This book has always been mysterious to me. Dark and elusive, I had no clue what it was about until I actually picked it up and read it. And WOW! What a ride it was.
In third person POV, Daughter of Smoke and Bone follows Karou, a seventeen year old art student in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. If you don’t count the natural blue hair, hamsa tattoos she’s had since birth and the mysterious errands she goes on, she could almost be normal.
But she’s not normal. Karou has a secret life. She was raised by Brimstone, Issa, Yasri, and Twiga – creatures who aren’t completely human. They all have mixed appearances of animals. Brimstone is her main fatherly figure, and he sends her on missions around the world to collect teeth for him for an unknown purpose while he makes wishes as currency for the people who provide the teeth he sends Karou to collect.
Karou doesn’t know how she ended up living with them, and never really questioned her past. That is, until she encounters an angel on one of her missions. After that, her world is sucked up in a whirl wind of confusion and questions, and she finds herself unable to turn to Brimstone for help.
Overall, the plot was great. The major plot twist at the end was a little predictable, but unique at the same time. The characters were fantastic and very well fleshed out. While I didn’t care very much for Karou or Akiva, I immensely enjoyed the humorous yet fierce Zuzana Nováková and all of her hysterical quotes.

For example:
“My body may be small, but my soul is large. It’s why I wear platforms. So I can reach the top of my soul.”

In general, I found Taylor’s writing style to be very lyrical and poetic. It was deep and soul touching and over all gorgeous. At the same time though, it’s understandable and it isn’t too twisted up that its complete nonsense. Another great thing that stood out to me in this book was the disconnection between religion and the “angels” & “devils”. It doesn’t bash believers or non-believers, but instead creates these creatures completely outside the realm of faith.
The romance in this book was acceptable. The couple didn’t quite have the chemistry that I look for in couples, but there was nothing against them either. Their love was a dominating force in the plot, but instead of taking away from the plot, the way most romances do, it made the story more like a breath-taking, romantic fairy tale. The story itself has its dark moments, and as the series continues on, it explores the aspects and effects of war. Personally, I wish I could relate to Karou better but will give this book 4/5 stars. I would suggest it to people over the age of 13.