Reader Rayna

Month: March 2015

  • Daughter of Smoke and Bone Book Review

    daughterofsmokeandbone

    Title: Daughter of Smoke & Bone
    Author: Laini Taylor
    Series: Book #1 in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy
    Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers – an imprint of Hachette Book Group
    Publication Date: September 27, 2011
    Genres: Young Adult – Urban Fantasy, Romance
    Pages: 418
    Format: Purchased Paperback

    “Daughter of Smoke and Bone” by Laini Taylor is the first book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. It’s a story about a girl named Karou living in Prague, going to art school and doing just fine. Kind of. Her boyfriend cheated on her and she is just having a really rough time, but there’s something about her natural blue hair and super fantasy-esque drawings that make her stand out from the crowd.

    Maybe it’s the fact that she lives a secret otherworldly life on the side. Yeah, that could be it.

    Karou was raised with chimera, a type of mythical being who is forged of many different types of creatures (human head/torso but with the legs and body of a horse, like a centaur). So that world isn’t really that surprising to her given that she was raised in it. So she’s often given tasks by one of the chimaera, Brimstone, and carries out these “tasks” to get teeth – all varieties – when one day she goes to Morocco and is discovered by an angel. An angel who wants to kill her.

    This story, man. This story. At first I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. I thought it was going to be a poorly written, all over the place, insta-love type of thing, when really, it wasn’t. There was so much more going on in the background that was woven in and throughout the novel that it just took my breath away.

    Literally, I’m feeling ALL the feels.

    Karou, herself, is a strong female character with a stubborn streak, but also a quirky attitude that seems to get her in trouble from time to time. She grew up without knowing much about herself or how she got tattoos on her hands (hamsas) and she always wondered why she’d feel lonely at times or just how she didn’t feel like she was her true self in the world she was living in. I thought she was relatable because I know a lot of teens and young adults feel “out of place” in the world and want to find who they are and where they fit in all of this. Karou is like that throughout most of the book and she doesn’t really change much in personality, which is great.

    Akiva is the angel who attacks Karou in Morocco and he is described as dead-eyed in the beginning, his features too perfect to be human with short cropped dark hair, a widow’s peak, and burning angel wings that he can glamour into invisibility – but only on his back, not on his shadow. He’s at first merciless and cruel, but something in him clicks when he attacks Karou that makes him pause and he tries to figure out just what that is by following her around (yes, like a creep). Though the two do spar later on, he doesn’t want to hurt her and he later figures out why he is so drawn to her and why he can’t hurt her.

    And possibly why she’d want to hurt him.

    Brimstone is a chimera who is a Wishmonger that makes different types of beads that grant different levels of wishes. He’s stonefaced and not very warm to others, only showing his approval through grunts on occasion. We do learn a little bit more about him toward the end of the book and I think he’s pretty wise, though that may be due to his age.

    Those were really the main characters of the book while everyone else that followed was secondary. I did enjoy Zuzana’s personality a lot (she’s human), and Issa was kind of cool (she’s a chimera).

    The plot of the story definitely pulled me in. It was one in which Karou was trying to find who she was while trying to uncover secrets as to why portal doors have mysterious hand print burn marks on them and why they suddenly go up in flames, taking away any chances she had of returning to that place in between. It also is a great mystery into the chimera and seraphim (angel) world. I really enjoyed it and I can definitely see the potential for the sequels from this book.

    The romance in this book, at first, I thought would be insta-love the way it was playing out. It kind of turned me off, but as it continued and it was explained further in the story I finally understood why they acted the way they did toward each other. It was hot and steamy and ooooohhh the angst, but it was great to read and definitely satisfied my romantic craving.

    And I hope to God there isn’t a triangle.

    My biggest “complaint,” which is really a critique is that I wish that the back stories that we find out later about Karou’s past were woven into the story more as memory snippets. It happened only once or twice before that, but I think that it could have happened a little bit more rather than it all coming in one giant chunk toward the end.

    Overall, I really, really enjoyed this book and I can’t wait to continue on reading the trilogy. I gave this 5/5 stars.

  • February Wrap-Up & March TBR

    February was a decent month overall, and even though I didn’t complete my full TBR list for the month, I am still making progress as we speak.

    So, the books I completed in February are:

    • “The Selection” by Kiera Cass. This was probably my second favorite read of the month. I enjoyed it way more than I thought I was going to and I’m excited to continue this month. You can read my review here.
    • “Snow Like Ashes” by Sara Raasch. This was a great debut novel and I can’t wait to read the second novel when it comes out later this year. You can read my review here.
    • “City of Glass” by Cassandra Clare. This was definitely my favorite read of the month and it was such a great wrap-up to an original trilogy. You can read my review here. This book also completed my February TBR challenge for the month: to read a book over 500 pages! Woo!

    Those were the three books I managed to finish this month. Though I did have three more books I wanted to read last month, I’m okay with not having finished them, and they are:

    It was a slow month and it was rather difficult because I kept on getting distracted by Netflix. *shakes fist*

    Anywho, I’ve also decided that I’m going to pick through the Harry Potter series slowly as the year progresses and just read it when I can or in between book. Or I might just wait until Christmas time to power through a few of them. Who knows?

    Other things that I talked about in February:

    • Epic Reads Book Tag. One of my favorite branches of book publishing did their first book tag on booktube and I participated in it here on my blog. Maybe I’ll put up a video answer to my questions one day… Maybe…
    • Happy Valentine’s Day. In which I talked about things that I love with love in them. I list eight books and movies per category and just talk about some of my favorite couples in both books and motion picture.
    • Mood Reading: The Struggle. It’s seriously hard being a mood reader because I can set myself up with a TBR at the beginning of the month, but toward mid month I might not want to read those same books anymore. The struggle is real.
    • Being a Slow Reader. On top of that, I’m also a slow reader. But that’s also because I enjoy taking my time to delve into the worlds I’m reading about and really get a sense of the characters, plot, setting, etc.
    • Song Title Book Tag. This was a fun book tag I found on booktube and wanted to give my own answers to it. So I did.
    • January & February Collective Book Haul! One of my favorite things to see in a month are peoples’ hauls and if there are any new books that I’m excited to read, too. I got 13 books over the past two months, which isn’t as many as I could have gotten.

    Okay, let’s move on to my March TBR (can you believe it’s March already?).

    The TBR Jar Challenge I picked for this month was: reread a favorite book.

    Hmm, well, I thought about it and I think I’m going to reread “Firelight” by Sophie Jordan. It’s the first book in a YA fantasy dragon trilogy that I loved when I first read it. Maybe I’ll have different feelings this time around? Or maybe I’ll still love it? Who knows!?

    To put into list form, here’s my TBR for the month:

    • “Firelight” by Sophie Jordan. A book about people that have dragon blood and can turn into dragons? Yes please. It’s my reread pick for the TBR Jar Challenge.
    • “The Elite” by Kiera Cass. This is the second book in the Selection trilogy and I was really excited to continue on last month and I’m still excited to continue on and see how the story unfolds.
    • “Falling Kingdoms” by Morgan Rhodes. I said I’d finish it this month and I’m going to give it a go. Hopefully it won’t be so hard this time around.
    • “Red Queen” by Victoria Aveyard. This book has been so hyped and I want to see what it’s all about. It’s about a society that’s separated by blood, literally, and how one girl defies how that society works.

    I think I’m going to keep the list short(er) this month and if I pick up more books then I’ll just roll with it.

    Accompanying video: February 2015 Wrap-Up & March TBR

    What books do you plan on reading this month? Let me know!