“Love is a luxury."
"No. Love is an element."
An element. Like air to breathe, earth to stand on.”
― Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke & Bone
Review:
5/7 hearts
WRITING, PROSE, WORLDBUILDING
A very immersive beginning with the plot weakening a bit towards the end, aDoSaB was all in all a rather satisfying epilogue to my reading year. Following the adventures of 16-year-old Karou, a blue haired artist who collects teeth for her rather… unconventional family, Laini Taylor’s prose arouses the senses without excess and profligacy. Masterfully giving classic YA tropes an original touch, the author creates a very solid urban fantasy scenery with descriptions that awoke my wanderlust and tingled my imagination. The stories of the sun and the two moons were definetely my favorite and gave a depth to the world-building sadly most YA in the spectrum of fantasy tend to derograte.
CHARACTERS
Though not particularly fascinating, Karou is, in my opinion, a beautiful example of a self-empowered yet kind female character. Aware of her beauty and her strength without rendering herself untouchable or without emotion, she challenges you to participate in the unveiling of her origin and makes you wish she appeared more.
Personally, I found the love interest, Akiva, quite dull, though I am curious to see how their dynamic evolves in the rest of the series. Brimstone, Issa, Zuzana… even Kaz and Razgut were, I think, very complimentary secondary characters –her hoemance with Zuzana is plainly delicious and way more realistic than I could have hoped for- developed in depth. As far as villains go, Thiago was not very intimidating. Curiously the Warlord’s presence was more imposing. I’d like to see more of him and whether or not he was in the same page as Brimstone, who, has got to be my favorite.
VERDICT
Tiring flashbacks aside, I am not sure what the story lacked that left me a bit unsatisfied. Maybe it was that I found the plot a bit predictable; maybe the fact that though not quite insta love, everything happens way too fast to the point I don’t see why I should ship it. Even though I don’t think I will be re-reading this particular book again, I am very eager to see what is going to happen next and especially for all the aspiring writers out there, I definetely suggest it. Hopefully neither of us won’t be let down.
