General, Juvenile Fiction, Fantasy &
Magic, Action & Adventure, Fairy Tales & Folklore
Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best Books of
the Month, September 2011: Karou is a seventeen-year-old
art student with a most unusual family. From his desk in a dusty,
otherworldly shop, her mysterious, monstrous father sends her on
errands across the globe, collecting teeth for a shadowy purpose.
On one such errand, Karou encounters an angel, and soon the
mysteries of her life and her family are unraveled--with
consequences both beautiful and dreadful. National Book Award
finalist Laini Taylor has created a lushly imaginative, fully
realized world in Daughter of Smoke and
Bone. Taylor’s writing is as sumptuous as poetry, and the
story overflows with dark and delightful magic, star-crossed love,
and difficult choices with heartbreaking repercussions. Readers of
all ages will be utterly enchanted. --Juliet
Disparte
Review
"National Book Award finalist Taylor (Lips
Touch: Three Times) again weaves a masterful mix of reality and
fantasy with cross-genre appeal. Exquisitely written and
beautifully paced, the tale is set in ghostly, romantic Prague,
where 17-year-old Karou is an art student--except when she is
called "home" to do errands for the family of loving, albeit
inhuman, creatures who raised her. Mysterious as Karou seems to her
friends, her life is equally mysterious to her: How did she come to
live with chimaera? Why does paternal Brimstone eternally require
teeth--especially human ones? And why is she "plagued by the notion
that she wasn't whole....a sensation akin to having forgotten
something?" Taylor interlaces cleverly droll depictions of
contemporary teenage life with equally believable portrayals of
terrifying otherworldly beings. When black handprints begin
appearing on doorways throughout the world, Karou is swept into the
ancient deadly rivalry between devils and angels and gradually,
painfully, acquires her longed-for self-knowledge. The book's final
pages seemingly establish the triumph of true love--until a
horrifying revelation sets the stage for a second book."
(Publishers
Weekly, starred review )
"[A]long with writing in such heightened
language that even casual banter often comes off as wildly funny,
the author crafts a fierce heroine with bright-blue hair, tattoos,
martial skills, a growing attachment to a preternaturally hunky but
not entirely sane warrior and, in episodes to come, an army of
killer angels to confront. Rarely--perhaps not since the author's
own Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer
(2007)--does a series kick off so deliciously." (Kirkus, starred
review )
"Taylor crafts both her world and her romance
with meticulous care, building the first on a wealth of
thought-provoking details and making the second equal parts tender
and antagonistic...Fans of torturously star-crossed lovers a la
those in Marr's Wicked Lovely and Black's
Tithe will find much to enjoy here, but
those who flock to innovative, character-driven fantasy with
thematic depth will be equally enthralled." (The Bulletin of the Center for
Children's Books, starred review )
"Author Taylor has created a variety of worlds,
time frames, and creatures with such detail and craft that all are
believable...Readers will look forward to the suggested sequel to
this complex, exciting tale." (Booklist )
"Wow. I wish I had written this book."
(Patrick Rothfuss, author of *The Wise
Man's Fear* )
"Daughter of Smoke and
Bone is that rare beast: a novel that takes the familiar and
makes it appear startling and new. Taylor has embraced the
mythology of angels and reworked it in an extraordinary form, so
that by the end of this lyrical, haunting book, I wanted to believe
in the existence of these violent, tormented beings. I can hardly
wait for the next installment." (John
Connolly, author of *The Book of Lost Things* )
"Daughter of Smoke and
Bone is a lush, sweeping, romantic marvel of a book. Taylor's
writing is a revelation, masterfully blending an intricate fantasy
world into our own, with an artist's flair for exquisite details.
Funny, devastating, delightful, unforgettable. Pure storytelling
perfection." (Kiersten White, author of
the Paranormalcy series )
Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best Books of the Month, September 2011: Karou is a seventeen-year-old art student with a most unusual family. From his desk in a dusty, otherworldly shop, her mysterious, monstrous father sends her on errands across the globe, collecting teeth for a shadowy purpose. On one such errand, Karou encounters an angel, and soon the mysteries of her life and her family are unraveled--with consequences both beautiful and dreadful. National Book Award finalist Laini Taylor has created a lushly imaginative, fully realized world in Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Taylor’s writing is as sumptuous as poetry, and the story overflows with dark and delightful magic, star-crossed love, and difficult choices with heartbreaking repercussions. Readers of all ages will be utterly enchanted. --Juliet Disparte
Review
"National Book Award finalist Taylor (Lips Touch: Three Times) again weaves a masterful mix of reality and fantasy with cross-genre appeal. Exquisitely written and beautifully paced, the tale is set in ghostly, romantic Prague, where 17-year-old Karou is an art student--except when she is called "home" to do errands for the family of loving, albeit inhuman, creatures who raised her. Mysterious as Karou seems to her friends, her life is equally mysterious to her: How did she come to live with chimaera? Why does paternal Brimstone eternally require teeth--especially human ones? And why is she "plagued by the notion that she wasn't whole....a sensation akin to having forgotten something?" Taylor interlaces cleverly droll depictions of contemporary teenage life with equally believable portrayals of terrifying otherworldly beings. When black handprints begin appearing on doorways throughout the world, Karou is swept into the ancient deadly rivalry between devils and angels and gradually, painfully, acquires her longed-for self-knowledge. The book's final pages seemingly establish the triumph of true love--until a horrifying revelation sets the stage for a second book." (Publishers Weekly, starred review )
"[A]long with writing in such heightened language that even casual banter often comes off as wildly funny, the author crafts a fierce heroine with bright-blue hair, tattoos, martial skills, a growing attachment to a preternaturally hunky but not entirely sane warrior and, in episodes to come, an army of killer angels to confront. Rarely--perhaps not since the author's own Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer (2007)--does a series kick off so deliciously." (Kirkus, starred review )
"Taylor crafts both her world and her romance with meticulous care, building the first on a wealth of thought-provoking details and making the second equal parts tender and antagonistic...Fans of torturously star-crossed lovers a la those in Marr's Wicked Lovely and Black's Tithe will find much to enjoy here, but those who flock to innovative, character-driven fantasy with thematic depth will be equally enthralled." (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review )
"Author Taylor has created a variety of worlds, time frames, and creatures with such detail and craft that all are believable...Readers will look forward to the suggested sequel to this complex, exciting tale." (Booklist )
"Wow. I wish I had written this book." (Patrick Rothfuss, author of *The Wise Man's Fear* )
"Daughter of Smoke and Bone is that rare beast: a novel that takes the familiar and makes it appear startling and new. Taylor has embraced the mythology of angels and reworked it in an extraordinary form, so that by the end of this lyrical, haunting book, I wanted to believe in the existence of these violent, tormented beings. I can hardly wait for the next installment." (John Connolly, author of *The Book of Lost Things* )
"Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a lush, sweeping, romantic marvel of a book. Taylor's writing is a revelation, masterfully blending an intricate fantasy world into our own, with an artist's flair for exquisite details. Funny, devastating, delightful, unforgettable. Pure storytelling perfection." (Kiersten White, author of the Paranormalcy series )