Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor - Review

Karou is a blue-haired art student in Prague who fills notebook after notebook with drawings of fantastical creatures and disappears from time to time on mysterious “errands”. What no one knows is that she can pass through hidden doorways to an office where these fantastical creatures not only exist but brought her up. And her errands revolve around collecting teeth. She is a girl with secrets.

But one day handprints appear etched in these doorways around the world and soon they are on fire. The doors burn down and Karou no longer has a way through. .All this after sneaking through a door she should not have touched, and meeting a seraph in Marrakesh who tries at first to kill her and then asks, “who are you?”. Her world will never be the same, she needs to find a way back, and then the seraph reappears in Prague. So many questions: Why is he following her? What does he want? Who is he? Why is he familiar? And , more importantly, who is she? The angel seems to have answers, but will she regret finding them out?

Once in a while you read a book that stands out, that is different, and that you can’t stop thinking about. You want to shower it in superlatives - and here are mine. I loved this book. I could not put it down. I loved Prague, the mythology with the teeth, Akiva himself, Brimstone, the romance, the mystery, her friend Zuzana – everything. It is dark and edgy, powerful and imaginative, unsettling and different. Full of mystery and oh, such a sizzling romance. It is vivid, beautiful, and written with such craft. It should not be missed. Please, Ms Taylor, can you write the sequel REALLY fast?