Review: Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #1)
by Laini Taylor
Published September 27th 2011 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

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 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 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?

Synopsis from Goodreads

I am becoming notorious for not reading good books until everyone else has made it impossible to avoid. When do you think I will learn? I don't know if it was the cover that turned me off, or just that fact that absolutely every single person I ever met was jumping on the DoSaB love train. Whatever the reason, I finally broke down and read it for the sake of my book club. I will freely admit, however, that I should have read it long before now. Have I learned my lesson? Doubtful. 

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this book, but no matter what I imagined, this was ten times better, I guarantee. Unique, is the word I would most use to describe this book. From the complex web of plot and back story, to the very setting. I mean, how many YA stories take place in Prague?! And though I have never been there, it all became very real to me.

I won't go into detail about the plot, and I don't even want to discuss the characters. I want everyone to go into reading this as in the dark as I was. And believe me when I say this is killing me, because I really want to tell you every detail, completely ruining it in every way! ... But I won't... 

It was truly a great journey, falling down the rabbit hole. Laini Taylor's writing style is most definitely purple in hue, but it fit perfectly with the story.

Consider my socks knocked off. That's right, ladies and gents. I am sockless.