Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Author: Laini Taylor
Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy book 1
Format: Paperback
Rating: 5/5 Stars
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I cannot believe I waited so long to read this book. For some reason I felt that I wouldn’t like it as much as other people. There was so much hype around this book and this series that it made me nervous to start. But man was I wrong. I absolutely, positively, without a doubt LOVED this book.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is about a human girl who is raised by demons, but is kept in the dark about their world and what they do. The first book is Kaoru coming to terms with who she is and figuring out who she can trust/love/etc. (This is a very vague description because it would be really easy to accidentally spoil something.) Let’s get into the review.

Pros:

• Characters: I loved Kaoru, she is now one of my favorite female heroines. I loved learning about her life and her family. She is brave and loyal and fights for those she cares about without a second thought. Kaoru’s best friend, who’s name I cannot freaking think of right now, was hilarious. She was also very understanding and protective of Kaoru which I really loved. Brimstone was pretty awesome as well. He was very much like a father to Kaoru and protected and cared for her when she needed him. He did piss me off at one point though, but I won’t spoil that for you. Finally, the love interest was really interesting. I actually didn’t think he would be the love interest at first. It came to a surprise to me a little ways into the story. I also enjoyed reading about several of the side characters but they didn’t really have any important roles and didn’t affect me in any way.
• Relationships: I felt the romance was a little “insta-love” but I was able to let that slide since there was no love triangle. This is one of the first YA books I have read in a while without one. It was also awkward at times and uncertain, which made it seem more real. The family relationship in this book was my favorite. You could really tell how much they cared for each other and tried to protect each other.
• Action: There were quite a few fight scenes in this book which I really enjoyed. They weren’t my favorite scenes in the book (I much preferred learning about their lives/background than anything else), but they were done really well and had quite a bit of suspense.
• Magic: The magic system was interesting but I won’t elaborate because that is one of the big reveals toward the end.

Cons:

• Flashbacks: Okay so this isn’t really a con because it brought a lot to the story which is why I didn’t take off any stars for it. However, I have never been a fan of flashbacks. I would rather we stay in the present and have one of the characters talk about the past. I have this thing where I get into the mindset of the characters I am reading about, that when it switches to brand new characters from the past it throws me off. It takes me a while to even get into books with multiple perspectives. (I usually end up enjoying them though).

Overall: I absolutely loved this book and cannot wait to marathon the rest of the trilogy. The characters were so much fun and really well developed. Their relationships (friendship, romance, family) were all so heartwarming and for the most part realistic. I also thought the action scenes and magic system were really well put together. The only issue I had was the flashback chapters but that is just me. They worked well with the flow of the book and brought more to the story. I just don’t like flashbacks. Overall, I recommend this book 10/10 times. If you haven’t read it, then do yourself a favor.

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