Daughter of Smoke and Bone

I listened to this on audiobook courtesy of my beautiful monthly membership to Audible. It was astonishingly good. The prose was colourful, imaginative and sophisticated. There were moments when I found my brain chewing over a dazzlingly brilliant metaphor or simile that just left me reeling in a post-literary glow. I don't even care how dodgy that sounds.
I am in love not only with Taylor (who has very pink hair, by the way), but with her wonderful protagonist, the tattooed, blue-haired Karou. She was a girl who lived between worlds and who knew just how to sharpen the pointy-end of a witty one liner. I am in love with all of Taylor's characters. Akiva (a swoon-worthy Seraph) was a fairly typical male interest who was rather predictable. Nonetheless, he was a literary hottie. Karou's best buddy, a tiny Czech girl by the name of Zusana kept me giggling throughout.
The characters were beautifully drawn, the setting made me want to hop on the next plane to Prague and Taylor's writing made me want to keep chipping away at the dense old block that is my skill at crafting words. I don;t want to write too much about the plot here as I wouldn't want to give the game away. I will, however, say that the structure of Taylor's narrative was, if not a breath of fresh air, then a good old spritz of Fabreeze to the somewhat stale and tattily-woven fabric of some YA reads.
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A rare 5 stars for this and a whole lot of bated breath for the sequel!Lx

First: I really enjoyed this book. I actually fell asleep listening (not 'cos it was boring but because it was late) and this gave the whole experience a definitely dreamlike quality. Re-listening awake, its still good, even for a not so young adult. Of course seen in context of the fantasy genre as a whole, this ticks all the well known boxes, another world on the the side of a door (CS Lewis, Pullman), angels (Pullman again) so the underlying ideas aren't really new. But this need not matter as it is beautifully, lyrically written and read (even if in a US accent). And it takes the ideas and adds romance, which is certainly lacking in all the other versions. So I'm on tenter hooks for the next instalment.

This is a wonderful book. The style is quite modern but it is beautifully written. I absolutely loved the narration as well and have been looking for more more more from the writer and narrator both. MUST get this if you love fantasy. So good.

This book starts in a deceptively simple way, with a girl acting as a carrier for her family. Albeit this is a rather unusual family of mixed creatures. Karu herself lives in Prague, and has a fairly normal school life, but one day she sees something she shouldnt, gets very hurt, and makes the reader start to wonder just what is behind the doors, and why is she collecting teeth?!

This is an interesting story, where you are kept guessing as to who exactly is good or bad, and it doesnt get any easier as the protagonists history is revealed. Easily one of the best of the current paranormal slew of angel based books, and one suitable for older children, but not younger ones due to some of the fights and deaths, none of which are in great detail, and well justified in the storyline.

Gave it four stars, as I hate books ending on deliberate cliff hangers, why cant they at least write a partial ending, and be a good enough read anyway for me to buy the next book? That said, a lot of ends were tied up, so wouldnt be too frustrating to read alone.

So, in 3, engaging, exciting, and immersive.

I would compare this to wicked lovely, another book that keeps you guessing without making too much of this as a plot device.

I liked most of her voices, she makes it really easy to keep track of who is speaking.

Does addiction to the storyline count??

Does need a bit of concentration at times, so not the best book for driving to, but a good bedtime or sunbathing book.

I'm sorry to say that this is the first audiobook I ever stopped listening to. I listened exactly halfway through and when it did not pick up I decided to just drop it and wait for my next credit.

What I should say is that this is not terrible, but also not very good. I think the mistake I made was listening to this as an adult, because I do think I would have enjoyed this as a teenager. If you like the Twilight films chances are you will love this book, and if so don't let this review put you off.

The story in itself isn't so bad and after a few hours I even thought the book did show some promise, but as is made painfully clear it turns into a love story and not a very good one. Slow, sleazy and a serious amount of words describing two people looking at each other. Again and again. Other 'side'-parts of the book, mostly when Karou, the hero, hung out with her friend Suzana made me cringe. Tried to be funny but didn't work.

I'm really making this sound worse than it is, as said before I probably would have liked this fifteen years ago. Overall, don't bother if you don't like Twilight and books/shows similar to that.

Loved the story. Bought the next volume in the trilogy right away and now I cannot wait until September 2014 when the next volume of trilogy is published. One of the best narrators I have listened to. Very enjoyable indeed.

Akiva and Karou, main characters. Chemistry and tragic impossibility.

Loved it!!!!!! I will be searching for more books read by her.

YES, definitely!

I found it hard to get into it because of the fake voices but soon I couldnt stop listening to it.
nice twist to keep you interested.

karoo with her blue hair was very interesting character that you can relate to even though shes not all human

I just wanted to listen on and on to get to know what would happen to the characters. Reflecting on the story now, this first novel reminds me of Twilight to a certain extent... Two young and beautiful people inexplicably attracted to each other though everything initially set them apart... A bit cheesy but it works well.

Overall, it,s a good listen even though it was a bit confusing. I. Loved the characters and the world created. The narration is surprisingly amazimg. I would recommend this audiobook to fans of fantasy, young adult fiction or fans of this narrator

This book has some glowing reviews. Why?

I have to admit it - I'm an adult and this book, I assume, is meant for the age group similar to the protagonist who's seventeen. Still, I hate to think that teenagers in this day and age buy into this soggy trash. If so, then it is a sad indictment of the author that she would want to take advantage of their nativity in matters of the heart. Why is she peddling this guff about butterflies in the stomach indicating the onset of 'true love' and 'you'll know it when you find it' baloney? Why set a precedent about what true love 'is' as if there is only one way to find it.

Also, it angers me that all the characters are stunningly beautiful. What this implies is you'll miss out the experience of the 'real thing' if you're a tad on the plain side. Look at the evidence in the book: Madrigal's chimera 'sister' who has an 'animal aspect' is so eaten up with envy with her more alluring 'high human' friend that her soul is 'withered' and, in fact, in a weird ritual, subsumed by the stunning Madrigal near the end. Woah! Actually, isn't that sort of racist too - a kind of caste system - I didn't think it could get worse.

Also, the narrator, who does an alright job with the normal voices and does a range of plausible accents, sadly makes many of the young and older women sound nasally or unnecessarily babyish and whining - it's hardly empowering for a young readership looking for strong role models.

Frustrating all-round, really.