Rating: 5 out of 5

Genre: 5 Stars, YA, Sci-Fi / Fantasy

People who should read this: If you love stories about angels and demons with beautiful, descriptive writing. 

My heart is barely holding it together after that ending. 

*wipes a tear*

Okay… pull it together Kait. 

Why do I have to read four other books before I can start the next one? Well… it might be because I put off those books to actually read Daughter of Smoke and Bone in the first place. I’m also in two book clubs and it’s right about now that I begin to regret my life choices. And why is it taking so long for my friend to get the second book? Thank god I had the forethought to buy all three books back during my book buying days. Imagine if I had to wait for the library… or for them to come in the mail. The mail is even slower these days. We’re still very much in lockdown over here friends. Nothing is open yet. Which means no instant gratification. 

Let me make this review very easy for you… JUST GO READ IT!. There. You may skip the rest. 

But really. I doubt you’ll be disappointed. Taylor is a master of words and plot. She is one of the authors I hope to emulate someday, easily flying into one of the top five slots of favorite authors. And she’s in good company. *I still love you Schwab.* It’s no surprise that my top three authors are all friends in real life. Even Jay Kristoff fan girls over Taylor. 

So now you’re dying to know why I’m in love with this book?

First, I don’t think I’m alone when it comes to wanting a story that I can immerse myself in. Granted, I’ve been to Prague before, so it wasn’t hard for me to picture the cobblestoned streets and old world architecture. But the entire book isn’t based in our world. Taylor gave me the details my imagination needed to create a fantastical world. As easy as reading Sorcery of Thorns, I could see Taylor’s aesthetic. I could barely put the book down, forced to ground myself in our dull world. 

I also need a deep emotional connection between the characters. This doesn’t mean romantic. It means that every character must have some form of chemistry with each other. I guess I’m saying that they need to eat, breath, and talk like real people. Most of the time, third person makes that even harder because there’s more distance in the writing. The immersion of being directly in someone’s thoughts and feelings is gone. Only magic can explain what Taylor pulled off though. I'm still searching for all the wires, because the book read like it was written in first person. Nothing was missing. I wasn’t grappling to connect with the characters. 

So ya… the writing was just good. 

We haven’t even gotten to the plot yet. 

*Excitedly bounces in her seat.*

It’s taking all of my willpower to not talk about all the things, but I’ve made a promise, no spoilers. Seriously, just go read the book so that we can talk about all the things. Hit me up on Instagram if you’ve read it and want to talk plot. Because that ending… If I had been paying attention to what Taylor was throwing out there, I could have caught the big twist, but I was so lost in her world, essentially watching the wrong hand, that I missed every single bit of foreshadowing that she did. Instead, it was all a surprise that ripped my heart in two and threw it on the ground to be stomped on. 

I’ve just realized that I’ve never really talked about world building on here. I either say that I like it or I don’t, but nothing else. Okay than… I loved the world building in Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Taylor didn’t just plop the characters in our world like I said earlier. She created a whole other world with rules, war, politics, magic, gods, and even origin stories. But this world is the catalyst for the story, almost like it was it’s own character. The details, from the reason for the teeth, to the fight for power, lended to the overall immersion of the story. If you’re going to world build, than you need to world build. Even the tiny details can make or break a story. 

I could go on and on about this book, and I’m so happy if you’ve made it this far in my ramblings. I really hope that you love the book as much as I did. I’m already scanning the interwebs for all the fan art. Karou’s aesthetic is my dream.

Happy Reading

Love Kait

Reading Challenge: 72/175