Review for Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Synopsis
"Errand requiring immediate attention. Come.

The note was on vellum, pierced by the talons of the almost-crow that delivered it. Karou read the message. 'He never says please', she sighed, but she gathered up her things.

When Brimstone called, she always came.

In general, Karou has managed to keep her two lives in balance. On the one hand, she's a seventeen-year-old art student in Prague; on the other, errand-girl to a monstrous creature who is the closest thing she has to family. Raised half in our world, half in 'Elsewhere', she has never understood Brimstone's dark work - buying teeth from hunters and murderers - nor how she came into his keeping. She is a secret even to herself, plagued by the sensation that she isn't whole.

Now the doors to Elsewhere are closing, and Karou must choose between the safety of her human life and the dangers of a war-ravaged world that may hold the answers she has always sought."

Critical acclaim for Daughter of Smoke and Bone has been building steadily over the past few months in anticipation for its release and I am pleased to say that I concur with all of the early high praise. Due to all the hype I had pretty high expectations for this book before starting it but even still I wasn’t prepared for how awesome this book truly is and how fiercely I would love it.

This review is going to be one of those terribly hard ones to write simply because the books too good to put into words. You can’t explain how amazing it is it’s something people have to experience for themselves. To put it simply this book blew my mind.

Laini Taylor is a remarkable storyteller and has created a rich and absorbing new world that’s completely different to anything else out there. Daughter of Smoke and Bone has a little bit of everything and therefore something to offer any reader, of any age, gender and preference in genre. Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a story of war and magic, beasts with hearts of gold and sadistic blood thirsty angels but at the centre of it all is an epic love story that has the power to change everything. Daughter of Smoke and Bone isn’t the kind of book that I would recommend to just fans of young adult fiction but to anybody, anyone who can appreciate a good story.

Our main character Karou is a strong and quirky heroine who enthrals those around her with her art and stories about demons and beast like creatures. Her friends just presume she has a vivid imagination but despite her teasing smile Karou has never told her friends a lie. The stories she tells are her life, her life bought up by monsters in a place called Elsewhere running strange and dangerous errands for her guardian and father figure Brimstone who grants wishes in exchange for teeth. Karou knows little about her past and the world where Brimstone is from but now the portals to Elsewhere are closing. Cut off from the only family she’s ever known Karou must at last unlock the secrets of her past in order to understand her fate.

Karou is such a kooky, interesting character who I found so easy to like. Like the world of Elsewhere there are many secrets and layers to Karou. For instance she has blue hair that grows out of her head that colour, tattoos that she’s had for as long as she can remember and bullet scars on her stomach. Why I hear you ask? That’s something you’re going to have to read and find out for yourself but it’s almost as if you unlock Karou as you read on and discover more about Elsewhere and I loved how the intrigue and mystery not only focused on the plot but on Karou also.

Laini Taylor’s writing is exquisite. Her descriptions of a dark and wintery Prague engross and captivate the reader from the start. Laini’s a genius at atmospheric writing and creates a gothic and haunting backdrop for her story of monsters and demons.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a magical and engrossing book that is still going through my mind days later. Laini Taylor has created something different and exciting and I predict that it’s going to be HUGE. It certainly deserves to be. Daughter of Smoke and Bone is easily the best book I’ve read all year and I’m sure it will remain a favourite for years to come.
My Rating 5/5 stars

Synopsis taken from Amazon

Thanks go to Hodder for sending me this book to review