Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #1) in All Challenges All The Time

Jul 29, 2014 Gayatri rated it really liked it

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 grows 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 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 grows 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 beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery 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?

“Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there's no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.”
I love this quote from this book, and I feel like the entire book was based on hope and wishes. Karou was an art student living in Prague. She was living a double life. On one hand she was going to school and she had a best friend and everything was normal. On the other she was going for errands for Brimstone. She had to keep these two lives completely separate so as not to hurt anybody. However, a chance meet and fight with an angel, and becoming too curious finds Karou on the streets and wondering who she is and where she belongs.
I think the beauty of this book was the constant change of perspective between the two characters. Akiva and Karou. There was something strangely familiar about their relationship which we find out later. But,even at the beginning. Even when they were enemies, they had a chemistry that could not be ignored. Some authors cannot pull off the constant change of perspective without even telling us who they were changing it to but Laini Taylor did it amazingly.
Another thing I really liked about the book was it being set in Prague. I don’t really read a lot of books which are set in different countries from the states and the uk so reading about another city is enlightening. I think it set the mood for the entire book as being dark in some places but at the same time being full of light. Prague is beautiful city as well and the descriptions were so good. Not only Prague, Karou travelled all over the world. To Paris, Morocco and other beautiful places and Laini Taylor described it beautifully and that really set the feeling of the book.
This book was mainly about Karou and Akiva’s relationship. It did focus on best friends and friends but, it was only as a side topic. Though I must say, one thing I did not like about this book was the flashbacks. They were great on their own and they did explain the story. However, they got me confused and I had to reread certain parts to understand what was going on.
I loved the idea of Seraphim and Chimaera and the author really emphasised on the fact that there is no good and bad, no black and white. All everyone really needs is peace and all everyone does is war. How stories are different depending on what side you are on. That happens in real life too not only in fantasy.
I will so recommend this book to my friends. It deserves to be recommended. The story, the plot, the characters, the message are all amazing. The cliffhanger is killer and now I have to read the sequel! Laini Taylor did an amazing job and I will read more books by her. ...more

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Jun 06, 2014 Arimbi rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites

DAUGHTER OF SMOKE & BONE WAS A DEFINITE SURPRISE. I've heard time and time again that it's confusing at first because of all the world building that goes with high fantasy books, and that it's rather slow-paced in the beginning, making it hard to get into. These were precisely the reasons why I was so reluctant to start this book, but boy, did I wish that never happened. I fell in love with Laini Taylor's writing style; it's beautiful and magical and ardent and if the beginning really was as slo ...more

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Dec 13, 2023 Majsa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: the-bibliotheca

This book slowly but surely got me out of my deep down hole of myself and I read the book in 2 days with one day almost no sleep cause damn could not put it down 💚😳😅

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