"Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there's no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic."
When I picked up Daughter of Smoke and Bone yesterday, I found myself stumbling through its pages, lost in childlike wonder. It reads like a dark fairy tale. Like a dream barely remembered on the edge of wakefulness. The author's voice is one of whimsy and wisdom, each page crafted like a piece of art, beautiful, and profound. I found myself holding back, yearning to read faster, but wanting to draw the story out, to make it last. Like a truly exquisite piece of Swiss chocolate, I wanted to savor it. I didn't want the story to end.
But it did, and now I'll do my best to find words to do this story half the justice it deserves.
~ Premise ~
Karou is a young woman that lives on the edge of two worlds - part of both, but belonging to neither. In one world she's an exceptionally talented artist, attending a private high school in Prague. In this world she's recently hard her heart broken by an undeserving boy. But she was not born in the earth we know, she was born in another place, in a dusty shop, accessible by magical portals around the world, and populated by monsters. Monsters she calls family, that aren't really monsters at all but Chimera - creatures half man, half beast, with hearts as noble and kind as any could claim. In this world she is an adopted daughter and an errand runner. She collects odd artifacts and magical reagents from the "real world" for her foster father, Brimstone. In that dusty shop lies the secrets to Karou's past, and a hidden door into a world far stranger than anything you can imagine.
Her story begins and ends with war. When an ancient feud between the chimera and there enemies, the angels, begins spilling into our own, Karou the girl who straddles worlds, finds herself pulled into the battle, inexorably drawn in by a need to find and defend those she loves. What follows is a story that will move you, awe you, and steal your breath away.
So that's the gist of it - but truly, I could sum up the premise of this story simply by saying, this is a story about hope, and its power to change the world.
~ World ~
Daughter of Smoke and Bones takes us primarily on a journey through Prague, although we see Paris, Marrakesh, and host of other familiar cities. This is our world, no more magical or glamorous than what we see out our windows every day, yet somehow through the author's narrative, we feel we've been transported to another place. The words she uses to shape these cities around us make them seem so magical, yet tangible, like we could reach out and touch the crumbling stone of ancient buildings.
Throughout the story we see glimpses of another world, lying hidden alongside our world, connected to it by portals, and one dusty magic shop, is a world with real magic. A world populated by monsters and angels. Not the mythical angels of scripture - our religion is nothing but a poor reflection, a fairy tale loosely based on a truth. These angels different species - conquerors, tyrants, saviors. And their enemies - the half beast Chimera - slaves, rebels, monstrous villains. It's up to you to determine guilt, to decide who the villains and the heroes of that world are.
We only catch glimpses of this other world in Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but it's enough to tantalize us. It is a world creatively crafted, rich in history, and one I look forward to exploring more thoroughly in the next book of this trilogy.
~ Plot ~
From start to finish this story is an enchanting, magnificent journey. The thrill of it kept me glued to the pages, long after my bed time, and I found myself sneaking moments to read even at work the next day.
We travel the world with Karou, we encounter odd, sometimes terrible, sometimes radiant creatures, we find love, explore two worlds, and ultimately leave the story feeling like we've just had a starlit adventure of our own.
The one teensy tiny complaint I had with the narrative was the amount of time spent in flashbacks. As a personal preference I tend to prefer stories focus mainly on the present, as too much focus on the past derails the flow. Now, in this case, the backstory presented was beautiful, and inspired more than one tear, but I still felt the longer flashbacks took away some of the momentum of the story.
~ Characters ~
The characterization was magnificent. I challenge you to find a single character that isn't likeable in this story.
Karou is that artist girl we've all known at some point in our lives. Quiet, sweet, quirky, insanely talented, and always marching to the beat of her own drummer. She's a character you immediately fall in love with, and she just gets more loveable as the story progresses. You see her generosity with her friends, her loyalty to her family, and discover that she's actually powerful and fierce in her own right. She's a perfect urban fantasy hero - just the right mix of bad ass and real - and is probably one of my all-time favorites from the genre!
Keva is enigmatic and hard as a razors edge when we meet him. He seems everything an ancient immortal being should be - completely devoid of humanity. But as the story peels back the layers of his personality, we see his soul, and it is good and pure and noble. He is inspirational and utterly magnificent.
Then we have Brimstone, Zuzana, Issa, and a host of other characters that may not take center stage in the story but are all completely actualized through the story, we feel tied to them and care for them just as much as we do Karou.
~ Romance ~
The romance in this book is deep, tender, profound and heavy with the inexorable hand of destiny. I found it magnificent and utterly addictive. There are no love triangles to speak, just two souls, once empty and hallow, yearning for something they didn't know was missing until they found it.
~ Summary ~
Daughter of Smoke and Bone is one of the best books I've read this year. It is so heart rending and beautiful, that it defies description. This book is a must read for anyone that loves the urban fantasy genre.
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Popular Highlights in this book
For the way loneliness is worse when you return to it after a reprieve—like the soul’s version of putting on a wet bathing suit, clammy and miserable.Highlighted by 1,469 Kindle readers- “Because hope comes from in you, and wishes are just magic.” “Wishes are false. Hope is true. Hope makes its own magic.”Highlighted by 747 Kindle readers
- “Hope? Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there’s no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.”Highlighted by 388 Kindle readers
From the Publisher
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| Days of Blood & Starlight | Dreams of Gods & Monsters | Night of Cake & Puppets | Strange the Dreamer | Muse of Nightmares | |
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| Price | $11.99 | $11.99 | — | $4.77 | $12.99 |
| Get lost in the visionary epic fantasy of National Book Award finalist Laini Taylor! | A monster's apprentice must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people in this riveting sequel to Daughter of Smoke & Bone. | Two worlds threaten to crumble in the face of a common enemy in the epic conclusion to the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy. | In this stand-alone companion to the Daughter of Smoke & Bone series comes the story of Mik and Zuzana's fantastical first date. | From National Book Award finalist Laini Taylor comes an epic fantasy about a mythic lost city and its dark past. | The highly anticipated, thrilling sequel to Strange the Dreamer, from Laini Taylor, author of the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy. |
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Reviews with images
Thank you for my book
The book came really fast. I love it's beautiful cover. I can't wait to read it. I gave it four stars because yet again my book came slightly damaged but it's ok.
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