Review: The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Title: The Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Author: Laini Taylor
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (2011)
Rating: 5 stars

This was, without a doubt, my 'book of the month' from January. Here's the blurb, taken from Amazon:

Errand requiring immediate attention. Come.
The note was on vellum, pierced by the talons of the almost-crow that delivered it. Karou read the message. 'He never says please', she sighed, but she gathered up her things. 
When Brimstone called, she always came. 
In general, Karou has managed to keep her two lives in balance. On the one hand, she's a seventeen-year-old art student in Prague; on the other, errand-girl to a monstrous creature who is the closest thing she has to family. Raised half in our world, half in 'Elsewhere', she has never understood Brimstone's dark work - buying teeth from hunters and murderers - nor how she came into his keeping. She is a secret even to herself, plagued by the sensation that she isn't whole.
Now the doors to Elsewhere are closing, and Karou must choose between the safety of her human life and the dangers of a war-ravaged world that may hold the answers she has always sought.

I've really got back in to the magical, fantasy type books over the last six months or so - other favourites include 'The Magicians' and 'The Magician King' by Lev Grossman, and 'The Night Circus' by Erin Morgenstern, all of which I read last year.

But back to 'The Daughter of Smoke and Bone'. This book blew me away. That's the only way I can describe it. The main character, Karou, is one of my favourite characters that I've found in any book, ever.

So. In 'The Daughter of Smoke and Bone' we find a not-unfamiliar 'angels vs. demons'  (or chimaera, as they're called here) story. It focuses on a young woman - Karou - caught between two worlds. On the one hand, our world, complete with ex-boyfriend problems, art classes and friends. On the other, mysterious errands for Brimstone, the chimaera who raised her, who is the only family she's ever known.

But as well as a wonderful cast of characters, it was the worlds that blew me away. Taking that first step out of the real world and into elsewhere was truly magical, and each world was wonderfully imagined. Taylor's writing is vivid and evocative, and I was swept along from one world to the next, utterly captivated by this story.

I'm trying really hard not to post any spoilers here, so forgive me if I'm being vague. In short, this was one of the most exciting books I've read in a long time, with some really strong characters. The ending was fantastic - it's got me hooked. I can't wait for the next book in the series, which comes out later this year.

Five stars. You all should read it right now.