One of the best compliments someone can give me is to say "You need a good book? Oh go ask Steph she knows about lots of good books!" I am here to tell you about a really good book. My book club read this about a year ago and I was torn because it's part of a trilogy and I think it's hard to read a series or trilogy in a book club. But we did it and let me tell you I am completely hooked. This trilogy is classified as YA fantasy but I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending this to a 14 year old. The characters and story line, and subject matter read much more adult. Nothing shocking or off putting necessarily, just not (in my opinion) for young teenagers.
Ok so the story is about a 17 year old girl named Karou who lives in Prague as an art student. She lives alone in her flat filled with sketch books and odds and ends collected from around the world because her only family are monsters who live in "elsewhere". She was raised by hybrid beasts, Brimstone, Issa, Twiga and others. They call themselves chimera and when she wants to visit them or Brimstone needs her for an errand she goes to an old rundown building in Prague and knocks on a door that is actually a portal leading to another space or world. Brimstone collects teeth from traders around the world that he buys for wishes. There are portal doors in major cities around the world for traders to use or for Karou to go through to collect the teeth. They give him snake, shark, lion, human, tiger teeth and he gives them wishes. Gruesome right? Why does he collect teeth? It's absolutely genius.
Karou doesn't know why she was raised by these few chimera, she doesn't know if there are others in another place. She doesn't know what Brimstone does with the teeth or why, suddenly, black hand prints are burned into all of the portal doors around the world. She doesn't know if the rumors of implausibly beautiful beings who's shadows show angel wings are true. As you get to know Karou, her chimera family, her spunky best friend Zuzana and all of the other creatures in this story you will find yourself completely pulled in. I rank this trilogy with other YA fantasy like Twilight, Hunger Games, the Lunar Chronicles. The third book just came out a few weeks ago and I'm currently rereading Daughter of Smoke & Bone and the second book, Days of Blood and Starlight, before I let myself jump into the third one.
Seriously if you enjoy YA fantasy at all you will love these books. The ratings on Goodreads are above a 4 and our whole book club enjoyed it. I even got my husband to read them. Laini Taylor is a fabulous writer who can relate to the reader even through the emotions of a 17 year old girl. She feels real and her emotions and reactions were really pretty credible. The writing is easy, fun and very vivid. I also found the mystery of the book enjoyable rather than frustrating. Give it a shot! Happy reading! Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone)
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