Genre: Paranormal Romance

Year Published: 2011

Number of Pages: 418 pages

Date Read: 8/10/2014

Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well.”

And judging by this quote, we pretty much know how the tone of this book will turn out.

Now, I have been hearing so many good things about Laini Taylor’s highly acclaimed “Daughter of Smoke and Bone” series and even though it took me forever to just check this series out because I was reading so many other books at the time it was released, I finally got around to reading the first book in the series and I was absolutely blown away!

Karou was an ordinary young teenager who attended an art school in Prague and is best friends with Zuzana who shares many secrets with her. However, there are a few things that are odd about Karou such as the fact that her hair is mysteriously blue, she constantly makes wishes that come true and she happens to live with a group of monsters known as chimeras! Karou was extremely happy with her life until one day, a terrible thing happened where a group of angels started putting black handprints on doorways that sealed the way to other worlds and caused Karou to be separated from her father figure, Brimstone. Now, not only does Karou have to find a way to get back to Brimstone, but she also ends up confronting a mysterious angel named Akiva who starts reawakening old memories that Karou has forgotten about and may be the key in revealing to Karou who she really is.

Wow…just wow…I never would have thought that I would enjoy this book as much as I had when I first heard about it! Laini Taylor has brilliantly created a story about a forbidden love between two enemies and the consequences that war has on all the characters involved. Laini Taylor’s writing was so beautiful and intense that I found myself mesmerized by the exotic and strange world that the characters inhabited, which is filled with angels and chimeras that are both beautiful and frightening. I really loved the characters themselves as they were extremely well written, especially Karou and Zuzana as they were interesting and brought so much humor and drama to the story. Karou was such an awesome character as she is shown to be an independent and strong heroine who has a positive outlook on life, despite the dangerous world she lives in. I also loved the fact that Karou has strange tendencies to her personality, such as having blue hair and being able to wish for anything she wants by using her necklace beads and that makes her an interesting character since I have always loved characters who are often bizarre. Zuzana was another great character in this book as she brings so much comic relief to the story and I really enjoyed her friendship with Karou as their conversations about dating boys and how they fare in the dangerous world they live in was really interesting to listen to! Probably one of the most controversial characters that had showed up in this book (controversial as in the character who really blown my mind in their actions) was Akiva who truly changed things up in the story once he arrived on the scene. When Akiva arrived, I was always wondering to myself about whether or not Akiva would reveal Karou’s true nature to her and what kind of consequences would arise from Akiva revealing Karou’s true identity. I was also interested in Akiva’s personality as he has a charming personality and yet, he can be just as dangerous and ruthless as a demon whenever he is fighting his foes.

For anyone who do not like scary moments in any book, this book has many moments where Karou and her friends are in real danger and there are many frightening monsters that chase after them.

Overall, “Daughter of Smoke and Bone” is an excellent book that anyone who loves paranormal romance should definitely get into! You will NOT regret this in the least!

ONE MORE THING…

Oh my goodness the ENDING! When I read the ending of this book, everything that I had come to know about these characters up until that point had changed everything about the story! I mean, I have never read an ending in a book that was so mind blowing since “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and because of this ending, I am definitely going to read the second book “Days of Blood and Starlight!”

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog