Book Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Posted by on
Blue-haired, incredibly talented art student Karou has always felt like she is missing some essential piece of herself - like she was meant to be doing something else, or maybe be someone else.  Raised by the grim but kind horned chimaera Brimstone, Karou spent her childhood in his workshop sorting teeth and learning the power of wishes.  As she grew older, Brimstone began sending her on errands to collect the teeth from his traders.  Though Karou lives in Prague, the doorways from Brimstone's workshop are many, leading to the streets, markets, and bazaars of Paris, Marrakesh, Saigon, Canada, San Francisco, Hong Kong.  The location of Brimstone's workshop is not exactly clear - when she asks, he will only tell her Elsewhere.  She isn't sure exactly what Brimstone does with the teeth he collects, or how they're related to the wishes, but there is much about her grouchy caretaker and his world that is kept from her.  Brimstone is not a fan of questions.

Many would call Brimstone and his comrades, the serpent woman Issa, giraffe-necked Twiga, and parrot-beaked Yasri monsters, devils, demons.  They call themselves chimaera.  Karou calls them family.  Though at times Karou is enormously frustrated to have her life constantly interrupted by Brimstone's errands, she knows she will never leave him.  Her friends in Prague, especially best friend and vivacious dancer Zuzana, accept Karou's mysterious absences, abrupt departures, wild stories and sketchbooks full of drawings of her chimaera family as part of her charming artistic eccentricty.

But everything is about to change.  Black handprints begin appearing on Brimstone's doorways throughout the world, burned deep into the wood by brilliant winged creatures whose beauty is so intense it scorches everything it touches.  And for the first time, Brimstone seems to be running low on teeth.  It is coming home from an early rendezvous with a trader in Marrakesh that Karou first meets the seraph - winged Akiva, the most beautiful and the most deadly thing she has ever seen.  His gaze scorching her, Karou finally knows what it is she is meant to be doing - killing him.  But first, she must find Brimstone and warn him that the Seraphim have returned.  Barely escaping Akiva's sword, Karou hurtles back into the workshop, only to find Brimstone gone.  Breaking the unbreakable rule, she goes looking for him through a forbidden door - and everything she thought she knew about her world, and herself, is ripped away.

I have been waiting for this since I finished Laini Taylor's National Book Award nominee Lips Touch: Three Times, and just... wow.  I am head over heels crazy in love with this book.  Beautifully written, lyrical, lovely, and haunting, you will lose yourself down the twisting, ancient streets of Prague and the explore the strange Brimstone's workshop, and feel the white hot heat of Akiva's flaming, glorious beaty.  An ancient war, blood feuds, epic battles, intricate world building, and star-crossed love that is so bittersweet and rich with romance it'll make your bones tingle,  Daughter of Smoke and Bone is pure gold nectar for anyone who loves a gorgeously written novel.  Completely absorbing, you'll sink into Laini Taylor's intricately woven world of chimaera and seraphim - put it on hold @ the library today!

Megan
(who also devoured Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer on vacation - just as delicious as Nightshade!)