Book Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor (first review for the 2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge)

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Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Author: Laini Taylor
Format: Hardcover, 418 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Publication Date: September 27, 2011
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy




Since I love beautiful book covers, it wasn't surprising that I should have felt attracted to this one.  That blue mask, those enigmatic eyes...the bold lettering...but it was the story inside that held me, and didn't let go until the very surprising end...

I had already seen the book on other blogs, and noticed that the reviews were, for the most part, overwhelmingly positive.  Besides, those eyes were following me everywhere, almost as if they were daring me to plunge right in and find out for myself.  So I did....and discovered one of the strangest, most wonderful, fantastical worlds ever conjured by a writer's pen.  I did indeed see for myself what all those other reviewers were talking about, and fell under the book's spell in spite of some misgivings.

I really like Karou, the main character.  She lives in the fairytale city of Prague, and is an art student.  Her hair is naturally...blue, incredibly enough.  She's kind, quirky, funny, very honest and straightforward.  She speaks several languages with native fluency.  Last but most definitely not least, she can draw like an Old Master.  She's someone I would definitely love to be friends with!

I did begin to feel rather uncomfortable when I met the denizens of that other, strange world Karou also lives in, visiting it whenever she is summoned there.  That was how I first met her 'foster father', Brimstone, and was instantly reminded of the old so-called 'fire and brimstone' sermons.  I couldn't help thinking that the reference was demonic, especially when I discovered that this Brimstone character possessed a very formidable pair of ram's horns, and appeared to have a very weird collecting hobby.  At that point, I could feel myself start to pull away from the book.  The story struck me as much too macabre for my reading tastes. 

To make matters worse, one of the minor characters is a snake woman named Issa.  Snakes and brimstone.  Well...hell.  I was almost out of there!

For some reason, I decided to stick around.  I forced myself to go beyond my all-too-facile assumptions, and continued the journey.  Needless to say, I was very glad I did, because the story that finally emerged proved that Brimstone, Issa, and Brimstone's peculiar collection had nothing whatsoever to do with the devil's sinister abode.  Instead, they were all part of an alternate world known as 'Eretz', which exists on a plane different from our own. Interestingly, the word 'eretz' comes from Hebrew.  When I researched it on Google, I came up with "Eretz Israael", alternately spelled "Eretz Yisrael".  This means "The Holy Land of Israel". 

This strange world is inhabited by two races -- the seraphim and the chimaeras.  The seraphim are angels, while the chimaeras remind me of similar creatures in Greek mythology; in this novel, however, they are mixtures of human and animal.  There are those that have 'high-human aspects', which means that they mostly look like human beings, but might have animal legs, or some other animal feature.

The angels are not the typical Biblical angels.  They are born from a male and a female angel, like humans, and are not immortal.  They are also of flesh and blood, instead of being spirits, although, like traditional angels, they do have wings.  In this novel, they are more like a winged humanlike species that is very much part of a three-dimensional world. 

The seraphim and the chimaeras have been at war for centuries.  Each side abhors the other as evil; both seraphim and chimaeras do their best to eradicate the ones they consider their enemies.  And this is the background for a beautiful love story, reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet...

Akiva is another character I found very appealing.  I didn't like him at first, because he came off as a ruthless killer.  There was a very plausible reason for that, though -- he had been bred as a soldier, and it was difficult for him, considering the great losses in his past, to remember that he was a creature with emotions, as well.  Later on, after he had really gotten to know Karou, he allowed his more civilized side to emerge.  He even tried to make amends for his earlier behavior.  I thought this was very endearing.  Needless to say, I ended up liking him as much as I like Karou!

As far as the secondary characters go, Zuzana is definitely my favorite!  She's absurdly funny, but also very caring, as well as very creative.  She tries to make up for her small stature by coming off as bossy, but she's really not.  It's all an act, and a pretty good one, too, because she mixes it with humor.   As I read, I was really touched by the way she cared for Karou, her best friend.

As I stated earlier, I had very mixed reactions toward Brimstone and Issa, but I also came to care for them, as well.  They too, were touching in their love and concern for Karou, although I really didn't like the way Brimstone treated Karou at one point.  He had his reasons, I understand now, but I still didn't like it. 

This mesmerizing, highly complex tale is like a maze that draws the reader in -- perhaps reluctantly at first, as happened with me -- and transports said reader to a world of beauty and constant battle skirmishes, in which seraph despots breed soldiers through their harems, a world in which chimaeras of all species must unite against a common enemy, keeping the secrets of magic hidden from seraph eyes.  It is a world in which two moons alternately rule the night sky, and have been transformed into goddesses.

Taylor's prose style is nothing short of magical.  She has a very unique way of using similes and metaphors to evoke feelings and images of uncanny beauty.  Her sentences shine, prompting the reader (at least this one) to want to highlight them in order to come back to them later, for the purpose of savoring them like fine wine.  Quite a few of them are stored as author quotes on Goodreads.

In closing, I have to say that this novel is, quite simply, brilliantly written.  The characters are truly compelling, the world-building magnificent, the love story enthralling. 

From a Christian point of view, there are a couple of major theological sticking points, so I will have to give the book four stars.  If it weren't for these two things, I would not have hesitated to award it a five-star rating, because it is, indeed, the work of a master storyteller. 


MY RATING:


Where To Buy:  Amazon