Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini TaylorMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I was lucky enough to get a copy of this at BEA this year. When I first saw the cover, I did a bad thing, I judged it. And not that the cover isn't really neat looking, it just didn't look like a type of book I'd want to read. So I didn't ever bother to pick it up and read the synopsis on the back. But then I began following a new blogger, Book Hounds YA, and at the top of her blog she has a quote from the book that immediately made me put it on my TBR list: "You'd have to have, like, a lentil for a soul to hate wiener dogs. ~Zuzana" And boy am I glad I did!!!
The minute I picked up this book I was immediately interested in the characters, the witty banter, the non-paranormal sounding beginning, and what was going on. And I really didn't know what kind of book this was going to be, there were creatures, Chimaera, and angels or Seraphim. But it seemed the angels were to be the bad guys. Beautiful bad guys, but still. It seemed the main character, Karou, a strange name, but it means "hope", didn't have really anything supernatural about her. She could make wishes with beads she got from Brimstone, her father figure you could say. And he set up portals so she could travel around the world quickly to get things he needed for his work. But that was about it. Otherwise she was pretty normal. She went to art school with her friend Zuzana in Prague. Her best friend is a good friend, the sarcastic kind of friend I love.
I don't want to give a lot away, but we soon learn about what the angels are wanting, although one of them, Akiva, seems to have a strange attraction to Karou, and she to him. But they don't know why, and Akiva wonders about it, when Brimstone is his enemy. Karou has recently been through an interesting relationship ending with a guy, and so doesn't want to trust these crazy feelings, and holds out. Until, soon, through an ordinary object, a wishbone, Akiva understands, and uses it to show Karou the same.
Great story, loved it! Loved the characters, loved the world built by the author. Loved, loved, loved! And while the quote that Book Hounds YA has on their site I also love, it unfortunately was followed by the statement that Zuzana hated wiener dog owners. Which I am one, so not too keen on that part. :-) But I do love the whole conversation that this is a part of, it seems like something I would do and say sometimes. And I just love a book that I can connect with the characters in this way.
I also got a little sneak preview at the sequel booklet with this. So I'll be reading that soon, I think. Sometimes I'd almost rather wait until the whole book comes out to read.
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