Around the world, black hand prints 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 grows dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly 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 beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery 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?
This is prose-first YA, and the prose is why people stay. Taylor's writing is lyrical and fizzing with invention, and Prague has rarely felt so dark and bewitching. Publishers Weekly called it exquisitely written and well paced, and Common Sense Media liked the far-from-average heroine.
The catch is the shape. The first half is an Earth-based puzzle about who Karou is, pleasant but a little reserved. The second peels back a long backstory with time jumps, and some readers find the reveal takes too long. The star-crossed romance splits people too: intense forbidden love to fans, an eye-roll to one reviewer who thought it skewed younger. It ends on a cliffhanger, so plan on the sequel.
Publishers Weekly was glowing, and Common Sense Media praised the dynamic writing and layered mysteries. It was a finalist for the 2011 Andre Norton Award, losing to The Freedom Maze. Later readers are warm but split on the two-part structure.
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Imaginative young adult fantasy literature often relies on atmospheric world-building and complex mythological frameworks. Author Laini Taylor established her reputation in the genre through works that blend folklore, dark fantasy, and moral conflict, most notably in her acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy.
Born on December 11, 1971, in Chico, California, Taylor earned her degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Originally working as an artist, she attended her first Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators conference in 2001 alongside her husband, illustrator Jim Di Bartolo. Taylor debuted as an author with the Dreamdark series, publishing Blackbringer in 2007 and following it with Silksinger. In 2009, she published the young adult short-story collection Lips Touch: Three Times, which earned recognition as a finalist for the National Book Award in Young People's Literature and won a Cybils Award. Taylor currently lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and their daughter, Clementine.
Taylor's writing is distinguished by intricate multi-layered setting design, romantic intrigue, and highly descriptive prose. Her narratives frequently explore themes of identity, humanity, ancient conflict, and redemption. She has noted that reading works like Harry Potter revived her love for speculative storytelling, inspiring her to construct elaborate worlds where mythical beings, chimaera, and angels cross paths with contemporary human life.
Daughter of Smoke & Bone
