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Finished: October 30, 2011
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.
Quote: “It is a condition of monsters that they do not perceive themselves as such. The dragon, you know, hunkered in the village devouring maidens, heard the townsfolk cry ‘Monster!’ and looked behind him.”
Thoughts: Daughter of Smoke and Bone is one of the most talked about new YA releases of the year. It is getting rave reviews across the board. For me, personally, this was a hard book to rate. The things that I loved in this book I really LOVED and the things I disliked… well, they irritated me to no end! At different sections of this book I found myself jumping back and forth on my rating. Anywhere from 2-5 stars. I decided to settle somewhere in the middle with a 3.5. This review will be somewhat disjointed. Not only because my feelings for this book are so all over the place, but also because of the secrecy involved in the plot, that I don’t want to spoil for anyone.
The Good: I was absolutely fascinated by chimera. I’ve never read a book about them before. In a YA market over-saturated with vampires, the story of chimera was refreshing, and fun to read about. I was pulled in from the very beginning by the strange teeth collecting creatures, and their art student/orphan assistant, Karou. Karou had lots of personality and I liked her from the start. I loved her independence and willingness to fight. I have to say that toward the end I found Madrigal to be an even more interesting character, and would have loved to read more about her. The world building in this novel was also fantastic. I can see why so many have fallen in love with this book, because the world Taylor has built truly is that great, and worth the read.
The Bad: I’ve never been interested in angels, except for Castiel (Supernatural), and even that may have something to do with Misha Collins’ face. I never really took to Akiva and could have done without all the inner musings of the characters thinking about how beautiful and attractive the other is. While there may have been reasoning for the “instant love” in this case, that doesn’t mean it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book. I thought the prose in the book was great, but in the romance parts? I couldn’t stop rolling my eyes. The writing was too sugary sweet. It was too much. Perhaps I am just sick of the Romeo and Juliet type romance, and have little tolerance for it now, but it did feel a little cliche, and detracted from what was an otherwise very original story. Plus Karou seemed more interested in Akiva than she was in finding out who she was. Normally an amazing ending can cause me to overlook things like this, but since this is the first in the series, not much was resolved at the end.
Would I recommend this book? Yes! The story is worth it, and if you’re less annoyed by star-crossed lovers than I am, you’ll probably love it.
The Good: I was absolutely fascinated by chimera. I’ve never read a book about them before. In a YA market over-saturated with vampires, the story of chimera was refreshing, and fun to read about. I was pulled in from the very beginning by the strange teeth collecting creatures, and their art student/orphan assistant, Karou. Karou had lots of personality and I liked her from the start. I loved her independence and willingness to fight. I have to say that toward the end I found Madrigal to be an even more interesting character, and would have loved to read more about her. The world building in this novel was also fantastic. I can see why so many have fallen in love with this book, because the world Taylor has built truly is that great, and worth the read.
The Bad: I’ve never been interested in angels, except for Castiel (Supernatural), and even that may have something to do with Misha Collins’ face. I never really took to Akiva and could have done without all the inner musings of the characters thinking about how beautiful and attractive the other is. While there may have been reasoning for the “instant love” in this case, that doesn’t mean it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book. I thought the prose in the book was great, but in the romance parts? I couldn’t stop rolling my eyes. The writing was too sugary sweet. It was too much. Perhaps I am just sick of the Romeo and Juliet type romance, and have little tolerance for it now, but it did feel a little cliche, and detracted from what was an otherwise very original story. Plus Karou seemed more interested in Akiva than she was in finding out who she was. Normally an amazing ending can cause me to overlook things like this, but since this is the first in the series, not much was resolved at the end.
Would I recommend this book? Yes! The story is worth it, and if you’re less annoyed by star-crossed lovers than I am, you’ll probably love it.
Rating:
Three out of Five Coffees
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