Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

by:  Laini Taylor
published by:  Little, Brown and Co.
publish date:  September 27, 2011

Around the world, black hand prints 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 otherworldly 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?

Autumn's Thoughts: One of my first impressions of this book is that it wasn't dumbed down.  I authors that make use of unique and interesting vocabulary.  Laini Taylor uses her SAT words and thankfully they weren't edited for more everyday words. 

Secondly, Daughter gives a great sense of setting.  I've never been to Prague, but I didn't need to the city came alive in my head from the descriptions in this book.  Elsewhere, the land of the Chimera, was vividly portrayed and became this dark and wickedly beautiful place through Taylor's words.

Laini Taylor was one of the authors I got to meet at ALA.  I hadn't heard much about the book then, but then the buzz got started in the last few months and I got nervous.  Usually when everybody loves the book, I don't.  Happily, that wasn't the case this time.  I truly enjoyed this book.  It was all I had hoped for when I got my ARC from the cool chick with the awesome pink hair.

Today we're introducing a guest reviewer at From the TBR Pile, Alex!  She's going to be popping in from time to time to give her opinion and a teen perspective.

Alex's Thoughts:  When I first saw this book in the store, I never thought it would be the way it turned out to be. This novel turned out to be exotic and completely different from other novels I have read. There is nothing cliché about this story. Laini Taylor showed her talent and extraordinary imagination very well. With the cultures, and knowledge of Angels and Demons sewn throughout this story, you will be pulled in as soon as you read the first page. This novel is equally dark, sensual, a little twisted, and at some points unsettling. Every bit of imagery is stunning. The language is beautifully written and the love between the two beings pushes unbreakable boundaries. What if the love between an angel and a demon is forbidden? What if angels and demons are not what is traditionally accepted? Find out in this imaginative and vivid YA novel.