Review - Daughter of Smoke & Bone - By: Laini Taylor

Title: Daughter of Smoke & Bone
Author: Laini Taylor
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: September 27th, 2011
Series: Daughter of Smoke & Bone #1
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Synopsis via 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 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?

My rating:

WARNING: This review may contain spoilers, so keep reading at your own risk.

It's always a bit strange writing an average review about a book that everyone seems to love, but I just couldn't get into this story as much as I wanted to. The story's pretty prose and protagonist earned it a high rating initially, but its failure to execute all of the potential it had in the beginning lowered my rating down to 3 stars.

This book had been on my to-read list for months, so when I saw it at my local library I pounced, convinced it would be the greatest book ever, especially after reading the stellar reviews. Like I said, it had all the potential in the world. Laini Taylor's writing style is flawless. Not too flowery, not too plain, but capturing enough to keep you reading. From the first page, I was hooked:

"The falling snow and the early hour conspired to paint Prague ghostly, like a tintype photograph, all silver and haze."

It's hard to come by YA this well-written nowadays, and I loved how effortlessly it flowed. Plus, the setting. Prague. Not some small town that the protagonist is bitter about being sent to, not New York or L.A. or any other large American city. Freaking Prague, a place that I'd never imagine a YA novel taking place, yet loving it all the more for that reason.





I mean, look at that.

Aside from the setting, there's the protagonist, Karou. Can I just take a moment to say how much I love that name? From the first description of her, I knew she'd be unique:

"She held her coffee mug in one hand and clutched her coat closer with the other. An artist's portfolio was slung over her shoulder, and her hair--loose, long, and peacock blue--was gathering a lace of snowflakes."

Coffee, you say? An artist's portfolio? Blue hair? Check, check, and check, and just like that, I was on board. But it's not just that. Karou is the epitome of a relatable, smart, and funny heroine. Well, up until she meets the hero, but I'll get to that later. She's spent her whole life being raised by chimaera (part-human, part-animal creatures) and has no idea who her real parents are. She has no idea who she is or where she came from. All she knows is the chimaera, and running errands for them, yet still she manages to maintain some sense of normality in her life. There's her ex-boyfriend, Kaz, whom I found hilarious for some reason, and her best friend Zuzanna, who was as loyal as they come. Zuzanna accepted Karou's weirdness and random absences (due to Karou's errands) with stride up until Karou is attacked by an angel.

And this is where things start going downhill. Try to stick with me through this.

So, we already know that Karou has ties to the weird, supernatural creatures known as chimaera. Her foster father, Brimstone, is one and he's the specific person that she runs errands for. There's also the rest of her pseudo-family, consisting of Issa, Twiga, and Yasri, all chimaera. As if knowing that these creatures exist & being raised by them & loving them like family isn't enough, both Karou and the reader get introduced to angels, who are the enemies of chimaera. So when Karou is attacked by one, it's a huge deal.

Right around the time Karou is attacked, these burnt black handprints begin to appear on all of the portals from the human world to Elsewhere (as Karou calls it), which is where chimaera live. We find out that this is the work of angels (also known as seraphim) who want to end the long-lasting war between them and the chimaera. By marking the portals with the handprints and destroying them later, they close the bridge between the human world and Elsewhere.

This is where it begins to affect Karou. Without the portals, she loses all contact with her foster family, who are in Elsewhere. Or dead, for all Karou knows. So, when she is attacked and almost killed by the angel, she has nobody to turn to but her best friend Zuzanna. Thus, the quest to know who she is and where she came from is intensified.

This is where things start going from bad to worse.

The angel who attacked Karou's name is Akiva, and he apparently couldn't stop thinking about her after their fight. So he decides to stalk her life for a bit before facing her again. Karou reacts like anyone else would. She's wary, and then decides to fight him before he can try to kill her again. But guess what? Apparently Akiva is sorry for almost murdering her in a heartbeat, and so he surrenders.

And what does Karou do?

She takes him to her home, and questions him because, obviously, knowing who she is and where she came from is more important than finding her family and seeing if they're okay or even alive.

After getting her answers from Akiva, and letting him sleep in her home, the two spend the next day getting to know one another. Her reasoning? She feels a pull towards him, and can't seem to resist it. It's as if the universe rejects them being apart. 'Cause, you know, it's not like he tried to kill her without thinking. Or, it's not like she's aware of the fact that they're enemies. And after a single day of knowing him, Karou is certain she's in love. And, go figure, so is Akiva.

A day, I kid you not.



The rushed romance between them was my least favorite part of this book. Though Laini Taylor's writing made it slightly better, I still couldn't get past it. And when we finally find out who Karou is, and why she feels so connected to Akiva, the romance still fell flat.

By the end, I'd lost every sense of connection I felt for the characters. The lack of urgency from the time that Karou met Akiva made the potential die down. It began to drag, and even the best writing the world can't make up for that. Everything at the end wrapped up so quickly, and while it was a good ending, it didn't overcome the predictability of the middle. All in all, it was decent, but I sincerely hope the next book is better.