Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone book #1) by Laini Taylor

 Tile: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

                                                                   Author: Laini Taylor

                                                                   Published: September 27th 2011 by, Little Brown Books

                                                                   Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1

                                                                   Genre: YA books

                                                                   Stars: 4/5 

                                                                  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, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet 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 hairactually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

***THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN NO SPOILERS***

This book sounds like it’s like any other YA but there is a lot more tension and mystery that ultimately relies on how Karou reacts to the bits and pieces of information she discovers.

The culture within the book can be very confusing and irregular for some readers and you can tell the author did a lot of research to be able to execute the intricate details that this fantastical world, that Karou has grown up in, has.  

Indeed it is a very fantastical world where, in the otherworldly, which can only be accessed from ours by a system of doorways; is populated by demons and angels who are enemies from an age old past.

But mostly, this story is a love story, between two enemies, one who is a demon and the other who is an angel. It reminded me so much of Romeo and Juliet, the forbidden love and the (somewhat) unhappy ending and betrayal. 

I am looking forward to reading the next book and seeing how Karou, who now knows her true self, comes to terms with her betrayal and the events that will unfold.