A review by dlberglund
Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
3.0
3.5 stars. The world created by Laini Taylor is wonderful to read. Karin is a teenaged art student in Prague, an old soul who has a mysterious secret life outside of school, her friends and her charismatic con-artist ex-boyfriend. She was an orphan, raised by hybrid chimera in a magical house that is not quite in Prague itself, but some extra dimension. The chimera themselves have a secret life, beyond the door through which Karou is never allowed to enter (or exit, depending on how you look at it). The characters are rich, the scenery is incredible, and the story of traveling around the world to gather special items for her gargoyle-ish father figure...engrossing.
The book lost me when the angel fell from the sky, tried to kill her, but didn't because they were suddenly so in luuuuuuuuuvvvvvvv. I felt like the story had suddenly turned into Twilight, an obsessive and unhealthy love story that didn't make any sense to me. When the story flashed back to the angel's homeland, and we learned more back story and interstory and world development? Great. But the luuuuuvvvvvvv story made me feel a little like throwing up. I know I have to read the sequel ( and, wait, the sequel after that because I've heard there's a cliffhanger to #2...and also the 2.5 novella because it's set in Prague!) but I'm not really rooting for the main love story, which is the driving action of the plot. There's a lot to love in this book, anyway.
The book lost me when the angel fell from the sky, tried to kill her, but didn't because they were suddenly so in luuuuuuuuuvvvvvvv. I felt like the story had suddenly turned into Twilight, an obsessive and unhealthy love story that didn't make any sense to me. When the story flashed back to the angel's homeland, and we learned more back story and interstory and world development? Great. But the luuuuuvvvvvvv story made me feel a little like throwing up. I know I have to read the sequel ( and, wait, the sequel after that because I've heard there's a cliffhanger to #2...and also the 2.5 novella because it's set in Prague!) but I'm not really rooting for the main love story, which is the driving action of the plot. There's a lot to love in this book, anyway.