Blue hair, tattooed limbs, crazy imagination, and all, seventeen-year-old art student Karou is much more than her striking appearance. The fantastical creatures of her sketchbook – giraffe-necked Twiga, parrot-peaked Yasri, serpent-bodied Issa, and the great ram-horned human beast called Brimstone are not just figments of her imagination – they are her life. When Karou is not at school she’s busy earning wishes in exchange for the teeth she brings Brimstone. Karou manages to keep her two lives separate, finding happiness in both the shop and school life until she gets that nagging feeling again, that sense of emptiness and unrest which comes from both missing something and not knowing who you are. As Brimstone’s biddings become more frequent, burned handprints are showing up on doorways all over the world and sightings of mysterious figures with winged shadows are multiplying. Oblivious to what she is about to become involved, Karou will discover her true identity as she irreversibly alters the course of a violent, otherworldly war.
That synopsis leaves much to be desired because after its intriguing premise Daughter of Smoke and Bone was so much more than I could’ve hoped for. I’d somehow missed that it would feature angels, a knowledge that may have worried me going in. After all, angels in YA paranormal have been trendy of late. But Laini Taylor’s take completely stands apart. Her seraphim are godlike in their beauty and terrifying in their cold brutality with hands and wings that are scorching to the touch. Similarly their nemesis, the chimaera, are striking and whimsical in the endlessly imaginative combinations of beast and human aspects that make them. I saw and accepted both creatures immediately they were so clearly and distinctly drawn. Beyond that is Laini’s lovely prose, which struck me over and over again and renders me incapable of finding words to accurately describe it. At times lush, evocative, and lyrical, I couldn’t help rereading passages as I went along. One of the many standouts (from my uncorrected ARC):
Happiness. It was the place where passion, with all its dazzle and drumbeat, met something softer: homecoming and safety and pure sunbeam comfort. It was all those things, intertwined with the heat and the thrill, and it was as bright within her as a swallowed star.
It’s also in the small, secondary characters and ideas that Daughter of Smoke and Bone shines, such as Karou’s quirky and caring best friend Zusana, who knowingly accepts her half-truths because she’s a true friend first; and the currency and hierarchy of the wishes, which Karou threads in the forms of beads on a necklace which disappear as she uses them for as mundane of purposes as making a uni-brow appear on a girl she loathes or wishing unpleasant itches on an ex. Alternately smiling, sighing and gasping, I loved every moment of this highly original and delightfully unexpected novel and the thrilling rollercoaster ride it took my emotions on. From the story to the writing and the mind-blowing ending, Daughter of Smoke and Bone stunned me with its beauty, leaving me clamoring perhaps more than I ever have for a sequel. Highly, highly recommended.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone is due out September 27. Many thanks to Kristen for sending me a copy.
Second Opinions
Fantasy Cafe Review
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Parenthetical Review
Presenting Lenore Review
Reading Rants Review
The Readventurer Review
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it too. I can’t wait for the sequel either!
As you said, the prose is just gorgeous and there really isn’t anyone I’ve read who writes like Laini Taylor does. It’s definitely one of my favorite books I’ve read this year.
Exactly – no one does. I wasn’t expecting it to be a favorite going in but I’m so glad it was.
I’m in the middle of savoring this one and I just can’t bring myself to finish too quickly – then I won’t have more of Laini’s goodness to read for a while.
Smart – that fact should cross my mind more often in general.
Wow that sounds good! I’ve seen this book around and keep being drawn to it. Glad you mentioned the angels though, they tend to draw a bit of an eye roll out of me these days (much like sexy mopey vampires) I much prefer my super naturals to be bloody scary than dreamy.
But I have to wait till September? Why do you do this to me?
Lol angels, vampires, I completely understand. Sorry – I’ve actually never got offered more than an eARC to review on the blog – I just got lucky.
Great review, Holly! I’m on page 266 in my DOSB arc now and I’ve loved every single page so far.
Oh yay! I’m excited to read your review.
Really well review, I love how well you said everything – especially since I totally agree with all of it!
This book really does setting, characters and angels all in a way I have never seen before. So original, so well done. Just wow. Can’t wait to devour everything else Laini has written!
I just started this today!! Um.. about an hour ago. Loving it so far. About 40 pages in.. oh.. I just checked – 58 pages. I have gotten to the bits with the wishes. HEH. I didn’t think her revenge was bad at all.
I really really hope it doesn’t take too long for the Book Depository to deliver my copy! They can only ship it out on the release day and it takes a month or so for orders to arrive so I guess I have to wait around two months before I could read this one? That makes me sad but at least I could read it within the year. I loved Laini Taylor’s writing in Lips Touch so I’m expecting this one to be a favorite as well.
I have really been wanting to read this one as well. It looks fantastic. So glad to hear you enjoyed it!
I want to read this one! Can I borrow it sometime?
“Daughter of Smoke and Bone” is a rich, tragic urban fantasy that designs a unique mythos, and has a solidly interesting heroine as well. Definitely a must-read for those fed up with bad teen-girl/vampire romances. The writing in fact is astounding, not just because it’s heightened and lovely but because Taylor seems to mix her lovely prose with some of the most extremely natural, enchanting teen dialogue that I have read in a long time. Karou’s chit chat with her best friend Zuzana is definitely an complete joy to read, funny and care free, smart and silly.