Book Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

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Goodreads Blurb:

"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 grows 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 hairactually 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 beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery 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?"

Review:

This book is seriously addicting.  Probably because the author is very reluctant to give us any solid information which keeps everything cloaked in shadow.  We don't actually understand what Karou is exactly until the very end and we don't even know what she does until page 30 or so.  Which was a problem for me and the reason this is 4 stars instead of 5.  It was like in the beginning, the author was writing a completely different book.  Almost like she couldn't decide what Karou was doing exactly.  So the beginning threw me a little and it took me a while to settle in.  Once that road bump passed though, everything was smooth sailing.

I loved the whole thing with the teeth.  It definitely added to the bizarre nature of this book.  The first book is really just an introduction to the real story.  Also, I absolutely loved Akiva's character.  He's had a rough life and the author doesn't try to disguise that or make excuses for him.  He is what he is.

The one other thing I really didn't like was the disconnect between part 1 and part 2.  A few months have passed all of a sudden when the author made the jump and I didn't like how she just left the storyline from 'before' hanging while Karou went about finding her nonhuman friends.  So I suppose it should be a 3.5 star book but somehow, I can't bring myself to give it that rating.  I have hope for the rest of the series and this was a great introduction book once the author figured out the world she was writing in.

Quotes:

“Once upon a time, an angel lay dying in the mist.
And a devil knelt over him and smiled.” 

“Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there's no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.” 

“Have you ever asked yourself, do monsters make war, or does war make monsters?” 

“It's not like there's a law against flying."
"Yes there is. The law of gravity.” 

“It is a condition of monsters that they do not perceive themselves as such. The dragon, you know, hunkered in the village devouring maidens, heard the townsfolk cry 'Monster!' and looked behind him.” 

“Your soul sings to mine. My soul is yours, and it always will be, in any world. No matter what happens. I need you to remember that I love you.” 

“How much does your life have to suck to want the Apocalypse?” 

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