Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Lani Taylor

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?

I have seen this in Collins for a few times before I caved and finally bought it. One of the best decisions I've made.

THE COVER: I have the other cover, with the feathers. I love that one. I also love this one. It screams how Karou dosen't know who she is, and the mytsery of her true identity.

THE PLOT: It is difficult to say anything about the plot without giving away any spoilers. It's about a 18 year old (I think, it's either that or 17) girl named Karou who has always felt a little out of whack, like she's missing something, or that she's trying to remember something but can't. She was brought up by a gang of monsters-though they were always kind to her-and she never knew her parents. Karou goes on erands for her type of father figure, Brimstone, to different parts of the world-getting there through portals-to get something that she's always wondered about. Teeth. On one such erand she get attacked and nearly killed by an angel, which she has always been told was evil. She escapes and wakes up in Brimstone's shop, which the 'other door' opened-the door she's never been allowed to be in. She goes in there, and then in a fit of Brimstone's fury, she is kicked out onto the streets of her town. It is then that all the portals, burn, sealing Karou out, away from her family. She goes on a quest, trying to find unscored portals, so she can resuce her family.

THE WORLD: This book, in genral, is amazing. The world building is wonderful and I loved Lani Taylor's descriptions.

THE CHARACTERS: Karou: Karou is the heroine of the story, she is a mystery, her past, how she got the eye tattoos on each of her palms, why she remembers places that she's never been and people she's never met. And why she is drawn to Akiva, the angel who tried to kill her. She loves anything to do with art.

Akiva: First of all, I love his name, I love most of the names in this book, because they're so out-there. Akiva is a angel who had fallen in love with a devil who saved his life. He had never really gotten over his loss of his beloved but he sees something in Karou that reminds him of her. Akiva has very strong opinions about things and under a hard shell he is kinda and warm. I love the love story between him and Karou.

Brimstone: Brimstone is the key to all of Karou's questions, all of her past, all of her mysteries. He has the head of a bull and the body of a man, he has always been like a father to Karou and he loves her like a daughter. He collects teeth-all teeth, lions teeth, human teeth, monkey teeth-any tooth expect for baby teeth, which he had only once. You only really get to see him up to about page 140, but he does come into play a lot through the whole book. His character was...good to read about, you don't really get a lot of good, father type characters in books.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a amazing read, and the part when Akiva tells Karou that he loves her is my second favourite confession of love I've read. I cannot wait until Days of Blood and Starlight.

5 out of 5 stars.