Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #1) in All Challenges All The Time

Sep 10, 2012 Carrie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1st-in-a-series, 2024-books-to-read, young-adult, new-to-me-author, urban-fantasy, part-of-a-series, rrrc, fantasy, re-read, demons

Dec 13, 2018:
Just as good as the first time around.

I really liked this book, original and different. The second half dragged a little for me. But over all the story was great. REALLY looking forward to the next book.

Karou isn't a normal teenager, she is talent artist, speaks multiple languages and was raised by what we call "demons". She constantly feels like there is something missing and alone. Until she meets Akiva, a handsome yet deadly angel, a solider, and enemy. As the pieces fall into pl ...more

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Jul 09, 2015 Nancy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, ya, romance

I sat up until well after midnight last night to finish this book, as it really did leave me breathless. Of course, I was taken completely by the worlds and the seraphim and chimaera, but what was so brilliant was the slow revealing of the secret of Karou's existence, Akiva's behaviour and everything that had happened in the beginning of the book. I am pleased to say, I never even guessed at what was going on, but it was so logical and fantastic. And for once, I wasn't annoyed that the book was ...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Marla rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, paranormal, girl-power, magic, demons, recommended-to-me, fantasy, romance, series, angels

3.5 stars. I wished that I could peruse Karou's sketchbooks so I could see pictures of Issy & Brimstone. I liked the world, but it was a slow read world building until the last 1/4.

Likes:
* Doors to other places
* Zuzana, Karou's human friend
* Great world building
* Great creatures
(view spoiler) ...more

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Mar 02, 2014 Haze rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014-books-read, haze-s-1000-list

It's been a long time since I last read a book that made me think of this word: epic.

I read a lot of fantasy and paranormal books, among others, and I read a lot about angels, devils, mythological creatures, other worlds in other dimensions, magic, and whatever else you can think of in the genre.

None of them has ever been as epic as this book.

There are no hobbits, wizards, dragons, vampires, fairies, or werewolves, in Daughter of Smoke and Bone, though there are angels and many really interestin ...more

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Mar 11, 2015 Sassafrass rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, fantasy, mystery, young-adult, borrowed-library, science-fiction, z-2016, z-challenge-books-2016

What an excellent story! I really enjoyed this one. I was totally entranced once I started because Karou's character was so interesting. I kind of knew what the big secret surrounding her true identity was but I didn't quite get it until right before the reveal and that was awesome because I kept coming up with different scenarios in my head. This was kind of sad too. So much killing and war in Karou's world and she didn't even realize it until close to the end of the book.

The story ended on not ...more

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Oct 23, 2011 Malin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: my-books, favorites

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

These are the opening words of and from the various rave reviews I'd read from the book, I thought I had some idea what to expect from the book. I didn't. Yes, this book is paranormal fantasy, and it's certainly partly geared towards a young adult audience, but it absolutely isn't Twilight or The Vampire Diaries or Vampire Academy or Wicked Lovely or any number of other successful romantic fantasy novels for teens. It's s "Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well."

These are the opening words of and from the various rave reviews I'd read from the book, I thought I had some idea what to expect from the book. I didn't. Yes, this book is paranormal fantasy, and it's certainly partly geared towards a young adult audience, but it absolutely isn't Twilight or The Vampire Diaries or Vampire Academy or Wicked Lovely or any number of other successful romantic fantasy novels for teens. It's so much more, and I'm not even sure I can do it justice in a review - but I'll try.

17-year-old Karou is an orphan, living in Prague and attending an art college. Her friends know that she's secretive, and exotic, with her bright blue hair and tattoos, and they enjoy the wonderful creatures she draws on her ever-present sketchpad and the fanciful stories she tells about the places she supposedly visits in her spare time. They don't know that all her stories are true. When not being an art student, Karou runs errands for Brimstone, the seemingly monstrous creature who raised her, together with a host of other chimaera, half humanoid, half beast beings who have always been there for her, but refuse to tell her where she's actually from. Brimstone trades teeth from humans and every sort of animal known to man for wishes that can grant pretty much anything if they're big enough, and Karou has been all over the globe (the magic door in Brimstone's shop can take her anywhere) fetching everything from elephant tusks to snake fangs for him.

Lately, when she's off on her errands, she's noticed burned handprints over the doorways she uses to get back to Brimstone. She also has an encounter with a beautiful, but terrible angel, who tries to kill her when he realizes that she works for Brimstone. Desperate to figure out what is going on, Karou tries to spy on Brimstone when he walks through another door in his chambers, and she discovers a whole other world, but before she really gets a chance to explore, Brimstone catches her and throws her out. Before she has time to go back and beg his forgiveness, one of the tiny creatures who works for him, ends up at her window, dying of burns. The doorway to Brimstone's is on fire, and Karou is cut off from the only family she has ever known. When she encounters Akiva, the vengeful angel again, she no longer knows what to think, but it seems he might hold the answers to who she really is, and what has happened to her loved ones.

There is a love story in Daughter of Smoke and Bone, where mortal enemies are inexplicably drawn to one another, and the romance was enough to take my breath away. There is also masterful storytelling and Laini Taylor does an amazing job with the world building. It helps that Prague, the initial location for the book, is a magical place even before you introduce paranormal elements. This was the last book I read during my Read-a-thon, and you'd think I'd be tired after reading for most of a weekend, but I couldn't put the book down.

Karou is a wonderful protagonist, mysterious, independent, inquisitive, strong and brave, yet also clearly a 17-year-old, who's not always nice, but can use the small wishes she gets in Brimstone's shop for petty things, like giving a girl she's jealous of a constant mono-brow, or giving her ex-boyfriend an itch in a really inconvenient place while he's nude modelling. She also uses her wishes for silly, frivolous things like turning her hair permanently blue, or removing tattoos she got on impulse. She's searching for the truth about her origins, not really happy when Brimstone and his associates keep them from her. However, when she finally does discover the truth about who she is, and where she came from, she understands why they kept the truth from her.

I don't want to say much more about the plot, because there are several twists and turns that should be not be spoiled. Readers should be aware that the story is by no means complete, and it ends on a big and emotionally gutting cliff hanger, which when I first put the book down made me like parts of it less. However, nearly a month after finishing the book, I'm still thinking about it all the time, and wanting desperately to find out what happens next. So I'm just going to recommend the book to as many people as I know, making sure they also read the book, and can share the painful wait for the next installment with me. ...more

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Jun 20, 2011 Suzanne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: rrrc-2012-books-read-challenge, november-2012-rrrc-pick-it-for-me, read-in-2012, library-overdrive-e-book, library-overdrive-audiobook, tower-teams-read-2013, audible-book, read-in-2014, re-readables, upworthy-com-ya-summer-reading-list

I think the only thing that classifies this book as a Young Adult Genre is that the main character is a teenager. Other than that, this book reads like an adult novel to me. This is a re-read from 2 years ago and I don't think I really paid attention the first time I read it. I had pretty much forgotten what the book was about, but this was a really great read, er re-read! The characters and setting were really detailed and the story was good.

Here's a neat link I found to Felicia Day's Book Clu ...more

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Mar 18, 2019 Marissa rated it really liked it

Shelves: 4-and-5-stars, favorite-authors

Before reading this I saw people didn't like the ending and that it fell flat, but I really liked the last chunk of the book. I actually would have liked that part to be most of the book, switching places with the beginning. ...more

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