Daughter of Smoke and Bone

By: Laini Taylor

Narrated by: Khristine Hvam

Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

In a nation on the brink of war, a young art student's star-crossed love begins to bloom in the first book of the New York Times best-selling epic fantasy trilogy by award-winning author Laini Taylor.

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

©2011 Laini Taylor (P)2011 Hachette Audio

Strong characters, world-building in YA PNR

This review is based on the category of YA Paranormal Romance: 5 stars

If you're looking for a YA-read-that-appeals-to-wide-audience series like Hunger Games or Divergent, this is not that series. The "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" series is firmly in the Young Adult paranormal ROMANCE category. In other words, if you're a guy of any age just stay away.

Karou's life has always been a deliciously mystical swirl flowing between the human world and her hidden family of human/beast chimaera living in an extra-dimensional shop that is accessible only through a world-wide series of portals. As Karou reaches late teens, her chimaera family allows her to move from the shop to Prague - the city of her choice - in lush beauty and potential experiences. Karou periodically portal-hops back to her chimaera shop/home, then out to the world, whether running errands for her chimaera "father" Brimstone, being trained by the best martial art instructors, or soaking up life in exotic locations. And bonus...! Any of her life's smaller frustrations can be wished away... with *real* wishes given to her by Brimstone. When she isn't portal-hopping, she goes to class, works as a vampire and hangs out with Zuzana, the coolest side-kick ever. Life is good, and the worst she has to worry about is a cheating, manipulative boyfriend. Then, during one of her errands for Brimstone she almost gets killed by an angel... and her life goes to hell.

Laini Taylor's world-building is creative and fairly unique, although the romantic plot-line is a little tired at times. Taylor reworks the Romeo/Juliet theme to a fairly good advantage, with some scenes predictable and other scenes surprising. Two elements make this series stand out in the flooded YA market: 1) any description or dialog by Zuzana; 2) the interactions between Zuzana, Mik and the whole rest of the cast of characters. Zuzana and Mik are animated with a joy that propels the whole series to a different level.

I've both read and listened to the whole series and I strongly recommend you listen to the full Audible version as well as reading the paper or Kindle version. Kristine Hvam captures Zuzana and other characters with the perfect tone. Either way, I laughed out loud almost every time Zuzana had any dialog. NOTE: DON'T use Whispersync to listen/read --- that's where you download audio directly into the Kindle app and listen from there. That method leaves out a good chunk of dialog. Instead, download audio into the Audible app or some other media app.

I really enjoyed this book, although I wish Taylor had focused less on the romance and more on the intriguing plot. I recommend this for any female paranormal/romance reader above 14-ish, with the comment that there is some violence in this book, and the 2nd and 3rd books get much darker. Also, please read "Cake and Puppets" novella after you finish this one! It was completely charming. I cautiously recommended this book to my husband, ONLY because I knew he'd love the Zuzana character. He's struggling to get through the romantic high-schooly bits, but he's thoroughly enjoying Zuzana and Mik -- enough to get through this first book, at least!

Too YA for me

I saw so many good reviews for this and I generally like YA books (I'm 33), but this was just too hard to swallow. It was really cheesy and drawn out. I liked some elements of the story so that made it fun to listen to still, and if they were free I would probably finish the series, but they aren't good enough for me to want to spend a credit on them.

Beautiful love story set in a stunning world

Overall:
Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a beautiful novel that not only teenage girls can enjoy. The novel is engaging with brilliant highlights and darkest moments that offers everything from love stories to battle excitement. (I have read the whole trilogy – so my review is partially influenced by knowing the whole series – but I will not spoiler any details. So the review will be general and won’t name characters, places or events in the series.)

I will split my review into the following parts: characters, story arc, world-building, writing style and reader performance.

Characters:
I highly enjoyed the character development for all characters in the tale. The primary characters (I will not name them) are interesting and most importantly (for me) human – with good and bad sides. Also the minor characters have merits and flaws as well as their time to shine. I really enjoyed this balance between main cast and minor characters. Everybody in this book feels alive.

Story Arc:
The story arc starts slowly. The first chapters give you an idea of the world and the characters before everything changes. It is an inviting start to a wild ride that helps you prepare for the world you will enter. In the first chapters you wonder: where is she (Laini) taking me? And slowly it unfolds and before you know it you are in the middle of a wild ride. To keep my promise I can’t say what kind of wild ride but I can tell you I highly enjoyed the complexity of the story and the connections.

World-building:
Stunning – in one word.
Laini Taylor created a stunning urban fantasy world full of fantastic creatures, dark conflict, twisted mythology and strange cultures. I especially enjoyed her world-building. It is a beautiful mixture between human mythology and new ideas. She creates a world that feels vibrant and strange without being too far removed from our world.
I don't want to go into too much details but for me this mixture is also a great fusion of genres. I am not going to say more about it here.
If you enjoy interesting worlds – Daughter of Smoke and Bone is the right place to go.

Writing Style
I enjoyed Laini flowery writing style. It is full of meaningful metaphors and colorful description. If you like your novella in a more cleaner/ clearer writing style, you might not enjoy the novel as much as I did. I personally think her writing style is very vibrant and is extremely fitting to tale itself.

Reader Performance:
Khristine Hvam does a wonderful job narrating the story. I am very new to audio books and needed to get used to the idea listening to a book. I love to hold the book in my hand, and it was a big step for me to change the format. So I was most critical about this part. I actually own a physical copy of the book - just in case I would not enjoy the audio version.
If you are like me, you will be very pleased to hear that the performance is wonderful and I really enjoyed to listen to the book.
It was a good start for me to get into audiobooks. Hopefully other narrators can keep up the great quality.

I guess this all I can say about the book without talking too much about the details and story development.
Thanks for reading.
Cara

This review is an “AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY”

I LOVE this author! She writes are so cool!

Would you consider the audio edition of Daughter of Smoke and Bone to be better than the print version?

N/A

What did you like best about this story?

Such a unique story.

What does Khristine Hvam bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She's an excellent narrator!! She voices male characters very well.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There are surprise twists in the story kept it very interesting!

Any additional comments?

Can't wait for a third book!

lyrical and unique

What did you love best about Daughter of Smoke and Bone?

There was a lot that grabbed my attention about this story but I really found myself intrigued most with Karou's personality and the scenery of the world she lived in.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Daughter of Smoke and Bone?

the scene where Karou's best friend does her show like a marionette dancer and the concept behind it.

Which scene was your favorite?

the showdown on the bridge with Karou and her Hamsa hand tattoo's against Akiva's sister of sorts.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

this was a book good to take in, in small steps because of it's prose it was better to soak up in bit's and pieces and steep over time

Any additional comments?

how the writer incorporated the concept of evanescence into the story.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Where does Daughter of Smoke and Bone rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It was like a fun, quick read.

What other book might you compare Daughter of Smoke and Bone to and why?

Very similar to Maximum Ride

Any additional comments?

Looking forward to more in the series!

OMG!

Oh. My. Gosh! I think this is the best book ever! Thank you to all that recommended it so highly. I, too, now sing its praises!

Laini Taylor is the storyteller's storyteller. Once I started into the world that she created I didn't want to leave. In fact, though the copies I had of the hardback and the CDs were borrowed from the library, I couldn't bear to return them had I not gone ahead and bought the Kindle and Audible versions to read again. And while I was at it I picked up the next in the series.

Oh, and I need to sing a few praises to the narrator, Khristine Hvam. I was caught up in the sound of her voice and her ability to wring out every nuance each word and even syllable the book had to offer.

The main character, Karou, is real, palpable. I could see through her eyes, smell what she smelled, anguish in choices to be made or mistakes that resulted. The cast of characters surrounding her was also real. I keep trying to come up with another word after all this IS fantasy, but that is all I can come up with, real.

Magic is in abundance in the book, whether it is meant to be or not. Yet it is highly believable. And always leads to hope. Hope is the theme, I think. It made me feel it deep inside in places that haven't felt it for a while. Hope. How many books give you that? That is a priceless commodity.

Please read this book with the audio along side. It immerses you into this world and you will feel hope, too.

Good story, but targeted at teenage girls

A friend of mine recommended this book and overall I quite enjoyed it, with one major caveat. The target audience of this book is clearly teenage girls. This means that while the story is fantastic, an inordinately large portion of the telling is spent on characters "gazing into eachother's eyes with longing." To the point that for me, parts of the story were immensely frustrating as I waited for plot progress, and in a few places I skipped sections.

I'd still recommend the book to others though, the story is great, the characters interesting, and the world fascinating, but I'd recommend going into it with open eyes about who it's aimed at to help manage your expectations.

LOVED!!

Would you consider the audio edition of Daughter of Smoke and Bone to be better than the print version?

I have not read the print version, but I would definitely purchase it just to have this book and it's companions in my personal library.

What did you like best about this story?

I love they way Laini wrote this story...it was like nothing I have ever read and was not what I was expecting. I love the witty humor and tender sweetness between the characters. I love the world that she created and how she combined both mythical and mundane pasts and present. It was fantastic!

A Mesmerizing Tale

While I will always 5 star great books, this story deserved a write up.
The story is so lovely and thrilling and spectacularly written. It is also funny and heartbreaking. I haven’t loved a story this much in a long time. My favorite thing about this novel is how wildly original it is. Go read this fantastical love story. You won’t be able to turn it off.