Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, 1)

"Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well." Laini Taylor Daughter of Smoke and Bone 4 out of 5 Stars Great book, very easy to digest When you first read the back of the book, you'd expect it to be far more religion based. After all, the tagline discusses angels and devils. Luckily, it's not. The so-called "angels" aren't the angels in the Christian sense and neither are the devils. They aren't based in "Heaven" and "Hell", but more like they just come from different realms. Either way, it's a pretty baller book. So, I am not a romance girlie. In fact, if romance is the main thing, I tend to avoid the book. This time, though, the gorgeous cover and that tagline up there made me make the exception. That being said, I'm lucky. While it says it's a romance, it doesn't feel like just another romance novel. The focus is more on the world and building up our relationship with the main character Karou instead of the romance aspect of the story. My only issue is that the entire book feels more like it's focused on world-building and character introduction. I wouldn't call it filler, because it is a good story. I just think the real story starts happening in book 2. Nothing truly major happens until the third act of the story. Just by reading the back of book 2, you can see it's going to be far more intense than book one. The writing itself flows and is easy to read. Even with strange terminology, it doesn't stop the flow of the writing. She also does great at balancing description. In today's world, attention spans are waning. Some authors let themselves get bogged down with description when most of today's readers simply won't read it. Taylor doesn't have this issue. She doesn't let description or her new terminology weigh down the story. I highly recommend this book. The world is cool and exciting; her writing is easy to read and understand. I'm no romance girlie, but the characters feel rea despite their unworldly origins.

There was a high chance that I might have liked this book, but the author's way of writing made me lose interest. Not even that cliffhanger would tempt me into picking up the next book. Don't get me wrong though - I still like her writing style. Just... well, let's just say I didn't enjoy the number of chapters Laini Taylor used to explain about the past when all I wanted to know was what was happening then, between Karou and Akiva, NOT him and Madrigal, which holds almost 50% of the book! I skipped through most of the chapters, then tada, when I finally returned to the 'present', the book ended. It wasn't enjoyable. But I've got to admit that this author writes strange books. 'Strange the Dreamer' was strange, and this is just the same. And strange can pique my interest. How I wish the author had used a different approach to write this book.

Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor I didn’t think I’d end up loving it as much as I did. All I knew about the series was it was about angels and devils – not really a genre that normally appeals to me. But boy was I wrong! I loved this book.With some authors, they make sure you remember you’re reading a novel about supernatural beings. Yes, Taylor does mention angels and demons but it’s more than that; she makes her characters come to life with their own depth and faults that the deeper I got into the book, the more I forgot I was reading about otherworldly creatures.It took me a little to warm up to the Akiva chapters. He came off as too otherworldly and high and mighty at first that I thought I’d be dragging my feet every time he came up. But as I read on, I realized that there was more to him than a pretty face with fiery eyes. Taylor was able to create realistic and relatable characters that just so happened to be set in a fantasy world.I loved the idea of the wish system and incorporating teeth. In other fantasy novels this system wouldn’t have any restrictions or setbacks, allowing the characters to freely use them as they wished ultimately leaving them invincible. In Taylor’s world there is a penalty for making a wish; the bigger the wish, the bigger the penalty. I loved this because it was another way of forming checks and balances in the story. If you wanted a drastic wish, that meant you had to make a drastic choice to receive it.The only negative thing I can say about Daughter of Smoke and Bone is that I wish the flashback scenes toward the end of the book would have been split up a little more between the present day chapters. It was interesting to read and definitely added to the character’s story, but it just felt like the rest of the novel stopped for a few chapters before picking back up at the end.All in all, I really loved it and plan on picking up the next novel in this series. If you think you can’t love a book about angels and demons, you’re wrong. Laini Taylor’s fantastical writing and realistic portrayal of her characters will have you wanting to devour this novel in one sitting.Read more at The Short Read

It was great until perfect, if not slightly creepy, infatuated instalove angel shows up, and then I really didn't know what to feel about the plot.

3 stars because, though the third person narrative kept jumping back and forth and repeating itself, I was engaged enough to finish this, and I quite liked madrigal's story.

Don't think I'll be picking up the next though l, especially with that ending :(

read it in high school. was a bit hard to follow. very much a fantasy book. need to read it again now that i’m older.