Daughter of Smoke and Bone- Laini Taylor

Published: Sep 27, 2011
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
418 pages
Goodreads page

Around the world, black hand prints 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 otherworldly 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?

Ive heard quite a lot of good and bad things about this book, it seems to have a lot of mixed opinions. I was kind of surprised that i enjoyed it considering it has the paranormal romance type feel to it. I however enjoyed it for a few reasons:

The first thing i really enjoyed about this story was the setting. It wasn't your usual American high school setting,  it was set in Prague which made reading about the scenery all the more interesting.

Secondly, the way the story was written flowed so brilliantly, the deeper you got into the story the more mysteries and secrets intertwined. I felt myself wanting to know as much as i could about the world behind the door.

Thirdly, the love story was tragic and beautiful and even though I'm not one for paranormal romances i found myself swooning for Akiva and his fiery eyes. 

The names of the characters where interesting and refreshing and although i don't know if i actually pronounce any of them correctly i still enjoy the uniqueness all the same.

Overall i think if you have been avoiding this because of the paranormal romance aspects its definitely worth giving a shot, you might be pleasantly surprised. 

I for one and looking forward to the next book and seeing where this story takes us.

****

Four stars