Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

This book review will be a part of My Fair Book Date - an awesome event created by Down The Rabbit Hole and Books! A secret matchmaker picked a book for me to go on a date with and this is why they suggested Daughter of Smoke & Bone:

"So for Chrystal I'm recommending: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - I have to admit I hardly gave the other four books a chance. If it were a dating show, this would be the one where you just had that feeling - so no matter what other really great, wonderful qualities the other options have - or how hot they are - you just know this is the one. This book is exceptional in every way - it's wonderfully written and Laini Taylor has incredible storytelling abilities. It not only takes you to Prague, but it takes you to new worlds that you can hardly believe you never imagined before. I've heard nothing but stunning things about this book and after reading it and adoring it myself, I'm pretty confident that you will love it!"

So check out my review below to see how my book date went. ;)

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

Published: September 27, 2011

Publisher: Little Brown

Pages: 418

Received: from publisher for honest review

Buy Now: Amazon | Book Depository | Chapters

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?

Everyone who has ever looked at this book on the shelves of bookstores must have noticed how freaking gorgeous it is. The teal/turquoise colour just draws me right it. It's dramatic and eye catching. LOVE IT!

Now, honestly, I doubt anything I can even attempt to write about this book will even do this story justice. It was THAT good. Laini Taylor is an amazing story teller - the perfect amount of description, detail and beautifully written paragraphs. I don't think I've ever read a book that has been able to let me picture every tiny detail of what is happening without going overboard with descriptive words and phrases, but Daughter of Smoke & Bone has that ability.

I'm afraid of getting into too much detail, because I do not want to spoil anything for potential readers. I did not actually know a whole lot about this book, except that the cover was gorgeous and the title was intriguing. I think part of what I feel for this book is that I had about as much idea about the book as Karou (the main character) has about who she is, where she came from, etc. It was an epic adventure to find things out at the same time as Karou, as there are no real indications of whether she is really human or something more, where she actually came from and how she ended up where we first meet her. So many questions, but such a thrilling ride to figure some of them out. There is action, adventure, romance, mystery, and fantasy. So many great genres combined into one. 

Karou is on the top of my list for favourite heroines now. And Daughter of Smoke & Bone has climbed it's way up into my top 5 books of all time. I cannot wait for Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #2) which is coming out November 6, 2012.

Oh and a trip to Prague might be added to my bucket list now that I've read this book. It truly was an amazing setting for part of this story.

US and UK covers (both so pretty).

You can learn about about Laini here.
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