[teaser/review] DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE SERIES BY LAINI TAYLOR

Even if you haven’t read this series you've heard people raving about the awesomeness of it.
I thought of writing a review – I have so much to say: about the world building, about the characters, about the writing… but everything I would writhe it will be just fancy phrasing of the ultimate conclusion that THIS WAS F***ING AWESOME.

So instead of repeating what other people already said ill just show you three of my favorite teaser-quotes from this series (one for each book) with a hope that they will entice you into reading it sooner.



Rating:

QUOTE:
“Forgive me,” said the seraph. “I didn’t realize that chimaera don’t marry for love.”

Madrigal thought of her parents. Her memory of them was hazed with a patina of years, their faces blurred to generalities—would she even know them, if she found them?—but she did remember their simple fondness for each other, and how they had seemed always to be touching. “We do.” She wasn’t laughing now. “My parents did.”

“So you are a child of love. It seems right, that you were made by love.”

She had never thought of herself in that way, but after he said it, it struck her as a fine thing, to have been made by love, and she ached for what she had lost, in losing her family. “And you? Did your parents love each other?”

She heard herself ask it, and was overcome by the dizzying surreality of the circumstance. She had just asked a seraph if his parents loved each other.

“No,” he said, and offered no explanation. “But I hope that my children’s parents will.”

Again he lifted her hand so that she could circle under the bridge made by their arms, and again her horns got in the way, so they were briefly parted. Turning, Madrigal felt a sting in his words, and when they were facing each other once more, she said, in her defense, “Love is a luxury.”

“No. Love is an element.”

An element. Like air to breathe, earth to stand on. The steady certainty of his voice sent a shiver through her…

MY THOUGHTS:
If I had to describe this one, I’ll say is the cheerful one of the series. Although there are mournful things happening there is also a light side of this book. Here is where we see Karou as a regular teenager, going out with friends, doing art, enjoying everyday life, carefree, unburdened... Also the writing its gorgeous!


Rating:

QUOTE:
He was hunched forward, his weight on one splayed hand, the other arm wrapped across his middle where he bled from a gash, and his great shoulders heaved as he tried to draw breath. He wasn’t long for life, but still he managed to raise his head and answer.

That voice. It was the only time Akiva ever heard it, and the sound of it—the feel of it—would never leave him. Deep as the beat of a stormhunter’s wings, it had seemed to lodge in the base of his skull and live there.

“Dead souls dream only of death,” the resurrectionist told the emperor. “Small dreams for small men. It is life that expands to fill worlds. Life is your master, or death is. Look at you. You are a lord of ashes, a lord of char. You are filthy with your victory. Enjoy it, Joram, for you will never know another. You are lord of a country of ghosts, and that is all that you will ever be.”

It sounded like a curse, Akiva had thought…

MY THOUGHTS:
This one was my favorite (I know, what are the odds? it the middle one of the series) But this is actually where the main plot unfolds, making the first one just a prologue for the EPICNESS that is this book.
In it are consisted the most memorable moments of the story, there is heartbreak, heartache, sacrifice, grief, hope, love and then the plot twists happen… (brain explodes)
It feels like the universe align just right for this one, making everything perfect - the writing for one, the plot, the story, the characters… everything you can think of its perfect...


Rating:

QUOTE:
How do you act like you’ve lost your soul?” Akiva asked. He meant it as a lighthearted question about a children’s game, but when he heard himself say the words, he thought, Who knows better than I?

You betray everything you believe in. You drown your grief in vengeance. You kill and keep killing until there’s no one left.

His expression must have betrayed his thoughts, because Karou’s smile shrank away. She was quiet for a long moment, meeting his look. Akiva had a lot to learn about her eyes, too. Madrigal’s had been warm brown. Summer and earth. Karou’s were black. They were sky-dark and star-bright, and when she looked at him like this, piercing, they seemed all pupil. Nocturnal. Unnerving.

She said, “I can tell you how you act when you get your soul back,” and he knew she wasn’t talking about a game now. “You save lives,” she said. “You let yourself dream again.” Her voice dropped to a wisp. “You forgive.”

Silence. Held breath. Beating hearts. Was… was she talking about him? Akiva felt the tilt of the world trying to tip him forward: to be nearer to her—nearer and touching—as though that were the only state of rest…

MY THOUGHTS:
This series ends on a very weird note (a good weird, not bad).
You don’t have the conclusion and everybody fly around all happy LaLaLaLa like, but it actually ends with another beginning. That was the thing that intrigued me the most, because it leaves us with a feeling that the world we left with the last book continues on living on its own, beyond the pages...  On a side note:
If i read this aside from the first two i wouldn't have like it that much. It has little too much angst for my taste, but even when it annoyed me it didn't: because of the characters i was in love with, because of the writing i worshiped... So i can't put it aside and judge it on its own, but ill say this - i liked this one the least of the three.



No matter how much i loved the story, the character that encompasses and the mythology that unfolds, what i most enjoyed in this book was the writing (if you haven't picked up the subtle hints by now).
The Author has a very keen sense of drama and she knows how to deliver it. She also has the simplest (rawest) way of describing emotions. The two thing combined its what gets under you skin and gives you goosebumps while reading.
So, like i said, whatever i write the subtext would be: THIS WAS F***ING AWESOME. I officially adore Laini Taylor, I'll read anything she ever writes (even if its a grocery list, ill pre-order, wait excitedly, read it, love it, and wait for the sequel!) and i'll recommend her to anybody that'll listen, so...
EVERYBODY LISTENING (reading) - READ THIS PLEASE! NOW!