Daughter of Smoke and Bone AKA art and sassy friends

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

By 

Laini Taylor

So just to make this clear this is technically a reread. I put this book down a couple of months ago because not only did I have a GIGANTIC pile of books that was calling to me incessantly I was slightly put off by the beginning. I KNOW that the character is an artist in college and nude guys happen but seriously, that was an image I did not need in my life.

STILL I am so glad I picked it back up again because it was really cool. The Prague setting was gorgeous and the majority of the characters were super interesting. There was even some plot twists that I didn’t see coming. And some that I did but . . . well you can’t win them all. Basically the angels and the “demons” (they’re actually chimeras apparently which I guess makes it better) have been at war for forever and the main character, Karou, happens to be adopted by the demons who turn out to be significantly less monstrous than the ‘angels’.

Those monsters of Karou’s are basically her family. They consist of Brimstone, Issa, Twiga, and Yasri. They’ve all got several animal bits tacked onto their human ones. Or maybe it’s the other way around who knows. Like Issa is a snake, Twiga is part giraffe, and Yasri is some kind of bird. Brimstone on the other hand is several animals at once. They work in a magic shop making teeth necklaces. Which is gross and a lot more important in the end but you know, spoilers.

As for the rest of the characters I need a list because my brain is hurting.

Karou is the main character

•         She’s artist/Hither-and-Thither girl (actual dialog man) for the aforementioned teeth collectors
•         Was generally pretty awesome
•         Except when she was crowing ‘I’m not a damsel in distress’ at ridiculously unhelpful times
•         On multiple occasions
•         yes, yes good for you dear I got that the first time you said it
•         She’s got blue hair though so that’s cool

Zuzana is Karou’s best friend

•         She rocks
•         Short and sassy *cough* definitely no connection to me *cough*
•         Seriously though why am I always the sassy friend?
•         Artsy and hilarious but she had a life outside of Karou which was nice to see in a supporting character
•         Disappeared in the final act because of course the main character can’t get to the denouement with anyone other than the love interest

Speaking of the love interest his name is Akiva

•         He’s . . . wait for it . . . An Angel! *gasp*
•         Yeah no, literally everyone saw that coming
•         Romeo and Juliet much?
•         Not my favorite at first but now he’s  . . . still not my favorite (yeah that’s still Zuzana)
•         But he got a personality by the end so that was cool.
•         He’s still in market for a sense of humor though so if anybody’s got a little extra to lend ‘em that would be great. 

Oh yeah and there was an ex-boyfriend named Kaz but nobody cares about him. Honestly the only thought I had when he was on stage was that he was nothing like the Six of Crows Kaz and WHERE OH WHERE IS MY SEQUEL!

I’ll admit one of my initial dislikes of the book was Akiva. Mostly because he and Karou got hit by that terrible YA disease ‘Insta-Love’ and my brain said NOPE. Still it kind of fixed it. Like forty pages from the end. Speaking of the end (major spoilers from here on out and in case that sentence needed to be bigger)

DANGER SPOILER ZONE   

The end was like 25% answers (most of which were clearing up the Insta-love) and 75% confusion. Primarily because it kept jumping between different times and had actually completely switched narrators.

              Basically *DEEP BREATH* Chimera’s have a special way of capturing the soul and recreating a body using the teeth that Brimstone is always stringing together, they use this to help their chances in the war between themselves and the angels but Akiva fell in love with Madrigal one of the chimeras and basically the plot of Romeo and Juliet happens except that they totally mess up and Madrigal gets executed in front of Akiva but she doesn’t actually die because Brimstone stuffs her soul into the body of a baby that he made and raises her all over again without telling her or Akiva which was monstrously unfair! (Get it monstrously? Laugh at me I’m funny!)  

              For the record you don’t learn any of that information in that order. So that explains the teeth and clears up the insta-love (making it slightly more acceptable) and nothing much else. But it’s definitely made me interested for the next book so . . . I guess it succeeded? 

OKAY SPOILERS OVER YOU’RE GOOD

So Daughter of Smoke and Bone was cool. The plot was interesting the setting was gorgeous! Even if the characters were somewhat predictable they were interesting enough to hold my attention. I’m definitely looking forward to the second book.