Daughter of Smoke and Bone review

Description: 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 thoughts: I adore this book. As in if it was a boy I'd ask it out. And if it were a girl we’d have to be best friends. 

Sometimes I like books that weren't necessarily great at one aspect of the story, but another 

compensated for it. Like the characters were great so it made the plot better (compensated 

for it).

Thankfully there was no compensation needed for this book! From the plotting to the setting 

to the characters, Daughter of Smoke and Bone was intriguing and exciting. And the writing 

was what brought it all together. From the beginning Prague was so beautifully described that 

by the start of the second page of the story, I’d already plotted a way I could go there in 

real life... Like don’t be surprised if in 2012 I say I'm going to study abroad in Prague (or 

somewhere close enough I can visit).

But it wasn't just the setting. It was Karou and the way she saw the world, or her best friend and 

her humor, and especially her family. There’s fatherly Brimstone, the motherly Issa and the 

rest of the bunch. Then there is the mysterious Akiva. You love the characters as a whole but 

there's something uniquely special about them all.

The world building is amazing too. It was something else that set it apart.  Because I think this 

is an aspect of stories in general that can change the level of... likeability. There's a reason why 

Harry Potter and even Percy Jackson books (though not on the same level) are well received. 

And that’s impart because of the world building. Of course that's not all. It's being able to create

a book that's well received in all aspects, but the way the world is perceived can make the whole

book shine more vividly.

And of course there was the love story. Akiva and Karou. It wasn't quite an I’m in love with you 

and I’d throw all caution to the wind for you story, nor was it an our friendship will slowly develop

into love type situation. It was somewhere in-between. And the interesting thing is that although

the second half of the story is almost feels like another book entirely, it still pulls you back to 

Akiva and Karou’s relationship from the first half of the book, keeping your interest to the 

very end.

And what an ending it was! I think my jaw dropped (literally). It was one of those situations 

where you knew enough from the beginning that you shouldn't be too shocked at what happens, 

but you're still shocked. And I don't know what’s going to happen, but I NEED to know the real 

ending of the story. Whether that be 1-2 more books or 20 (big exaggeration :)).