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MY THOUGHTS
Don’t want to read the whole review? Click to jump to the Skinny Review.
I can’t believe that I am waaaaay behind on this series! I have seen these around the blogosphere but I thought it wasn’t my thing. I mean – angels, paranormal? I’m not really a fan of those themes. Luckily, I sort of ran out of books to listen (le gasp!) and I was browsing the online library catalog (like you do) and I decided to borrow this. My was I BLOWN away!
Did you say it was AMAZING?
I mean, The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor is mind blowing amazing! Let’s start with the title, shall we? How awesome can one title get? Smoke? and BONE? To be honest, it is a weird title but it works! Unfortunately, you will only get the title when you read the book. But please, let’s not talk about the cover kay? It’s not one of my favorites, let me tell you.
Why did I say it’s mind blowing? Well, it’s because I haven’t read anything like this before. The themes are more new adult, though but nothing explicit.
Did you say, Chimera?
So, the chimera. Apparently, they are creatures composed of parts from different animals and originate in Greek mythology. Had to Google that, but whatever. Basically, this story is the chimera-angel Romeo and Juliet and it is executed masterfully. I have to give props to Laini Taylor because AMAZING. I was left speechless in some parts that I had to pause the audio so I could process it.
BFF Love
Another aspect I loved about this book is Karou and Zuzana’s friendship. Not only does this book focus on the romance, it also focuses on friendship. Plus, Zuzana and Karou’s friendship is an important aspect of the story.
Ka- what?
Before I move on, I would also like to say that the names of the characters are a little unusual. Okay, very unusual. we have the heroine Karou, the hero Akiva, the chimera Madrigal [spoiler]Karou used to be Madrigal. Karou and Madrigal are one and the same![/spoiler], Zuzana, Brimstone, Thiago. You get it. Weird. But it works. I honestly didn’t have any issues in following the story nor was I distracted by the weird names (I normally am).
Maybe it’s the narrator!
This was narrated by Khristine Hvam and she was amazing! I think ti is because of her that I wasn;t even bothered by the unusual names. Plus, she even voiced characters in Pokemon! That aside, she really brought the story in another level. The accents that she used were spot on and it wasn’t annoying at all!
Recommendations
If you really love angel books, you should read Unearthly, Hallowed, & Boundless by Cynthia Hand, Fallen by Lauren Kate.
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Hi Ezrah! I think this is the first time I’ve ever stumbled across your blog 🙂 I love your review of this – I recently read it too and really enjoyed it, even if the romance and instalove was a bit iffy for me!
Thanks for dropping by Anissa! I was a little miffed about the insta-love initially but I thought it worked overall 🙂
I adored the first two in this series, then couldn’t get going on the third. I wasn’t sure if it was not as good (which I’ve since seen others say), or if I just left it too long and lost my urgent need to find out what would happen next.
I really like the “skinny review” and ratings breakdown you do!
Thanks, Wendy! I noticed quite a few readers like shorter reviews.
Honestly, I can’t get into the second book. I’m not sure why but I feel a disconnect from the first to second. Maybe I’ll try again in the future. 🙂
I loved this series. The first book is still the best but the other two are much more epic both in scope and plot. I love Taylor’s prose, it’s so vivid!
And yeah, the names are really unusual but I like that they aren’t unpronounceable – fantasy authors sometimes do that.
I’m glad you liked it!
Kaja recently posted…Gone to the Movies: Romancing the Stone
I’m still not getting into book 2 at all. I will probably read that soon 🙂 Thanks for letting me know about books 2 and 3! 🙂