Daughter of Smoke and Bone

📘 About This Book

DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE is a book unbounded by genre but located at a magical crossroads where THE PASSAGE meets PHILIP PULLMAN and TWILIGHT meets PAN'S LABYRINTH. 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. 'Remarkable and beautifully written . . . The opening volume of a truly original trilogy.' GUARDIAN

📖 Summary

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor is a magnificent juvenile-fiction novel published in 2011 that spans 381 pages. It is a story unbounded by traditional genre constraints, existing instead at a magical crossroads where the epic scope of The Passage meets the intellectual wonder of Philip Pullman, and where the brooding atmosphere of Twilight intersects with the dark, fantastical beauty of Pan's Labyrinth. At the center of this rich narrative is Karou, a seventeen-year-old art student living in Prague. To the ordinary human eye, Karou is just a normal teenager navigating the vibrant streets of a historic European city, working on her art, and dealing with the usual trials of youth. However, Karou's life is vastly more complicated than anyone around her could possibly imagine, because she has managed to delicately balance two entirely different worlds. On the other side of her existence is a hidden realm known as Elsewhere, where she serves as an errand-girl to Brimstone, a monstrous creature who is the closest thing she has to family. Despite growing up partially in this dark, alternate domain, Karou has never fully understood the true nature of Brimstone's mysterious work. She knows only that he deals in the acquisition of teeth, sending her on strange errands to collect them from hunters and murderers across the human world. Karou's existence is a precarious tightrope walk between the mundane human realities of Prague and the grotesque, magical underbelly of Elsewhere. She carries strange blue hair naturally, possesses a body covered in tattoos whose meanings she barely comprehends, and frequently encounters things that ordinary humans would find deeply terrifying. Yet, she accepts this duality as her normal reality until unsettling events begin to unravel the careful balance she has maintained. Cryptic messages arrive on vellum, delivered by near-crows, demanding her immediate attention for Brimstone's urgent tasks. As dark forces begin to close in, and portals between worlds start to fracture, Karou is forced to confront deep questions about her own identity, her origins, and the true purpose behind the teeth her surrogate father collects. Laini Taylor crafts a mesmerizing tale filled with visceral imagery, poetic prose, and high-stakes tension that pulls readers into a deeply immersive fantasy universe. The novel explores the heavy burdens of loyalty, the mysteries of heritage, and the courage required to face a destiny one never asked for. As Karou delves deeper into the secrets of Elsewhere, she discovers that her connection to Brimstone and the monstrous denizens of his world runs much deeper and more dangerously than she ever could have guessed, setting off an unforgettable journey of self-discovery, romance, and epic conflict.

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