I think I would have given this book five stars had it not been for the ending which was both a tad confusing, and very sad (not in a good, heartbreakingly beautiful way, but in the plain old "it was depressing" way)
But let's stay positive! Despite that one minor thing, I still loved this book. And There will be a few spoilers, so be warned.
Laini Taylor may possibly be one of the best YA writers out there. Her writing is lyrical, beautiful, haunting and painted a gorgeous picture of Prague, and the demon world.
I love Karou! She is one tough girl. She has blue hair, tattoos, she trained in karate and knife-fighting, she's an art student who lives in Prague, and she was raised by demons (aka chimaera)! That is one bad-ass girl. Awesome! I love heroines who can defend themselves, and don't take crap from anyone.
All of the other characters were great too (except for Karou's ex-boyfriend, who was supremely irritating and had no real role in the story), and each was fleshed out and unique. I loved Karou's relationship with her chimaera family especially.
I do wish the angels/seraphim were described in more detail, but this is the first book so I'm not too upset about that. Besides, the seraphim sound like jerks anyway. I'm sympathetic to the chimaera. I hated Akiva for betraying Karou like that. How could he do that to her family?
Despite how much I loved this book, I'm hesitant about reading the sequel. We shall see.
Overall, I wholeheartedly recommend Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Four stars.
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