Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1

Author: Laini Taylor

This was a buddy read with Sophie, Beware of the Reader and Trisy, Bobos Book Bank!

Around the world, black hand prints 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 grows 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 beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery 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?

‘Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well.’
I want to split this up into the quote sections from this book because, jeez, I lived for them!
Karou, 17, an orphan and an artist is trying to make her way in life but like Batman, she has a secret identity, she is an errand girl to a chimera. Brimstone brought her up and is like a father figure to her. Then one day her life basically falls to pieces, that’s after she has met Akiva…….

‘Once upon a time, a little girl was raised by monsters. But angels burned the doorways to their world, and she was all alone.’
The story continues and good god I was so pulled into this. Who the blinking heck is Karou? I think I’ve guessed but you know when you have moments of uncertainty? I’m there! And Akiva. I think I actually love him. Anyway….onto Marrakesh…..

‘Once upon a time, an angel lay dying in the mist. And a devil knelt over him and smiled.’
Snap. And everything changes.

‘Once upon a time, there were two moons, who were sisters. Nitid was the goddess of tears and life, and the sky was hers. No one worshipped Ellai but secret lovers.’
I don’t think I could’ve read faster. O.M.G. So good. My eyes were popping out my head, fabulous! Yes I know this is a garbled mess. I might not even fix this when I come back to my review. So good! ‘The only hope . . . is hope.’

Talk about pulling at your heartstrings, it was magnificent!

This was an easy read, I was completely sucked in from the start, like unputdownable!

I loved the world the author bought together of the portals, to Brimstones ‘shop’, to the way Prague is described, to Marrakesh and to the ways of the seraphim and the chimera. It sounded great and now I know I need to see Prague and Marrakesh in real life (and see if Akiva swoops down, picks me up and snogs me <—– a girl can live in hope!!!)