Book Review: Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

“Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there’s no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.”

Daughter of Smoke & Bone is winter in a book. It’s black early evenings, mugs of hot tea and the hint of magic behind a flickering street lamp.

And its prose reads like tapestry. Fantastical words are woven into hypnotic descriptions and embroidered with mystique. And within those words can be found tales of fallen angels, sister moons and teeth collectors, all sewn together to create an enthralling and wistful story of love, war and magic.

Karou, our protagonist, attends art school in Prague, but often spends her time stepping through wooden doors and into other worlds. She has blue hair that grows that way out of her head, a part human wishmonger as an adoptive father and a burning angel as a newly acquired stalker. But who, or what, is Karou? This question is one that has plagued her from birth, and is something she is now finally about to find out.

Laini Taylor uniquely manages to portray not only an immensely nuanced and likeable female lead character, but also a sublimely un-cliche and absorbing romance. And she proficiently incorporates beautiful lore - both borrowed and created - into her story.

Daughter of Smoke & Bone is brimming with mystery and suspense constantly willing you to turn page after page in the exciting anticipation of answers. And come the last part in the book the key pieces start to place together to slowly pave way for a gratifying and affecting conclusion- though not so gratifying that you don’t want to rush out and purchase the next instalment immediately.

It’s safe to say that Daughter of Smoke & Bone has made its place among my all-time favourite books, and I cannot wait to immerse myself in the warm familiarity I’m sure to find in the next instalment.

Amani x