Review : Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1)

Author : Laini Taylor

Publisher : Little, Brown & Company

Publication Date : September 27th 2011

Goodreads - The Book Depository

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 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?

Personal Thoughts

You know that one book that everyone, but you, seems to love? Well, that book for me is Daughter Of Smoke and Bone.  I went into this book with a lot of excitement. I kept hearing so many good things about it that I couldn’t help but be excited. However, I wasn’t exactly completely satisfied.

The book tells the story of Karou, a teenager living two lives: one of a normal art student, the other of an errand girl for mysterious creatures who have raised her since childhood. Karou knows nothing about her past and she doesn’t try to find out either. When she meets Akiva, her life completely changes. All she wants know is to find her who she really is.

I think the lowest points in the book for me were the two main characters. Karou was actually a character that I really enjoyed at first. She was smart, unique and very brave. I liked that she was someone independent and knew how to stand up for herself. Yet, for some reason, I never connected with her as much as I hoped I would. Akiva had the same effect on me. I never was totally enthralled by his character. Sure, I did enjoy the element of mystery he had wrapped around him. I also thought, although he was supposed to be a bad guy, he actually had an innocence to him that made him quite appealing. The author tried to make him appear as this dangerous guy, but I never felt much of that danger when reading through his POV. Also, he lacked the depth to make him really special. I will say though that I really loved Zuzana. She was a really fun character. I loved how much she valued her friendship with Karou. Even when she learned that Karou had been keeping secrets, she didn’t throw a tantrum, but instead understood her friend’s situation and became a pillar to her.

What really ruined Daughter Of Smoke and Bone was the instant-love. Instant-romance is not something that I enjoy easily. I felt like Karou and Akiva fell for each other a little too fast for my liking. As much as I wanted to ignore it, I just couldn’t. I like when the characters in a book get to really know each other, but this wasn’t the case with Karou and Akiva.
The writing, however, was simply splendid. Laini Taylor has a brilliant and absolutely hypnotizing writing style. From the very first page, her beautiful prose pulled me in and I just couldn’t stop reading. Her world building was strong and compelling. The setting, the creatures, the history were all new to me and I loved the uniqueness and originality. Each scene was like a breath taking and beautiful painting, imaginative, vivid and absolutely creative.  Laini Taylor took me into a world that I believe was unexplored in the YA world. She is, without any doubt, an extremely talented author. The plot too was, according to me, very engaging. The gripping plotline reeled me in and didn’t let me swim away even though the characters were just weren’t for me. I think what really kept me reading was the perpetual presence of the element of mystery throughout the book. I couldn’t wait to find out more about Karou and Akiva’s pasts. Overall, I can definitely say that the writing style and the plot line were the shining stars of this book.

Even though the characters were not exactly to my liking, I’m glad I picked up this book, because I did have a great time reading it. Plus, I’m pretty sure I’ll be picking up the next book because that ending killed me !

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 4/5

Characters : 2/5
Writing : 4/5

Actual Rating : 3.5/5