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

Meh

Meh the first 30 chapters were boring after that then it got interesting not bad could be better

Incredible narration brought the story to life

I would have loved the book if I had read it myself, but the narration brought the characters so vividly to life. There was never a false moment or mispronunciation that reminded you there was a narrator and a story, just a fascinating tale where the voices/accents helped to color the image the author created. Can't wait for the next one.

Very Enjoyable Fairytale

I really loved this book. I thought the characters of the chimera were really original and interesting. And the love story was brilliantly conceived. Can't wait for the next book. Laini Taylor does it again, and I also loved the reader.

Ok, Now when is the story gonna start?!

Gave a whole week to this book, Here and there trying to engage myself with the story.
It`s not the isn't creative. The universe and the characters are interesting, its just that i`m about to reach the last chapters and she still setting up the stage for some action to happen. Its just boring.
I would not recommend if your are looking for some dystopia, suspense or thriller. May engage teenage better, the ones that are twilight fans.
But if you are an mature reader you probably get bored.

Best Fantasy Book in a LONG TIME!!

I’m amazed by the dimensions of this book. It really takes you on a journey. The ball scene was absolutely DELICIOUS! I was on the edge of my seat with wonder. The wisdom in the lines was soul touching. I appreciated that the story was not too violent, which can be characteristic of many sci-fi/fantasy books. The characters were diverse with depth and a broad array of personalities. Excellent performance by the narrator with clear delineation of characters. I just LOVED this book… so much so that I’m nervous that the subsequent books won’t measure up… but I am truly HOPEful.

Inventive and well written

Very interesting and thought provoking story of prejudice, love and war. There's meat presented here for those who wish to ponder the beautiful and ugly in each soul, but it's wrapped into a pleasing package of fluid and unusual prose. The setting is described in lovely and haunting terms. The performance is very *very* good (brava on the male roles!), though I have given it 4 rather than 5 stars because of some jarring mispronunciations.

The second half of the book lags in a series of flashbacks that - in my opinion - might have been more interesting broken up and scattered more. However, I can see the wisdom behind presenting them as they are, as well, so I have not rated the story down.

Based on a simple overall concept, this is a creative and well written story: a very enjoyable bonbon of a book.

Gets off to a slow start but it's worth it

Any additional comments?

I'll admit that I was a little skeptical as I started out with Karou on her journey. I had an overdose of YA in '11 and I didn't think I could stand anymore, but Daughter of Smoke and Bone is not your average YA novel. It starts off a bit like one but as you get deeper into the story, you become more engulfed in this world that Taylor has created and it doesn't really feel like YA much at all. The only reason this doesn't get 5 stars from me was because I did find myself getting annoyed in the first half of the book with the build up to Akiva's reveal of his big secret, his overall moodiness and the drag that ensued while he knew all of the things that Karou needed to know but refused to divulge. But the second half of the book made up for it considerably. I really, really liked the parts where we get to hear from Madrigal and to keep from giving anything away, I'll stop there though I think you'll pick up plenty of clues as you read along. Very much looking forward to the next installment. Darn cliffhangers...

Audiobook review -- I really like the voice of the person who read this book. She did justice to all of the different characters, male and female alike though I found it funny that Brimstone, alien that he was, ended up sounding Carribean. LOL Especially since no other alien characters had accents

Over the top fairytail!

I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this book, but once I started listening to it, I could not stop!
Laini Taylor has a great imagination, one would have to, to be able to write a story so far- fetched and make it all sound so normal.. I cannot wait for this next installment.

I loved this!!

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

I loved this audio book! It was engaging and the narrator brought the characters to life

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

I wish I knew as I loved it

What about Khristine Hvam’s performance did you like?

she did a great job separating all of the characters and really making you feel like you knew each of them

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

yes!! I was obsessed with it, I listen in my car when I commute and I found myself sitting in my driveway when I got home and not wanting to come inside because I was so into it

good good good good good

Love the book and the series keep up the good work. cant wait for the next book. credit well spent