Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Author: Laini Taylor
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Young Adult

Grade: 95% or A
Buy It: Amazon

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 will admit, when I accepted this book for review I thought that I wouldn't like it. I read the synopsis and was only slightly interested. Lately things with a mystical nature bore and annoy me, but I was willing to take the chance and hope that this book would prove me wrong.

Once I started reading and learned more about the story, I got very interested, extremely fast. The reality of wishes in the book made me never want to put it down. The plot was very complex and never left me bored. My mind was constantly thinking and trying to work out the mysteries that were put before me. To me that makes a book so much better, when you actually have to and WANT to spend a generous amount of time pondering the complexities and mysteries of a novel. It must be hard for authors to continue to try and bring something new to the table, but Taylor accomplished this.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that I'm a stickler when it comes to characters, and that's where a lot of the books that I review lose points. I get annoyed by characters easily which can quickly ruin a book for me. Fortunately, these characters were pretty tolerable. Taylor did a great job of developing the characters naturally, so even though some romance was involved, I wouldn't say that anything seemed rushed or fake.

The only thing that I really wanted to do after finishing this book was to read the next one! There is no way that there can't be a sequel. This novel was a great opening to more books. A lot of times authors tend to drag out a story so it turns into a trilogy, but you won't have to worry with this one.

Overall I had a great time reading this book especially about its original ideas and thought provoking storyline. I'd recommend it to believers in magic, or just those who appreciate a book that brings something new to the table.