Thursday, January 21, 2016

Tina's Yearly Reread of Daughter of Smoke & Bone [SPOILER ALERT]



Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

Usually around this time of year (end of December or early January), I would either do a reread of the first book or the entire series. Daughter of Smoke & Bone is a well developed story with great world building that makes one fall heavily into the world of angels and chimeras.

I've read this book so often, falling back into the story is like drifting off into the land of nostalgia. The first few times I read it, I eagerly devoured with a grin and a clean picture of how each scenes are displayed. This time, I've forgotten how much happens in book 1. Literally, a lot of sh*t happens!

You are first introduced to the playful free-spirited freehand artist Karou and her pixie-sized best friend Zuzana. You meet her egotistical hot ex Kaz and Zuzana's new beau violinist Nick.

Slowly, the story unravels to reveal a mysterious world that Karou belongs. Her foster family are chimeras. She's never seen the chimera world. She only knows she was raised in a shop that deals with teeth and magic. And she often runs errands in the human world for the shop keeper Brimstone.

She learns martial art skills from all over the world. She collects languages as hobbies. She deals with traders for Brimstone. And he collects all sorts of teeth from mammals to avian to reptiles. Why does Brimstone collect teeth? and what are they for?

Ah. She catches the attention of an angel Akiva who was on a mission to close the portals between their worlds. They fight. Twice. Then the angel fights on her behalf against other angels. This just gets juicier and juicier (yes curiouser and curiouser!).

He knows who she is.
She remembers who she really is.

Karou and Akiva were lovers. Two different species, caught in the same war, separated by heartbreak and time. And unknowingly, they hurt each other...bad.

The book could have ended here or a section before that but it continues on to talk about their lives before modern day. So much of their selves are revealed yet the mystery of the angels and chimeras remain.

I love this book so much~ the heart ache, the humor, the flirting, the easiness of youth. And the way it's written, it doesn't matter what I was doing, as soon as my eyes fall onto the pages, I'm immediately transported into the story. I've always mentioned how much I enjoy the flow of this story and I'm a sucker for well developed ones at that! Each read gives me such a different feeling. Since much time has passed from my last reread, this time Daughter of Smoke & Bone leaves me in awe and fills me with wonderment.

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