04 Jun Book Review: Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke & Bone is one of those books that grabs you with its aesthetic before it even fully explains what’s going on. It’s moody, magical, and just a little bit strange—in the best way. Laini Taylor’s writing style is lush and poetic, the kind that makes you pause and reread sentences just because they sound beautiful. But it’s not just pretty words. There’s a gritty, emotionally grounded story underneath all that magic, and by the time it reveals what it’s really about, you’re too invested to look away.

What’s it about?

The story centers around Karou, a blue-haired art student living in Prague, who seems like a perfectly normal—if slightly eccentric—teenager on the surface. She goes to classes, sketches monsters in her notebooks, and navigates a complicated relationship with her ex-boyfriend. But there’s something more going on with Karou. The monsters she draws? They’re real. They raised her. And she runs errands for them across the world through magical doorways.

Karou has grown up between worlds. She was raised by a group of chimaera—creatures made of mismatched animal and human parts—in a hidden workshop run by a creature named Brimstone. Brimstone is a kind of magical trader who deals in teeth, and his clients are as mysterious as his motives. Karou doesn’t know what he does with the teeth, or why they seem to be so important, but she’s learned not to ask too many questions.

Her two lives—the artsy, mundane world of Prague and the hidden, mystical world of the chimaera—have always existed in a kind of uneasy balance. But that balance is shattered when mysterious black handprints start appearing on the doors that lead to Brimstone’s shop. Something—or someone—is severing the links between worlds.

Enter Akiva, a beautiful, haunted seraph (an angelic warrior from another realm) who encounters Karou during one of her errands. Their meeting is violent, confusing, and electric. Akiva recognizes something in Karou that he can’t explain, and Karou finds herself drawn to him even though they are, quite literally, supposed to be enemies.

As Karou begins to uncover the truth about her past—who she really is, where she came from, and why Brimstone took her in—everything shifts. The war between the chimaera and the seraphim has been raging for centuries, and Karou is more deeply tied to it than she ever imagined. Her identity isn’t just a mystery—it’s a ticking time bomb.

The book slowly reveals a love story buried beneath lifetimes of conflict, betrayal, and loss. And that love, once remembered, threatens to upend everything Karou thought she understood about the war, her loyalty, and herself.

By the end, the tone of the book transforms from whimsical magic to something more mythic and tragic. The reveal of Karou’s true identity is both heartbreaking and breathtaking, setting up the series for a much larger, more epic conflict that stretches far beyond the alleyways of Prague.

What This Chick Thinks

A world that’s unlike anything else

I was completely enchanted by the setting of this book. Prague as the real-world backdrop already gives it a gothic, fairytale vibe, but the fantasy elements are where it really shines. The chimaera are bizarre and fascinating—not just monstrous, but full of personality and history. And the way Taylor merges the magical world with the mundane through those shop doors and secret errands made everything feel grounded and real, even when it got weird.

The writing style is dense in places, almost like it’s daring you to slow down and pay attention. It’s the kind of prose that’s clearly crafted with care, and while that can sometimes feel a little self-conscious, in this case, it just works. It suits Karou’s world—a place of beauty and sorrow and impossible things.

Karou is a heroine you want to follow

Karou isn’t your standard chosen-one type. She’s already weird and magical before the story starts, which makes her arc less about discovery and more about reclaiming lost knowledge. I loved that she was curious, sharp, and quietly lonely. Her relationship with Brimstone and the rest of her adopted chimaera family gives the story emotional weight right from the beginning, and her unraveling identity makes you ache for her as the story progresses.

And yes, there’s romance

The connection between Karou and Akiva is intense, swoony, and tangled up in way more history than either of them realizes at first. I liked that the story let their relationship develop alongside the mystery of Karou’s past, and that it wasn’t just about sparks and longing. There’s real grief here, real stakes, and the eventual revelations make their bond feel tragic in a star-crossed, ancient-magic kind of way.

That said, the pacing can be a bit uneven

The first half of the book is all mystery and mood, and while I loved it, I could see how some readers might want the plot to move a little faster. The second half picks up significantly, especially once the full backstory is revealed. It’s one of those books where you don’t fully understand what you’re reading until you’re halfway through—but once it clicks, it’s worth it.

Final Thoughts

Daughter of Smoke & Bone is a moody, lyrical fantasy with a surprisingly epic heart. It’s a story about love, identity, and the cost of war, told through the eyes of a girl caught between worlds she doesn’t yet understand. It’s weird and romantic and a little sad, and it left me wanting more in the best possible way.

Rating: 9/10

Try it if you like

• The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon – Another beautifully written fantasy with a strong female lead and a hidden world of power and rebellion.
• The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater – For the same dreamy, magic-tinged writing and a cast of characters who slowly unravel a deep mystery.
• Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo – For fans of richly imagined fantasy worlds, conflicted magic, and complicated romance.