a flower bloom slowly, things unfolded at the right time. It was wonderful witnessing it like that. 

The characters were awesome. It tkaes time to like them, but once you get to know each of them, you start to appreciate their role in the story. I felt particularly awed and was empathetic(is this even a word? Anyway) toward Brimstone, and I appreciated the others' motherly gestures to Karou. And gosh, the chemistry between Karou and Akiva was so palpable and intense, it was so obvious from the beginning..even if you remove all the nice descriptions between them, it's there. That's how obvious it was for me.

I loved how there was much more to the story than I first thought of and what the synopsis said? It was just half of what you'd know and enjoy when you are already reading the book.  5 stars!