Daughter of Smoke and Bone

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.

W-O-W

This book is totally different to anything I've ever read. I first heard about it when I watched a video recording of an editors' convention, where people from different publishing houses talked about books they were editing. Daughter of Smoke and Bone was one of these and I was absolutely ready to jump into it when the presentation had finished. Alas, I had to wait many months, but I have read it now and can tell you all about it.

Karou, the protagonist, is an amazing main character. She has a personality that definitely stands out from the Mary Sues and depressed girls that dominate the romantic young adult fiction scene. She's so independent and strong. She's good with knives and combat but isn't just a fighter girl. She's beautiful, but isn't incredibly shallow or vain. She wished for blue hair and the disappearance of skin afflictions, but we never really hear about her clothes. Her loyalty to Brimstone, the chimaera (more on that later) who raised her, is remarkable, though she still has the natural urge to disobey his orders so that she can satisfy her curiosity. Her background story is interesting and heart-breaking and makes perfect sense.

Akiva is not as good as Karou, character-wise. He's the typical guy-with-wings that you have to fall in love with because he's gorgeous and shows the ideal boyfriend material with his deep, brooding thoughts and amazing love for his girl. However, his story with Karou and his history with a girl called Madrigal are soulful and very non-boring.

Plot-wise, it was incredibly original. Apart from the fact that there were ANGELS, which we know are somewhat overused in young adult fiction these days, the mythology was basic but unique. Pretty much, there are the chimaeras- creatures that are a mixture of animal and sometimes human body parts- and the angels- who are simply winged people with great combat skill and some magic. These two races are at war in their world, Eretz. Humans aren't really essential to the story, except for the fact that Karou lives among them and Brimstone has portals leading from the human world to his magical shop of wishes. The wishes are the main part of the story, along with the fact that Brimstone buys teeth of all sorts from people in exchange for wishes. We don't find out a lot about the trades until the end. It follows Karou's search to discover who she is and to find her loved ones.

This story focuses on the idea that "magic" is dangerous and painful and that the real magic is in human will and hope. This theme is reiterated at regular intervals through the book, the power being demonstrated more and more as it occurs. It's incredible how characters can solve their problems through hope. Romance is explored, particularly the idea of love and fate being intertwined, but the good thing is that the plot doesn't focus on love entirely. It's sort of a secondary theme, in between the foreground and the background where it looks really quite nice. The lovers in the book have a beautiful chemistry and are pleasant to read.

This is an amazing read for teenagers and older. It hasn't got any flaws that I can conjure from the top of my head. There isn't really a lot that happens in this first book, except in some flashbacks, but you don't notice because of how engaged you are. If you like books with magic, romance and mythological creatures, this is a perfect addition to your "To Read" list. 


I rate it: 


5/5 


Laini Taylor is epic!

The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz

The world of the Blue Bloods is falling apart as we begin to spiral towards a conclusion of a great series and a dramatic struggle for survival...

This is the fourth book in the Blue Bloods series and it doesn't disappoint. There is a good balance of action and slow-paced stuff. With revelations, tours of the world, more flashbacks and a great surprise at the end, the plot was rich and interesting.

Romance has taken a back seat now. There is less of it in every book, though I suspect that the Schuyler-Jack ending in this book suggests that the flame will be rekindled in the next instalment. This was very much a book of secrets and confrontations, with plot twists and turns that can be a little confusing if you don't concentrate. The split perspective between Schuyler, Bliss and Mimi keeps you on your toes and the contrast between their personal stories at this point is heavy.

Schuyler is very much an unchanging character, but a strong one. She is motivated and very prepared to do anything to stop the Silver Bloods. Her romance with Jack doesn't impact on the story much, but a twist at the end leaves us confused as to what has changed between the two...

Bliss is my favourite of the three main characters- she is a lovely person with a dark secret. I think that this book is really about facing your demons and holding on to normality for her. She's under a lot of stress from the events of the previous books and she's not herself, but she is still a sweet, darling girl to everyone. She's consistent and a rock and she may be the only one of the three main girls who has her head screwed on straight.

We're starting to see Mimi grow up. While there is no drastic change, her relationship with Kingsley and the work she does in this book show us that she's got her priorities in a slightly more sensible order- survival of the coven, survival of herself, Kingsley, safety of small children in Rio. She seems to care less for Jack in this book and the feeling is mutual.

As a note- these characters are sixteen, seventeen years old. They don't really feel like sixteen-seventeen year olds. Their behaviour, thoughts and actions- especially where Mimi is concerned- are all those of young women in their twenties- or at least that's how it seemed to me. I was unable to relate much to them.

The pivotal point of the series, The Van Alen Legacy is a compelling read that paves the road to Misguided Angel with anticipation and expectation. If you've read the previous Blue Bloods books, it's definitely worth reading on- randomly reading Van Alen Legacy without reading the others first could cause confusion and a lack of interest.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Shiver by Maggie Steifvater

The town of Mercy Falls is small, quiet and uneventful- until a boy is supposedly killed by the wolves of the forest. Grace feels a connection to these wolves and needs to find out more about what's happening, to help save them. She would risk anything to keep HER wolf out of harm's way...

This was an amazing read! Just like the town where the story takes place, the pace is slow and mostly uneventful, but what does happen in between combines teenage romance with paranormal mystery in a beautiful way.

Grace and Sam are both well-written, unique characters who really do have an air of true love about them. Grace is strong and independent, with an apathy towards her parents and Sam is poetic and decent, wanting to find his way in the normal world without leaving his own behind.

The quality of Maggie Stiefvater's writing is magical- it is slow and descriptive, not leaving any details behind while still just keeping it simple. It doesn't bore at all- it moves you and you will put the book down at the end feeling hungry for more.

My Rating: 5/5

Wings/Spells by Aprilynne Pike



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In a small California town, fifteen-year-old Laurel is sent from a sheltered life of home-schooling into a normal high school when her family move house. Already nervous about school and settling in cautiously, there is more stress and tension added to her life when a giant white flower- shaped like a pair of wings- grows out of her back. On a trip back to her old home, which her parents are trying to sell to someone that gives Laurel the creeps, Laurel meets Tamani, someone who tells her that she's a Fall faerie and...something else. Laurel is sucked into the magical world where she belongs, battling trolls and her inexperience to claim ownership of her old house for the good of the faeries.







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The story continues in Spells, where Laurel finds herself off to Avalon to finally learn the ways of the Fall faeires. Her new-found knowledge is put to the test upon her return home to her well-informed human parents and she still hasn't completely won the battle against the trolls...and now, she has to worry about the mysterious humans that have been taking too much of an interest in Laurel's safety. Also, Tamani and Laurel's human boyfriend David are getting jealous of each other and Laurel can't decide who she wants to be with more!

The first two books in this series were a little different to anything I'd ever read. Aprilynne Pike's version of faeries is the most original take on them that I know of. The plot...not so much. It's pretty Twilight-ish, except that it has less focus on romance and more on the weirdness of Laurel's species and how she adjusts to it.

Laurel was a Mary Sue in my opinion- she was quiet, smart, unsociable, too nice and unwittingly caused romantic turmoil. She's one of those people that look nice in the background and is highly reminiscent of Bella Swan. I felt that, as a main character in a book series that was showing some promise in every other area, she could have had some other, more realistic qualities- a genuine bad side, something that made her only human, in every sense that can be applied to her. Somethings that I would have liked to see is vanity, being self-assured and assertive and getting really angry. Main characters need something that makes them stand out- Laurel lacked that.

Tamani and David are a lot better. Tamani's very clever and confident, with a very supportive attitude to the faerie hierarchy system and, from his description, he is very hot. David is perfect boyfriend/best friend material- he's supportive, eager to help out, sweet, smart and, most importantly, he's funny. Both of their relationships with Laurel, however, are not what they could be.

I also feel that the climaxes weren't incredibly interesting, although the idea of trolls isn't something used a lot in YA. A lack of adrenaline coming frfom Laurel was mostly to blame, but the situations themselves were fairly boring as well.

The chronological, third person writing style that Pike adopted in this series made the story easy to follow and understand.

Despite main character issues, I found these books interesting and unique. If I can get my hands on the third book, Illusions, I will continue reading the series, to see how Laurel resolves her issues with the trolls and her boy troubles, as well as to find out if the series will get anymore exciting.

My rating- 3/5



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 Meanwhile, Disney has recently claimed the rights to the film of Wings and are already starting on it. Miley Cyrus has been tipped to play Laurel, although I'm not entirely sure how that will work out.

Thanks!
Ink-Winged713