Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Absolutely beautiful story! Set in Prague, the story of angels and chimera and a war that is raging in another world. I cannot wait for the next book!

This book and its sequel were...unexpectedly intense. And very...experimental. It's like Romeo and Juliet set in a whole other dimension. With Imperialism and slavery and really weird reincarnation.

The writing is quite lovely. Karou and Akiva are characters rich in strengths and flaws, and I especially loved getting to know Akiva's past, his relationships, and I love where is story ends up going in Days of Blood and Starlight.

But the world...is a little hard to buy in to. The author made a bold choice in having Karou - and therefore us - enter the story in the middle of things (or "in medias res," as my geeky side will tell you) but I also felt like that came at the cost of some much needed world-building and conflict set up. It was really hard to get into Karou's head and see her struggle with a whole former life when you only have tiny snatches of information that make very little sense. The concept magic through pain and of resurrection through teeth is...not very well explained. At least, I would have liked a more detailed explanation of what constitutes "pain" and who has to suffer what for which piece of magic. And really, why teeth? And how, exactly, do the teeth become a whole new body?

While this is a fun read for the characters, the world left me confused and...a little bereft. Still, the conflicts between and the interactions with different characters can be almost fascinating at times. I'm interested to see how it all ends!

I love the world, I'm real curious about what happens next, I'm pretty dang offended by novels aimed at teenagers that justify relationships with much older men.

i love this book so much i love every character and the writing and the plot and everything it's so gripping i adore it

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone is 'paranormal' series, a fantasy, but it feels as true as life. This story caught me up in the first paragraph and didn't let me down until the tale was told. It's not enough to say it was engaging. It's more than that. The unfolding pages become part of life's experiences, like a memory - something that happened that you still want to think about long after.

Laini Taylor is a lyrical writer, her prose as seductive as the characters she awakens. I love the weaving of original ideas with mythologies we all grew up with. For those familiar with seraphim and chimaera, you're in for a treat! The Daughter of Smoke and Bone is both familiar and strange, and utterly believable. What a wonderful way to reexamine ideas of good and evil, love and hate, and most relevant, the prejudices we inherit and hold on to when we have no idea why. There are layers of connection and meaning that are not spelled out, or over explained, but released at perfect moments, so rewarding for the reader. I very much looking forward to the next in the series! When will that be, I wonder?

Forgot just how much I enjoyed this book until my second read-through. A unique lore and beautiful writing.

I really enjoyed this one. The pacing was good, the characters were engaging, and I loved Prague as the setting. The writing was fantastic, so fluid it seemed effortless. Sometimes the prose was a little too purple for my taste, but I still appreciated it on an aesthetic level and enjoyed the images it brought to my mind.

I have to say, though, (and this is just me) that I disliked the second half of the book. It went from dark urban fantasy to pure romantic high fantasy in the blink of an eye, and I just really don't like romance. The two main protagonists ended up at a ball exchanging witty banter for goodness sake. Blarg.

That being said, I bought it because I like the first part so much. Now I just have to find someplace to cram it on my overcrowded bookshelf.

I started reading this book hoping to love it but I have to say I'm disappointed. I liked it, but didn't love it as I do SJM books. (i know I shouldn't compare works of different authors but I'm obsessed with SJM books that I couldn't help it. sorry not sorry) I think it's because I didn't like the instalove... well it's not exactly instalove but I thought it was.... I also had a hard time relating to the characters for some reason, and the plot was sort of predictable. at least for me it was and the second half of this book was a bit boring... there were a lot of beautiful quotes in this book though. and, the world was extremely unique. five stars in hopes that I enjoy the next two books more than I did this book. looking forward to reading the next book.

I read this book through someone who loves YA, but I actually felt like this transcends the genre.
Yes, it's a world like our own, only with magic. Yes, there's a human girl as the heroine. (Speaking of the heroine, I loved Karou, even after the first few pages.)Yes, she falls for a supernatural hero. But the strange lyricism of the prose, and the uniqueness of the world set it apart. Some of the sentences were just beautiful in their imagery. The supernatural world is so weird and mythic and the writing fits it perfectly.

ETA: Apparently Universal bought the film right. I'm very nervous about that because I think that it would require a huge amount of CGI for one thing, and for another, the writing has such an atmosphere and I'm worried they won't be able to translate that to film.

Great story! I loved the characters and the world the author created. It is a fresh story, one that hasn't been over done. I'm very much looking forward to the second book in the series.

This is really more of a 3.5, but I bumped it up because the story so exceeds its basic premise (i.e., an angel and a demon and they're in love).

DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE has been collecting rave reviews by the bushel, and until about halfway through the book I was ready to join the chorus. The writing really is amazing, not just because it's heightened and elegant but because Taylor manages to mix her gorgeous prose with some of the most natural, charming teen dialogue that I've read in a long time. Karou's banter with her best friend Zuzana is an absolute joy to read, witty and carefree, smart and silly.

And the world is fascinating. Taylor drops us into it bit by bit: Karou's life as an art student in Prague, the strange errands she runs for the wishmonger Brimstone in his shop whose door can open in Paris one minute and Marrakech the next, the teeth she gathers on his behalf and the questions he won't answer about who she is and how she, a human girl, came to belong to his family of monsters.

Things started to go wrong - and I'm sorry to say it - when Akiva the angel arrives on the scene. Akiva is traveling the world on behalf of his Emperor, preparing to seal all the doors that pass between the human world and Brimstone's shop. He encounters Karou along the way, realizes that she's running errands for Brimstone, and tries to kill her. But before Akiva can deliver the fatal blow he notices a strange similarity between Karou and his long lost love, Madrigal.

That sparks a strange, fairy-tale romance between Akiva and Karou. They recognize one another as enemies yet are drawn together by a deep sense of connection. While Akiva and Karou grow closer, a point of no return approaches: the angels hate Brimstone and his kind, just as Brimstone loathes the angels. Akiva and Karou's love for one another sets them at odds with their people.

It's at that point, when the tension is highest, that Taylor abandons the story of Akiva and Karou to tell us the story of Akiva and Madrigal. Calling this a flashback would be inadequate; it's more like Taylor inserts a novella into the middle of her novel. I was pretty impatient to find out what would happen in the present and I never really settled into the new story. Taylor foreshadows the revelations to be found in the Akiva/Madrigal romance pretty heavily, so the flashback didn't contain many surprises, and almost as soon as Taylor finally, finally jumps back to the present, she ends the novel on a cliffhanger.

The flashback kind of ruined the whole novel for me. Instead of giving us a whole story, Taylor gives us half of one, plumps it out with backstory, and calls it a day. I'm not the kind of reader who gets mad about cliffhangers on principle, and I'm usually more excited than otherwise when there are big open-ended problems to solve over the course of a series rather than a single novel. But DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE left me deeply unsatisfied and more than a little grumpy.

So many good ideas in the beginning of the book, but halfway through the novel its a runaway train of what is going on. Certain plot lines just completely drop off the face of the earth towards the end, many questions left unanswered. Maybe the sequel will clear a bit up, who knows. I also wasn't thrilled with the answer of who Karou is.

This book was amazing! :D <3 Such an original plot was a breath of fresh air in the fantasy world. What a wonderful, wonderful book, and I cannot wait to read the next one!! >< <3

Not really impressed. I am not a fan of books that end with "to be continued". It's like a slap in the face, like you've finished the book for nothing.But I WOULD like blue hair...

Enjoyable story that moves from the modern world into the world of Angels and Monsters. Likable characters and made me want to keep reading. On the up side there is another book in the series but sadly the third book is not out yet! For those who enjoy books like the Twilight series this might be for you.

There was a moment in the middle of the book, where I really struggled. It was a point in the book where things really shift, when Akiva really comes into play. Around that time, I really didn't care for where the book was headed. I wasn't invested in Karou's story anymore. But I continued reading, because I did really enjoy the beginning. After I got through that, I got back into the story. And I'm happy I stuck with it, because I really enjoyed it. The ending kind of broke my heart though.

First half was amazing, beautiful language, beautiful scenery, interesting plot, good flow. 2nd half slowed down considerably with the development of the romantic angle - felt almost as if the two halves of the novel were written separately and then joined together with how much the flow changed. While I enjoy YA romance, at times it got a little much, but overall I really did enjoy this novel. Look forward to the next one in the trilogy/series.

While not the most original of concepts, it is told with great flair and skill. Ms. Taylor manages to make you feel for her characters, regardless of their "species" for lack of a better word. Even those we would deem truly terrible are often viewed through a sympathetic lens. The characters are fascinating and the story creatively approached, which negates the fact that in many ways there are portions where you may feel as though you've encountered the concept before. Now that I've said that twice I will stop beating that drum.Characters are well fleshed out to begin with, and even more well developed as the story progresses. The emotional content is expertly handled, leaving me crying in some places and laughing aloud in others. The highs are in the upper stratosphere, and the lows are lower than anyplace you can imagine - that is how powerful the emotions can get throughout the story. Luckily I only read at home or I'd have surely earned some odd looks. That is how well Taylor manages to pull you into her world and connect you to her extended 'family.'Thank goodness there was the next installation ready and waiting for me, so there was no break in the story, no painful wait to learn what came next.All told this book was excellent entertainment, well worth the price of admission.

For awhile now I've been looking for that one book to get me out of my slump,and this is it! This book had everything I love a strong heroine,a brooding male,forbidden love,and most importantly no love triangle!

This story was amazing,the world building was great,the writing wonderful,and it made me get that stupid smile on my face that I haven't got for awhile. So yeah I loved it and I hope you do too!

I just stumbled upon this book, oblivious to all the hype there was about it (learning after the fact). What a fantastic fantasy with romance, paranormal creatures and more. The age old tale of star-crossed love and war between perceived good and evil. Of course, you are left wondering are those that are 'good' really better than those that are 'evil.' I totally fell in love with Brimstone, Karou, Issa, Yasri, Akiva and all of the characters. Laini Taylor has such a descriptive writing style and I could easily picture each character in my head. I thoroughly enjoyed waiting for the mystery of Karou to unfold and am ready to jump into the next book.

It's a rather large understatement to say I had high expectations for Daughter of Smoke and Bone. It was - and still is - pretty ubiquitous and lauded everywhere you find it mentioned. I was so keen on reading this novel I preordered it. I rarely preorder anything; bookbuying before seeing/touching the actual novel is one of the few area I can exercise some patience in. For example, the last book I preordered was George R. R. Martin's A Dance of Dragons after nearly six years of anticipation. But, lo and behold, even before the promised release date of September 27, a beautiful copy of Daughter of Smoke and Bone appeared on my doopstep. I devoured it in two days, only stopping because of a headache so bad I literally couldn't see straight. Laini Taylor's amazing novel more than met my high hopes: she exceeded them in every way. It's a novel that delights and entertains, neither stinting on the drama and humor nor on acutely attractive brooding male characters.It's hard to review something you love - I've had trouble reviewing this as well as The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman and Kate Morton's epic The Distant Hours. I sat on this particular review for over a week trying to analyze how I felt about it and how to express my opinions other than just fangirl squeeling ("Oh my god, I wish I was Karou. Oh, My. GOD. Akiva<33," etc). When you love a book, it's personal in a way few things are: you want everyone else to love it unconditionally, too, and hiss at any detractors. While Daughter is not the end-all be-all my review might sound like and I know many of you will not love it near as much as I did, it is and will remain one of my top favorite reads of the year/all-time. From the tagline "Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well," alone I knew I was in for an epic star-crossed love affair and had faith that Laini Taylor would handle it with aplomb and not melodrama. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a fresh read with unique elements, and note as well this is a young-adult novel that is certainly not just for young-adults.Daughter is not a paranormal romance. Daughter is not an urban fantasy. Daughter is not a fantasy. Daughter is not a coming-of-age young adult novel with significant supernatural elements. Or rather - it is not just one of those genres individually. It is a marvelous and utterly unique mix of all four. It's the story of Karou, a blue haired, tattooed, lonely artist in Prague. A girl that "moved like a poem and smiled like a sphinx," and an utterly striking protagonist. Though clearly 'special' Karou is a magnetic character and one I like immediately without reserve. She's funny, human in the most defining sense of the word and not above a little petty revenge against those who need it. Surrounded by a cheeky best friend, the "master of the eyebrow arch" Zuzanna and her strange (more on that later) family, Karou manages to come across as a lonely and very alone young woman trying to balance a hidden demanding supernatural life with human problems like exyboyfriends, though without straying into self-pity. As the mysteries pile up around the young artist, I felt questions piling up in my head, wondering if the author would pull of answering all of them to my satisfaction: who is Karou? What is Karou? Where did she come from, and where/who are her parents? And like most reviews note: what exactly is up with the creepyass teeth?! While I thought the mystery went on too long at the time, the pacing and reveal feel absolutely perfect when they are - finally - uncovered. I should never have doubted.The secondary characters are also mysterious, powerful... and above all, different. Hinted at in the tagline, Karou's adopted family is firmly in the "devil" camp - though the correct name is chimaera and one and all, from the snakelike Issa to the giraffe-necked Twiga, are never anything less than kind to the bluehaired waif they raised. I enjoyed the "humanness" Laini Taylor brought for her monsters. No side is black and white in this eternal way between angels and devils, and I thoroughly appreciate the 'human' monsters/crazed angels over a more black/white/ absolute scenario. Karou runs messages for Brimstone, a mysterious chimaera collector of teeth and granter of wishes - which allows her to eventually run into the angel foretold: the sexy and dangerous Akiva. A beautiful and forbidding seraphim sworn to fight the chimaera, Akiva sells his brooding mysteriousness and past pain without overplaying it. It took me a while to buy into more than his obvious superficial appeal, but the haunting backstory added a layer of depth to his personality. His looong life is a nice foil for Karou's shorter mostly conflict free existence of whim.Their chemistry is palpable and sizzling: one of the more exciting YA romances I can think of, honestly. (Wow, this is still waaaay fangirlly. It's just that good.)More love: Laini's writing. Not only is it lyrical and poetic, but she manages to personalize everyone and everything - often with a dab hand at humor or image. Like Zuzanna'a master eyebrow mastery perfectly creates a sardonic, but caring face. Zuzana bursts with flair and personality: all the fun isn't reserved for lead role Karou. And the sparkle is not just reserved for the people: the setting benefits from the author's talent as well. Prague. Oh my god Prague. Between this and Wasserman's addicting The Book of Blood and Shadow I'd say this has rocketed to the top of my "Cities I MUST Visit in Europe" list. From poetic and vibrant passages like this, The streets of Prague were a fantasia scarcely touched by the twenty-first century - or the twentieth or nineteenth, for that matter. It was a city of alchemists and dreams, its medieval cobbles once trod by golems, mystics, invading armies.to the day-to-day life of Karou, I was struck again and again by Ms. Taylor's narrative, consistently in love with the vibrant prose and the very-much-alive city it gave birth to. I loved the beautiful, not purple, prose, which consistently evoked colorful imagery of the setting, the characters, and the amazing world (in, within, around Prague) that wordsmith Laini Taylor has crafted. In a vibrant city of such history - and supernatural myths too of foundation by a witch - Laini Taylor breathes fresh life into old themes of forbidden love, fallen angels, and even the battle between good/evil/Heaven/Hell.My few, teensy complaints: the "big reveal" to Zuzanna wasn't. It was offscreen and almost hastily brushed aside with a demonstration - and I wished for more time with the diminutive Czech scenestealer. I also felt that Karou and Akiva had a teensy bit of an instalove situation a la Twilight, but that fear was happily quashed. SPOILER AHEAD, please do not read if you've yet to get your hands on a copy. Seriously it's the next sentence. I also worry that the Karou I liked so much, identified with so closely - might "disappear" due tothe big twist/revelation near the end. I worry that the essential "Karouness" will be lost and I'll feel different about her in the second book. I hope not and have almost every faith Laini Taylor will not steer me wrong.The story is striking and imaginative and unforgettable. Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a genre-blending exercise of win, unlike anything I have read. It's a new, charismatic spin on the angel/devil/seraphim/nephilim/chimaera theme, populated with real characters with actual personalities - relayed by dialogue and deed rather than an infodump. I loved the nicely tuned balance of action and wit, drama with imagination and wordbuilding on a grand-scale. When's book two out? I cannot and hope not to wait long for another installment in this spellbinding world.

Oh boy. This book. It managed to find each of my weaknesses in turn. Karou is an appealingly strong-willed, capable, mysterious heroine (all the more so for the fact that she refuses to turn into a pile of addle-brained, self-sacrificing mush around the young men she has feelings for). She's an artist, a magician, and a warrior. She is as full of character as the beautiful city she describes. The other characters are extraordinary too; her family of chimaera are fascinating and quirky, her best friend is a riot, and Akiva is one of the most interesting, genuinely fascinating love interests I've ever read. The narration of Laini Taylor is exquisite, never dragging or becoming trite. And the emotional range of the novel touches on everything from the horrors of war, to heartwarming family moments, to a beautiful, tragically doomed love, to the immense satisfaction that is Karou shoving her contemptible ex through a window. There is mystery heaped upon mystery for the reader's enjoyment, and I was not able to predict a single outcome in advance; the reader is able to be as shocked and fascinated as Karou is as she navigates the world around her and the great many lies that ultimately lead to the best, most impossibly cruel cliffhanger ending I've read since The Knife of Never Letting Go.It was exceptional. Its sequel managed to be more so. It deserved to be read over and over again and held aloft as a prime example of what young adult romance/adventures could and should be.

Karou is an art student in Prague and at the same time she's an errand-girl to a creature who isn't from the normal world. Her life changes forever when she meets an angel, an angel determined to destroy one of her worlds.It's interesting, a complex, well-drawn world with interesting characters but half-way through I just wasn't feeling it, I just wasn't really engaging in the characters or what they wanted to do, I was interesting in where the story was going but the characters weren't keeping me interested.Not a bad story, just one that I wanted more from the characters, the plot was interesting and I saw some of it coming as I was reading, some of the sidelines the story took didn't make the plot flow as well as I might have liked. I wanted to like it more than I did.

This book started out great and ended on a cliff hanger. Usually I'm bugged by books that end leading up to a sequel, since that just seems cheap to me, but this one had such a great story and characters I really can't wait to see what happens next! Oh, sure, it got a bit too mushy for my taste, but I loved Karou's character!

I loved this book and I loved it's world. I fell in love with the decidedly three different types of characters, as they muddled through trying to figure out what was currently going on in this world (and for Karou, in the last). I have to admit I did get a little antsy near the end when I was worrying whether this book had become just a reincarnation love story. But that had not stopped me from being deeply in love with other parts of it.

I could not wait to explore more of Zuzu & Mik, Brimstone & Issa's world, the love story, the other side of the portals. And the end was utterly heart rending.

I really enjoyed this book. The voice was great, it flowed so effortlessly throughout the story, giving you the perspective of more than just the main character (Kaoru). It starts out semi-light hearted with the problems of an abnormal teenager who was raised by monsters and then dives right into all the drama. This book was impossible for me to put down. I read it in one sitting. I instantly liked Kaoru. She was clever, funny, but flawed -- like any good character. My heart really went out to her and all the problems she endured. It was great to go on the journey with her. The way the story progresses is interesting and I liked the multiple POV that are given to tell the tale. I really had no idea what to make of the whole "teeth" thing or what was going to happen next. I just loved it all. The concept was interesting and fairly original. And perhaps more than anything, I loved poor, broken Akiva. The extremely flawed, hurt, love interest in this star-crossed lover's tale.

First and foremost ... WHY?!? Why did I wait SO long to pick up this book?? Well, I sure am happy I finally did. Karou is 17 yrs old who lives in Prague and attends an art school. She lives with and works for Brimstone, who is also more like a father figure for her and a hard-working Wishmonger who Karou loves dearly but is also confused by. Brimstone has a workshop that Karou and others can only enter with his permission through portals throughout the world. Regardless of where anyone enters in the world they all arrive in the same place. Leaving on errands can be just as mysterious and dangerous for Karou as the portal door might open in India, Morrocco, the United States, somewhere else in Russia or Italy. She usually never knows until she's there. Karou runs errands for Brimstone, often collecting human teeth from dealers but Brimstone never tells her what he uses the teeth for. In exchange for the errands he replenishes her wish necklace. Every time she makes a small wish one "bead" disappears, bigger wishes take more "beads". Karou has been trained for most of her life because her errands can and have gotten very dangerous. On one of her errands Karou's life changes, as a seraphim appears and fights her in front of many people who were shocked to see an angel. Never-the-less an angel whose wings drop fire. As was Karou. Karou keeps thinking she knows this angel (Akiva). Akiva, as well as other Angels have been burning their handprints into all the portal doorways to Brimstone's workshop around the world ... Karou realizes that her "family" is in grave danger. Laini Taylor has written an exceptional novel and I can't wait dive into the sequel!

To all appearances, Karou is a typical teenager: a gifted art student in Prague with blue hair, not above pettiness towards ex-boyfriends, and always thinking about food. But she's also leading a secret life as an errand girl to a wishmonger from Elsewhere, procuring teeth, human and animal, for him, and able to grant herself wishes in return for beads from her necklace. A fateful encounter in Marrakesh sets in motion a series of events that will challenge everything she knows.The premise of this book sounded intriguing: necklaces made of wishes, an underground shop dealing in teeth and the heroine's apprenticeship to a wishmonger. For about the first half of the book, this story put me under its spell with its unusual and wildly imaginative ideas, strange characters and gripping, eloquent prose. Once you're past the mundane opening chapters, the novel propels you along at breakneck speed, racing through the pages to discover what happens next. So what about the rest? Well, it's mainly a drawn-out story of forbidden love, with its two main protagonists so impossibly beautiful that I couldn't help but feel alienated from them. Some of the teenage awkwardness is there, but because it is obvious from the style of the writing that these two are meant for each other, no suspense is created. In the end this old cynic at least had enough of all the various descriptions of physical attraction (and they do go on for quite a bit, and then some), becoming impatient and wanting to ask the author, "Ok, I get it, but when does something actually HAPPEN?" The answer is, it doesn't, even though there are some revelations towards the end, and the potential that things might pick up in the sequel. There are some good ideas to be found here, but the initial premise is almost completely wasted, even though it does have a bearing on Karou's past.One for romantic souls of the Twilight persuasion.(Review written originally as part of the Amazon Vine programme.)

When this book first came out, it had a bunch of buzz. Usually, for me, that means I'm going to love the book. So when after months of thinking about reading it but not getting a chance, when I saw this at the library I grabbed it right away. It sounded really interesting, so I was super excited. I read the first hundred and fifty pages no problem.But then the romance entered.I'm sad to say this is just one of those books that I had to skip large portions of to get anything out of the experience. The dialogue between Karou and her friends is great, and the world that Taylor created is so creative and creepy. But then LOVE had to happen and then I hated the book. It wasn't that I'm not a fan of love at first sight, but seriously, I just didn't like the way it was put together. I fell terrible for giving a book with such great opportunity and writing such a negative review, but I couldn't even really finish the book because the romance put a sour taste in my mouth for some reason. I wouldn't say this book was outright terrible, because there were moments where I loved the writing and such, but I just can't stand the way the couple interacted. If this book had more fantasy and less super predictable romance, I may have given it four stars, with the romance, it gets two. :/