Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone	Loved it	Graded
Author: Laini Taylor
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Elements: Angels, Starcrossed love
Series: Book 1 of a trilogy

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?

Ahhh! I loved this book. It's been so long since I've read a book that was purely, in a word, good. Taylor made me laugh, made me cry, made me turn page after page after page unrelentingly. I just couldn't wait to start the next chapter.

You know how good the book is? Every single chapter is like a mini story by itself. There's a start, a climax and an ending, with some threads weaving through, within that connects the previous chapter to the next. TDSB is so intricately plotted, with characters that burst into life in the form of drawings, sketches and colour.

I appreciated how every event's a surprise to me. Some books have this formula of 'SET UP -> HARDSHIP -> SMALL CLIMAX -> FAILURE -> MAJOR HARDSHIP -> MAJOR CLIMAX -> SUCCESS FTW!'. I couldn't predict what was going to happen next in this book, and it made me excited to find out more.

Every sentence, every word, every detail has meaning, and by the time you come to the end of the book, you realise just how many Taylor sneaked into the previous pages. What I thought was whimsical actually means something, not just within the rules of the world, but basic maths. Or science. Alchemy. Whatever you call it. GOSH. I love books that make me laugh and cry in the same sentence, and I love authors who write them.

"Hello," she whispered, happy.
Happy.
"Hello," he returned, like a shared secret.

Taylor made such a simple word, "hello" so powerful, so poignant, so heartbreaking and full that even now, thinking back on what I just read made me tear up a bit. Just a wee bit. And "happy", which from that excerpt makes me feel totally the opposite.

The characters. Karou and her life are a delight to read about. She's accompanied by some pretty interesting characters for a family, and her best friend is in her own words "a violent little thing". She's my dream narrator: one who's wry, humourous and utterly captivating, with so much talent that she might seem like a caricature in lesser hands.

Never repent of your own goodness, child. To stay true in the face of evil is a feat of strength.

Akiva is a great angst-filled dude. Other angsty mandudes should look up to him for inspiration, because he, he has angst for a reason. From his past, to his future, with all his secrets revealed to us readers, Akiva is one yummy, angsty dude. With swords. In fact, I dove into the book without reading the summary, and let me tell you that the summary does not do Akiva, Karou, their love (I had stars and tears in my eyes reading it) or the book justice.

The art. One does not talk about a Taylor book without talking of the art, because while writing is an art by itself, writing about art and making it come alive is art of a higher order. It would have been nice seeing the art, but imagining it was better. Here's one of the trailers for those of you who want to see the drawings come to life, which eeep! More here.





The mythology, world-building. My favourite part ever?! It is so rich, so detailed, with its own myths and legends that counter each other. I can't believe that Taylor created this world. Perhaps she came out from that world into this to write DSB. I don't know. It's entirely feasible.

Talking about feasible: mixing a few genres and making it her own. There are angels, demons, magics, worlds, vampires, ninjas with their slashy swords. It's fantasy at its best.

And let's not just talk about the supernatural elements. DSB is set in Prague. I've never read a book that's set in Prague, nor read a conversation that's happening in Czech, but written in English. I love the culture that is portrayed in the book, that there's a school for art, not just that, but puppetry! The interesting locales, such as the morbid cafe that I'm pretty sure is a real place. It'll probably get loads of visitors now that the book is out, and it's so on my list of places to visit.

Prague's not the only Earthly place featured there. While Taylor created new worlds with its own cities, I appreciate the fact that she highlights other cities, languages and cultures here. It's like a travel book set in a YA fantasy novel.

Can we pretend that airplanes 
In the night sky 
Are like shooting stars? 
I could really use a wish right now 
Wish right now 
Wish right now 

I'm making a wish right now: sequel please!

P.S. - Check out the website. There are some gorgeous graphics done by Jim di Bartolo (also illustrator of LIPS TOUCH THREE TIMES.) My favourite graphic there is the 'return' card. A wallpaper would be nice, for my mobile too, hint hint!