Author: Laini Taylor
Series: Daughter of Smoke & Bone
Book: 1
Rating: ★★★★
Blurb from Goodreads:
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?
My Rating/Thoughts:
“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love.
It did not end well.”
Perfect. This book is what I think I have been looking for in a great modern fantasy book. It's filled with a great world that I just didn't want to leave! It's a bit confusing at firsts because there is a lot of world building, but once I got the hang of it and understood everything, it just clicked. Everything made sense and I fell in love. I enjoyed the characters so much. Karou is such an interesting character and I loved her. Akiva is a dangerously sexy angel that you can't help but fall in love with. Once I really got into this book, I couldn't put it down. Even though my head was killing me and I couldn't read anymore, I kept going. I had to finish it.
“Wishes are false. Hope is true. Hope makes its own magic.”
What was most interesting was the creatures in this novel. There are the "angels" the Seraph, or seraphim, and the Chimaera, the "devils" and they both have such a twist. Both chimaera and seraphim have different legends about how they came to be and it's so interesting to read the different legends in the book. The chimaera also are portrayed a little differently. In this world, they are half human and half various beasts. Reading all the descriptions in the book, I always thought "whoa that sounds so weird." The book also goes back and forth a lot and it can be a bit confusing, but I think it was a great concept. The author doesn't spell it all out for us and makes it easy. Oh and I loved all the title pages at the beginning of a new part for the book with the feathers and the "Once upon a time..." introductions. It was so cute and really hooked me into the story.
“Once upon a time, an angel lay dying in the mist.
And a devil knelt over him and smiled.”
The magic in this novel had a nice twist as well. In this book, magic comes from pain. Magic has a cost and it was interesting to see how Brimstone would get so upset with Karou using magic on what he perceived as wasteful. I loved his relationship with Karou and Madrigal and how the novel showed that progression backwards. I am not going into too much detail because I don't want to spoil anyone but I will say one thing. One of my favorite small things I loved was how Madrigal would make all her random wishes out loud instead of actually using the scuppies (who wouldn't want a necklace of scuppies to keep around their neck to make wishes? I know I would). My favorite one was "I wish I had blue hair." That was my favorite and made me smile!
“And yet, something tied them together, strong than any of that, something with the power to conduct her blood and breath like a symphony, so that anything she did to fight against it felt like discord, like disharmony with her self.”
I LOVED LOVED LOVED AKIVA AND KAROU!!!! Their romance was so cute! So passionate and unlike any that I have read in the past couple months. I just loved it so much and can't wait to see what happens in the next books. I definitely need to pick the next books up immediately because I am dying to find out what happens next.
Would I recommend? Yes. This is a great fantasy novel and you should read it if you are looking for a different read that has a new world and great romance. I loved it. I mean look at that gorgeous cover? Doesn't that alone make you want to read it? (:
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