In honor of this book being out for ten years and the new beautiful cover (and me being extremely late to the party), I want to write a post about Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (LOOK at this beautiful cover though!).
This was not actually the book I was originally going to talk about – I had a whole post planned on Murder Bot that my book club had read in order to dissect voice (I will hopefully finish some day and post). However, this book was given to me by my Secret Santa in July from said writing group, and reminded me of why I want to write.
The book follows Karou, a blue-haired assistant to a monster who runs errands to collect teeth for him. Yes, teeth. She is intriguing, mysterious and petty, which is a deadly combination. It is a creative story that had me hooked and was one of those keep-me-up-reading books that I have been struggling to find in the times of the pandemic.
It has a review from Patrick Rothfuss (which wow, GOALS) that says “Wow. I wish I had written this book.” And that just about sums up my own feelings as well.
PROSE:
Something I seem to notice more and more as I continue to learn about writing is the power of prose. It has to transport the reader into a scene in a way that is surprising, but not distracting, beautiful, but also invisible at times. Prose, in itself, has to be magic.
And Laini Taylor accomplishes it.
Her prose floats across the page and has the reader hanging on every word, rather than blind skimming over descriptions. From just the first page:
“The falling snow and the early hour conspired to paint Prague ghostly, like a tintype photograph, all silver and haze.”
How could you not want to visit Prague with these types of descriptions?
“The cathedral conducted Karou’s scream and splintered it into a symphony of screams that echoed and collided so the vast vaulted space was alive with her voice.”
Seriously.
To top it all off, she’s also funny and emotionally charged, and she does it all with words. Magic.
“I don’t know many rules to live by,” he’d said. “But here’s one. It’s simple. Don’t put anything unnecessary into yourself. No poisons or chemicals, no fumes or smoke or alcohol, no sharp objects, no inessential needles—drug or tattoo—and… no inessential penises, either.”
Words.to.live.by.
CHARACTERS:
Karou: A girl whose wishes are vain and frivolous (blue hair and pimple-free, and cursing ex-boyfriends to have itchy asses and mean girls to have horrible eyebrows), but also a hope for the survival of a nation of monsters. Talk about duality.
Funny, clever, independent, bad ass. She is a mystery to everyone, especially herself, and the sense of identity is a hole inside her that she thinks is loneliness. She has this inner strength and hides the hole in her life behind the truth and a smirk, unwilling to truly let anyone in.
Except for Zuzana: who is a funny, dynamic side character who is described as a rabid fairy. I love that she gives Karou this sense of balance and connection to the real world, and has her own love story that isn’t toxic. I wish she had been more prevalent in the second half of the book.
This half revolves more around Akiva: who, meh. An angel with tiger eyes, beautiful beyond belief with some moral ambiguity, swoops in as the mysterious love interest in an “instalove”, predictable kind of way. He’s got some Edward from Twilight vibes, stalking following Karou around as he wonders what is is about this blue-haired beauty that has ignited love in his thought-to-be-dead heart.
But here’s the caveat: despite the all-consuming instalove that is based primarily on the fact that they are both beautiful, it worked for me. It’s the star-crossed lovers trope that should never work, but somehow does. I don’t know if it is Laini Taylor’s writing, the way that she ties it into plot, or even just the strength of Karou’s character having me want more for her. I was hooked in a cringe-y way, but I am not ashamed! Again, magic.
PLOT/WORLD-BUILDING:
“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well.”
This book takes a well-known angel and demon fall in love, and goes well beyond the “sexy fallen angel with wings comes to Earth and falls in love.” This is included, for sure, but you get to go deeper into their worlds and cultures, understand more about their centuries-old war.
It begins with a seventeen-year-old girl who goes to art school in Prague. She keeps the other half of her life, the half where she is an orphan girl sent out by demon magicians to collect teeth and trade in a currency of wishes, hidden from her best friend.
The job is dangerous: we know she’s been shot, she is sent to deal with grave diggers, auctions with seedy criminals, and sometimes she has to drag teeth through subway systems. And all the while, we have no idea what the teeth are for. She gets to travel all over the world through a portal at the demon’s workshop, and things start getting interesting when black handprints are scorched into these portal doors, essentially cutting her off from her demon foster family.
Enter: beautiful angel and insta-love romance. I’ll admit, this was definitely the weakest part of the book in terms of world-building and pacing, and even started to take away from some of the unique complexity of the plot. But we were warned that angels would be involved somehow, and even told right at the beginning that there would be a love story between the two.
Karou is cut off completely from her family, but rather than true concern, enjoys her love story with Akiva, introducing him to her best friend and learning more about herself. The plot twist explaining their connection is a bit predictable, but still interesting as we learn more about the culture and the war between seraphim and chimaera. Again, Taylor thrives in the world-building aspect of these two cultures and gives some interesting insight into these worlds as she explains Karou’s past.
The book ends as stated: not well. Akiva killed her entire family, and Karou leaves him, not believing they are truly gone, and to find more of a connection to her past. Zuzana is brought in right in the end, and I wish she had been a more consistent figure throughout the second half, but hopefully this promises she will be more relevant to the next book.
The book leaves you with a cliff hanger, and if you are anything like me, you immediately had to go out and buy the next one.
While there were some issues, all-in-all I really enjoyed this book. It reminded me of the YA fantasy I used to consume pre-pandemic, and reminded me of the feeling that I am writing for. Would absolutely recommend.
emilyjaneestabrook.com 
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