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?
Um – wow. Just wow. I’m not really even sure if
I can do this book justice in the review so let’s start out by saying that I
loved it. No, scrap that I adored it.
Taylor’s writing is divine – it’s absolutely
stunning prose that sweeps you up and brings you right into the heart of the
story. She is as much a writer as an artist with this brilliant scope of
imagination that enthrals throughout ‘Daughter of Smoke and Bone’.
Karou is so instantly likeable, with her blue
hair and artists mind and eye, and down to earth attitude that incorporates
more than one world. She still has boy troubles, she still worries that her
butterflies are dead and she will never find that person to complete her – she also
worries about how she’s going to get some giant tusks on the Paris metro
without anyone stopping her – you know, usual worries. I loved her. I loved her
attitude and her strength, and her determination to not be left in the dark, to
be strong and courageous, and fight for those she loves.
And I love Akira. Their connection is something
beautiful – and I’m not normally one for insta-love, but in fairness it’s how
it’s written that sways me, and this was so convincingly incredible that I was
swept up in the rightness of it all.
The writing, as I’ve said, is absolutely
breathtaking. I felt like I was there, living, breathing and experiencing it
all. Everything from the rain and the cold, to the warm steam of Poison, to the
mortification of her idiot ex posing in the class.
And oh my, the dialogue. It was all really well
done, but my personal favourites were any time that Zuzana and Karou got
together and chatted. It was just so funny, and brilliant, and absolutely spot
on. Quick light dialogue of people who banter off each other and have known
each other long enough to anticipate the others move – it’s very hard to get
right, but fabulous to read when it’s there.
The scope of the novel was incredible. One
moment in the winding labyrinths of Prague, the next in a war torn world where
two mythical races are locked in eternal combat. But Taylor has the brilliant
ability to show you the vast scope, and then take you right down into the tiny
moments that make these people ones you care about.
The only minor complaint I had was that once
the truth starts spilling out and we start to find out all the backstory, it
felt like an awful lot is dumped at once. I don’t mean Madrigal’s story as
such, but the backstory of the whole world and the races. I just felt a bit
overwhelmed and had to go back and re-read some parts to make sure I’d taken it
all in. On a re-read there isn’t really any other way that Taylor could give
that information without it seeming a bit of a deluge. It has to come there, so
it does. I just found it a bit overwhelming to suddenly after three quarters of
a book suddenly be introduced properly to characters that had only previously
been mentioned and be swept up in their story. I know it’s all interlinked, but
still, minor gripe.
The beautiful thing is that it is all
interlinking. It’s a stunning work where you literally have no idea where it’s
going, but quite frankly you just don’t care. It’s that good, you’re just along
for the ride, wherever that might be.
And having been through all those twists and
turns it’s definitely time for a re-read to help it all slot in in those
earlier pages and watch the beauty of a well-crafted piece of art play out.
Having finished, with that tantalising ‘to be
continued…’ I now cannot wait to find
out what happens next. Karou’s story is so breathtaking in its abstract
brilliance that I didn’t want the book to end. I just wanted to keep reading.
