Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Feita de Fumaça e Osso by Laini Taylor

13 reviews

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I wanted to read this book as it has been on my TBR for a while, I enjoyed Strange the Dreamer and I wanted to read more of her work. So, I decided to read Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I enjoyed this book, but I got completed lost during the middle of this book. 

This book is based on 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 colour. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she is about of find out. However, 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 grows dangerously low and in the tangled lanes of Prague, Karou is about to get caught up in the war. Then there is beautiful and haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets are unveiled and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But with Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself? 

I still adore Laini’s writing style and the way she describes things so beautiful and makes you feel like you are lying on a soft pillow. I loved the love story between our two MCs, even though I don’t usually like love at first sight. Karou is such a badass and yet she’s got a heart of gold and just wants to find a true love for herself and who she is – like having a gooey inside but a tough shell. Akiva told a while to grow on me because I didn’t know if I could trust him or not and still don’t trust him after this book. I loved Karou’s best friend and how she still wanted to meet Akiva even if they don’t speak the same language, but she wanted to threaten him to not hurt her best friend. I just wanted to hug her throughout this whole book – she just wanted to have friends and live. The story was so unique, and it was so interesting. 

However, I struggled with the jump between the past and the present. One minute it was Karou and Akiva in Prague about to find some of Akiva’s friend and then it was the past and the White Wolf and Madrigal and I just lost the storyline a bit. It just sort of happened and then we were back in the present and I had a headache.  

Overall, this book was brilliant, and I will be carrying on with the series and hopefully the second book will make more sense because that cliffhanger was mean.  

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

justagirlwithbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

"Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there's no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic."

I think the lower rating on this book was mainly due to the fact that I was expecting to love it (it is by an author who wrote one of my 5 star predictions, after all) and I didn't. After the first few chapters, I was extremely confused and also a bit uncomfortable because of
Kaz and his modeling.


The writing style was actually really nice and I liked the worldbuilding, but I was a bit confused by it at first. Even the plot felt confusing at times and I found myself skimming a lot. But, I did like the locations that this book had. And I did read this book in about 4 or 5 sittings, so, there's that. 

And I do not love insta-love. This book also felt way too overly-sexual for a YA book. It kind of messed up my expectations a bit and rubbed me the wrong way.


I'll still continue the series though, because I want to see how this continues after that abrupt ending.

And I hope that Strange the Dreamer is better than this. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kiwij96's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was a super easy read: well-paced chapters and full of plot points that all eventually come full circle at the end. Engaging plot in that sense, especially when the twists come in.

Not super in love with the idea that Karou was potentially being groomed by Kaz as it mentions in the beginning that they had been a couple for a while before their break-up and he is now 20 while she is 17. I also felt super uncomfortable with the Akiva and Karou romance plot too given the age gap there too.
I was also worried at one point that he was her dad.
However, the plot all comes together at the end and boy did it.

My only other gripe is Chapter 22. It felt massively out of place and I had to reread the chapters either side of it to figure out how it fitted in with it all. Felt like an afterthought but misplaced in the sequencing.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

moonchild_cos's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

scarlett_f's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kayelina's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.25


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

donatio's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

So... overall I liked the book.
I liked the characters as well as the world-building but some things didn't sit right with me. 
I'm a big animal friend and I'm intrigued by the concept of opposites, how something cannot exist without an opposite, but the depiction here failed sometimes. The fact that the angels basically colonised the world of the chimaera often fades into the background and the chimaera are still often described as the villain(monsters) because the angels make no appearance except for Akiva's "rightness" and so on; the balance it was probably supposed to be... Is just not there. Even though it is said that the chimaera are intelligent and feeling beings this behavior isn't shown, there is no tender love in Eretz in the chimaera capital described. That makes them seem cruel even though the angels are the "real" enemies. 
Furthermore I had a problem with some comments made in the book I can't recall specifically now and the fact that everyone seems to be beautiful (ly thin) in some way upsets me.

Still the story managed to draw me in, to care about the characters. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

_alyssar_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.25


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

ran_sophia's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mmefish's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings