Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Book Summer (Via Goodreads): 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 grown 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 hair actually 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 one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored 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?

Book Trailer:


Book Review:
Ok, so I will honestly say that I love this book. The beginning swept me into a colorful story of a girl who leads a double life of sorts. She is mysterious and lovable. She has blue hair and consorts with curious otherworldly creatures. The ending was equally intriguing. I was swept back in time to a mythical story of angels and demons and creation. It is a heartfelt story that I will already want to revisit again. Where this story falters is in its middle. Instead of gracefully connecting and intertwining elements of the two stories, I read a muddled section that seemed to pass time instead of further developing the story and its characters. Once I got over the middle "hump," I was blessed with the ending story as mentioned above. Taylor created a magical world, where anything is possible. She created a vivid picture through both description and character. I can not wait to visit this world again! Even though I take issue with the "middle" of this book, the rest of Taylor's writing more than makes up for said muddled section.

Favorite Quote:

“She had been innocent once, a little girl playing with feathers on the floor of a devil's lair. She wasn't innocent now, but she didn't know what to do about it. This was her life: magic and shame and secrets and teeth and a deep, nagging hollow at the center of herself where something was most certainly missing.” 

Cover Art Commentary:
I love LOVE the colors of this cover! The mask has significant meaning to the story. This would definitely be a book that I would buy based on its cover alone!

Rating: