I have been incredibly lazy over this summer holiday. I am quite ashamed to say I haven't done one blog post, but, the spark of motivation has exploded inside me in the form of a book review. A book review of a fantastic book. Called Daughter of smoke and bone. Here's my review:
In general, Karou has managed to keep her two lives in balance. On the one hand, she's a seventeen-year-old art student in Prague; on the other, errand-girl to a monstorus creature who is the closet thing she has to family...Now the doors to Elsewhere are closing, and Karou must choose between the safety of her human life and the dangers of a war-ravaged world that may hold the answers she has always sought.
Every writter has a unique writting style. Laini Taylor's writting style is breathetaking; that's the first thing that struck me when reading the book. It's snappy, humours and pretty beautiful. I'm a big fan of one liners that make you want to keep reading. There are so many of those! Just things like, "She really should have asked." leave so many questions that it's impossible to put down, and lines that make you pause with the brilliance of it and make you think and wish you'd thought of it. Like: "Have you ever asked yourself, do monsters make war, or does war make monsters?"
Also, I love the odd sentance summaries in the book e.g "Once upon a time, a little girl was raised by monsters. But angels burned the doorways to their world, and she was all alone."- How heart stopping is that line? It's just like a little short story, stuff of fairytales. I was in constant awe of little things like this in the book. Things that made me stop and think "Wow. I wish I had written this."
Now, the protagonist heroine is freaking badass! and so refreashing from the usual YA heroines;With her blue hair that grows naturally, artistic talent and the fact that she was raised by monsters. She's funny and intelligent and actually stands her ground. She's kooky, unsual and fiercly independant. Which is nice. She can fight for herself, she can fight well, and dosen't depend on anyone. That gives a lot of comfort and reassurance for the reader. Believe me, you don't have to worry about Karou as much as you do with other female protagonists. There's no cursing their stupidity and recklessness at innocent books or e readers.
She. Can. Handle. Herself.
And all the other characters are fresh and entertaining. Karou's monster family were intruiging, mainly because they were monsters. But, their personalities are human. And they're elusive and secretive and all you want is to know more about them. And when we finally do find out, it's pretty explosive.The story is so unique. Ok, it has angels in it. Most YA novels have angels in them now, but seriously do not let that put you off! The monsters known as chimera play a much bigger part then the angels do. And there aren't many monster/fantasy creature type novels in the mainstream of YA at the moment. This book is a breath of fresh air. Following a girl who goes on errands to procure teeth for a monster that she sees as family, paid in wishes. No idea of her true origin. When the doors to the only place that she really sees as home start closing she's left all alone. Then an angel tries to kill her. But there's something about him...(*LOVE INTEREST*)
Karou starts to wonder; What is she?
The ending and the parts leading up to the ending were exciting and page turning. The rewind in time where we find out what type of puzzle the jumled pieces we've been given through out the book make up was awesome! and VERY ORIGINAL.
I love that it was set in Prauge aswell. There aren't many book set in Prauge; which is a shame because it's a really beautiful city.
I loved the book, I can't wait for the sequel!
Now, I leave you with this quote."Once upon a time an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well."
-Rhiannon x
