Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #1)

by Laini Taylor

Errand requiring immediate attention. Come.

The note was on vellum, pierced by the talons of the almost-crow that delivered it. Karou read the message. 'He never says please', she sighed, but she gathered up her things.

When Brimstone called, she always came.

In general, Karou has managed to keep her two lives in balance. On the one hand, she's a seventeen-year-old art student in Prague; on the other, errand-girl to a monstrous creature who is the closest thing she has to family. Raised half in our world, half in 'Elsewhere', she has never understood Brimstone's dark work - buying teeth from hunters and murderers - nor how she came into his keeping. She is a secret even to herself, plagued by the sensation that she isn't whole.

Now the doors to Elsewhere are closing, and Karou must choose between the safety of her human life and the dangers of a war-ravaged world that may hold the answers she has always sought.

Reviewed by leahrosereads on

4 of 5 stars

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January 2016 Re-read *Update*:

My review below would change just slightly, because I'm not completely in love with this story like I was the first time around. It was still great, and I'm glad that I read it to refresh my memory. Planning on finishing this trilogy this month.

I cannot wait to see where this story goes, and I still highly recommend this book.

Original rating: 5 Stars

It’s not a rarity for me to fall in love with a book. It’s why I read after all. If an author can weave a tale so thoroughly that it keeps me entranced from the beginning to the very end of the story, they’ve succeeded. And in my opinion, not only did Laini Taylor accomplish this, she did it with such pretty, pretty words.

A Daughter of Smoke & Bone was fantastic. The characters were detailed, and although I thought Karou had a bit of a Mary Sue thing going on, she ended up being beautifully fleshed out by Taylor, and Karou easily became a heroine that I admired.

The novel does have a lot of world building in it, but I don’t think it took away from the story (90% of the time, anyway). My only issue was around the 75% mark on my Kindle (where we meet and hear the story of Madrigal and Akiva). I understand why it was there, and why it was necessary to flesh out the plot in this novel, and, I’m sure to shape the future novels in the trilogy, but it had an awkward forced feel about it, and it threw me out of the story for a little while.

Other than that though, I absolutely enjoyed A Daughter of Smoke & Bone, and I’m looking forward to making time for the other novels in the trilogy.

Also definitely looking forward to reading other work by Laini Taylor. If she always writes like what I read in A Daughter of Smoke & Bone, I think she’ll become one of my favorite authors.

Loved this, and I would recommend it not only to those who enjoy YA, but anyone who’d like to escape to another world for a few days.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 20 January, 2016: Finished reading
  • 20 January, 2016: Reviewed