Daughter of Smoke and Bone Review

TITLE: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

AUTHOR: Laini Taylor

PUBLISHER: Little, Brown and Company

PUBLICATION DATE: 9/27/2011

PAGES: 418

MY RATING: 5 Stars

INSIDE COVER BLURB: 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 an dusty sho, 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 otherworldly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; 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.

From master storyteller and National Book Award finalist Laini Taylor comes a sweeping and gorgously written modern fantasy about a forbidden love, an ancient and epic battle, and hop for a world remade.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: Amazing! That's the best word to describe this book. It's fun, exciting, fast paced and all around a wonderful read. The writing in this book is magical. Taylor has a way of describing things that puts you into her world. Here's a quote that I fell in love with near the beginning of the book:

"She had been innocent once, a little girl playing with feathers on the floor of a devil's lair. She wasn't innocent now, but she didn't know what to do about it. This was her life: magic and shame and secrets and teeth and a deep, nagging hollow at the center of herself where something was most certainly missing." (page 45).

I have a love-hate relationship with the ending of this book. It was so good, but I need to know what's going to happen next, right now! I can't wait for the next book!

CHARACTERS: The story is set in Prague, so the names of the characters are not names I am used to hearing, so it took me a minute to get used to that, but it wasn't a huge deal. Karou just seems like an ordinary girl. She's trying to figure herself out and learn where she came from. She's very fun and is someone I would love to be around. My favorite character in this book is Zuzana - Karou's best friend. She's cute and sweet and very loyal to Karou. I would have liked to have more of her in the book. Akiva is also a good character, but I don't want to spoil anything so I'll let you find out why on your own.

COVER: Just like the book -- amazing! I love the vibrant blue color and I love how the mask ties in with the masquerade party that occurs in the story.

Look for the next book coming out in November!