Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Set in the hauntingly, magical city of Prague Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor is about Karou, a peculiar girl with blue hair she claims to grow naturally out of her head, with tattoos of eyes on her palms that she has had long before she can remember, and sketchbooks filled with beasts of all kinds that are as beautiful as they are frightening, beasts that all of Karou's friends think come straight from her imagination but are as real as the wish beads Karou wears around her neck. Daughter of Smoke and Bone is about an art student, who has no idea where she came from, whose earliest memory is Brimstone, a chimera whose mysterious work involves the collection of teeth and the creation of wishes. Whose workshop can be accessed through doors positioned all over the world and whose shop doesn't seem to be in the real world at all but Elsewhere.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is about a threat to Karou's way of life that may finally reveal who Karou truly is, but at a price that may take away everything she loves.

Through her rich and sensory writing style Laini Taylor really succeeded in taking a concept that, in my opinion, was overdone to the point of being mundane and turning it into a distinctive and noteworthy story. Her talent for description and world building was what won me over in Daughter of Smoke and Bone, a story that could have been ordinary if written by the wrong person but ended up being wonderful.

This was such a beautiful book, a book that, in my opinion, really sets the bar for paranormal YA. All of you who think you love your books about angels and forbidden romance or those like me who have been disappointed with all the angel books you've come across pick up Daughter of Smoke and Bone because it will be such a delightful surprise and have you wishing that you had found it sooner.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a novel that deserves to be read slowly to appreciate the detail and effort put into it, but if you find yourself whipping through it I won't blame you.