Early Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Author: Laini Taylor
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Pub Date: 09-27-2011
Source:Advance Reader Copy that I Got at BEA, thanks to the generous people at Little Brown and Company

Book Synpsis: 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 and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; 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.

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Review:

Love this dark, unique world that Laini Taylor has built. There is nothing quite like this book. This book takes readers on a dark journey that one will not forget. She has created a unique mythology.

There are beings in this world that I've never heard of yet they work because these creatures are integral to the way the book unfolds. What I like about Karou, our heroine seems like any other human girl, but as the story unfolds she is anything but ordinary.

Here is a young woman who has a destiny, that even she is unaware of. The scenes here were intense and scary at times. Especially the action scenes, yet they work, because their is a battle going on with all the beings.

You also get a bit of christian mythology blended in the book. There are Angels who want to kill Karou, Karou is special and not like the other beings. We and her think she is human because she has never displayed any special abilities. What makes her unique is that she is raised by beings who are not human, but care for her. She gets things for Brimstone, the creature who has raised her.

Brimstone is a unique character in the fact that even though he thought he could no longer feel human emotions or any emotions he does. When the Angels come to attack the people that Karou has trusted and lived with. The one angel does hurt Karou, but instead of killing her, he feels something for her.

What I loved about the Angel and Karou's scenes together were fantastic. She is teaching him things and he's trying to get to the bottom of what is special about her. Also love that Karou's human life is very nice, but sometimes a struggle for her. Although her caretaker has provided her with money.

This book was intense, amazing, everything a good paranormal should do. Also like that Karou and the Angel don't instantly fall in love. They know they are attracted to each other and wonder if this feeling could turn into Love.

I loved the ending of this book, despite it being a cliffhanger. I hate cliffhangers. I desperately want to read the sequel to find out what happens next.

I adored this book.