Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Daughter of Smoke and Bone

A fun YA fantasy with an interesting cast, forgivable cliches and a plot worth re-reading.

I liked this. Quite a lot. It's everything that's good about YA books - there's magic, there's fun, there's the lovable best friend and sassy eyebrow raising. There's also a well developed and original (which is always a happy point) plot which really gets going about half way through the book.

The story is set against the very popular 'angel and demon war' which seems to making the rounds recently, but Laini Taylor reimagines it with a freshness and intrigue that's certainly worth the read. Instead of demons we have chimeras - not a homogenous species but set of races with their own languages, cultures and tongues that we're told were united in the face and under the oppression of a common enemy. The angels aren't of the religious sort either - but defied soldiers caught in their own imperialism. I think this is a fantastic premise because you get at once a dystopian world falling under the weight of an eternal war which is driven by propaganda and what is effectively racism (species-ism). I think the reflection upon the dangers and atrocities of imperial and colonial societies is probed and explored well and offers a critique of our own society against the fantastical backdrop of the book.

The characters are a mix of the fantastical, the real, and yes the cliche. Karou (the protagonist) is, I think at least, quite a good representation of a 17 year old. She's got blue hair, occasionally uses magic for lazy and petty things, and gets fed up with her dysfunctional family. Okay, so she isn't the most well rounded character, can be quite moody, and is sometimes a little flat - but it's okay. The book carries it. I was rather bored by Akiva, the love interest, who Taylor initially tries to make into the brooding bad boy - unemotional and merciless *yawn*, I didn't think he was remotely worth caring about and his sudden humanity and compassion felt like it came out of nowhere. However - about halfway through you see a completely different side of him, and I found myself really rooting for the guy.

Spoiler

I mean, learning a forbidden language of the enemy, inventing new magic, and sneaking into your enemy's ball? And then flirting with a horse mask?

. To be honest the moody start seems to be his main character inconsistency as he's revealed to be a very gentle idealist at heart.

The real steal of the show HAS to be Brimstone. Honestly. Head over heels for the guy (well... not really but he's just so interesting) he's full of depth and surprises and was definitely my favourite part of the whole book. Gosh he's so cool.

Overall this is a really good read, creative, fantastical and perfect for any YA lover. If you like enemies-to-lovers, magical realism, or have a strange interest in teeth then check this out :)

I haven't quite decided if I'm going to read the next in series.... hmm

Content Warnings

bi_n_sad's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

The worldbuilding for this book is brilliant and the payoffs are phenomenal.

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