The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

5/5 Stars

Review:
The Daughter of Smoke and Bone is not your typical Angel story. I went in expecting something similar to Hush Hush and WOW was I surprised and pleased when it was something completely original and completely different!

Laini Taylor writes a different kind of story about the world of Angels and Chimera (demon-like, but not like, beings) and the war that has been raging between then for eternity. I really enjoyed Taylor’s writing, it was fluid and stopped in all the right places leaving me wanting more and staying up late at night! The war is a pivotal part of the story and the descriptions of ancient battles made me feel like I was right there with the character. Taylor does a great job of showing and not just telling.

My favorite part about The Daughter of Smoke and Bone was the relationship between Karou and Akiva. It was everything I wanted it to be deep, sweet, and never wavering. And it wasn’t the pivotal driving force of the story. One of my biggest pet peeves with YA lately is that the relationship between the characters is the only part of the story which allows for character development. In Smoke and Bone Karou grew as a character for the entirety of the story and we get to see Karou go from a teen who knows nothing about the world she has been living in to someone who wants to change the world she has been kept from, and change preconceived notions about both Angels and Chimera.

All of the supporting characters in Smoke and Bone were pure awesomeoness. Brimstone, Yasiri and all of Karou’s Chimera family were so real and I could feel how much Karou loved them because I started loving them too! Zuzana, Karou’s best friend in Prague was absolutely hilarious and I really enjoyed all the scenes were they went Poison and just vented. It was such a realistic friendship that seemed so natural it was a great foil to the craziness of Karou’s life with the Chimera.

Another thing I really enjoyed was the setting in Prague! Not often is a YA book set in Europe. So often it is set in nowhere, USA in a High School. Karou’s school really felt more like a college and the entire city oozed history it was fun to escape to a different place through The Daughter of Smoke and Bone.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be picking up the sequel Days of Blood and Starlight. But with a slated release date for September 2012 it looks like I have a long wait ahead of me!

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The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor