Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy Book 1)
Synopsis:
Around the world, black handprints 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 grown dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly 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 one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored 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?
Review:
Daughter of Smoke and Bone wasn't my favorite read. It was my online book club read for this month and everyone else loved it so much they read all the books. Me? Not so much. I definitely didn't want to continue on by the time I got to the end. *some spoilers ahead*
This book started off pretty good. Not super duper amazing, but enjoyable. You meet Karou and her world and it was really interesting. I loved seeing what she did, how she has beads for small wishes, how she tells the truth but with this look that made people think she was making things up, just everything. I thought this first book would just be her trying to figure out what is going on. She was raised by monsters and wants to find out who and what she really is. What does Brimstone do with all his teeth? What are his secrets, what is really going on?
While Karou is going about her errands for Brimstone she first runs into Akiva - an angel who tries to kill her. He has an issue with monsters and since she is working with them obviously she must be taken out. Only he can't. He needs to find her and figure out why she intrigues him.
I was enjoying the story of Karou up until the wishbone broke. If you have read this book you know what I am talking about. Really it started getting iffy when I realised who Karou really was, but I was hoping I was wrong. It was just one of those come on really? moments for me. I was just hoping the author would pull it off in a way that wasn't too bad.
So once the wishbone broke you get he story of Madrigal, the monster who fell in love with the angel Akiva. This is where the book really went downhill for me. The background story was way too long and drawn out for me. I just didn't care. I didn't like Madrigal. She was way too passive and just let people do whatever, make decisions for her, etc. The one head guy is trying to court her, wants to marry her, but she doesn't really want to. Does she ever say this or do anything to dissuade him? Nope. Why try and actually do what you want to do when you have that ability? She just lets everyone push her around and it was aggravating. I didn't care for her and didn't see the connection between her and Akiva.
I also didn't really like Akiva. Here he is in love with a monster, but he still doesn't understand why they rose up against the angels in the first place. I mean sure they are like slaves, but the angels gave them houses and roads and all kinds of great things. You should have seen the way they were living before they came in and enslaved them. They should be thankful. Yeah...I just cannot wrap my head around that.
So the last half of the book is just Akiva/Madrigal story. By the time we got back to Karou/Madrigal I just wanted it to be over. I knew what was coming and when I finished I just thought ugh. I do not want to go on. I do not want to read all about what she does now and everything. No, just no. So yeah not a very good read for me. Started off alright, but the last half just went downhill quickly.
Rating: ★1/2
Available on
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