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Friday, 11 November 2011

Unsurpassed YA author of "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" Laini Taylor Will Mesmerize Readers!

Posted on 22:39 by john mycal
Publisher:  Little, Brown & Co., LBYR
Genre:  YA, Paranormal


The Dame's Review:


"Daughter of Smoke and Bone" by Laini Taylor ~ An Angel Fell In Love?


Published by:  Little, Brown & Co., LBYR
Pages:
Genre:  YA Fiction, Adult Fiction

A publishing sensation nearly before it hit the bookstands, "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" is a stand-out example of the finest writing in YA fiction to date.

Laini Taylor is an extraordinarily gifted writer.  It wouldn't be over-stating to say that she is "one-of-a-kind" in the YA genre. She reminds me a great deal of Anne Rice as she developed her Vampire series, only (and it pains me to say this because Ms Rice may never have a more devout fan than I am) she's an infinitely better writer. I can only believe that Laini will get better as she progresses in her writing career and that will just blow everyone's mind.  She is TBR: To Be Read.

Ms Taylor's gift for wordsmithing is nothing short of exotic and artistic in the finest sense of the words.  Descriptions of place, and her time-bending are lush.  Her settings are so lavish, so sensory that every word is golden.  I have only read books like this from classical authors, and from great novelists of our Age.  Simply a gorgeous book to read from word to precious word. 

The setting of Prague is so dripping with mystery and "smoke" as it is, and then she adds "The Art Lyceum of Bohemia" and I'm completely at her mercy!  A fine arts student can never resist such a location for a novel.  The main character, Karou, a lavishly blue-haired, unconventional young art student plucks us from the gut from the first seconds open this book.  Laini isn't kidding with us, this is a wonderful and special book.

The concept of "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" is only original in the way Laini tells the story since we've often heard the mythological references and read similar storylines.  But where Ms Taylor is far removed from the crowd is in her ability to swing those time-told stories into a fine art of a novel.  It's as if we've never heard of "Brimstone" devil-creatures before.

You must get this book and read it because it's not to be missed at all.

*One personal thing I need to share is that I found it very difficult to read this book from the perspective of my faith.  I don't want to read books about demons, nor do I want to promote them.  I didn't know "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" was such a book until I got into it.  In my years of reading and caring about what young adults and older readers, even, are exposed to, I have tried to be dedicated to separating myself and my reviews from demonic, satanic loving, succubus and incubus loving literature.  It really goes against my personal faith and I want no part of it.

So, this has been a book I've struggled with giving a review for at all.
But in the long-run, and because I do not believe in banning books for any reason, I share this review.  I can only hope that good wins out and that the light will come forward in Ms Taylor's continuing series.
As I've said, she is a profoundly gifted writer, in my humble opinion.

5 painterly stars

Deborah/TheBookishDame


To Read the first 5 Chapters Yourself Visit:  http://www.daughterofsmokeandbone.com/


Summary from Amazon:

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?
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