Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

 

Karou is a woman unlike any you’ve met before. An art school student in Prague who sketches in her notebook pictures of angels and monsters. Everyone who sees the sketches loves the drawings and asks Karou to tell stories about the creatures featured. What they don’t know though, is that they’re real. She lives as a human, but travels to Elsewhere to visit her pseudo father that grants her wishes in exchanges for teeth. With a life like this you can imagine things get bumpy, leading to an all-out bloody disaster than spans for millennia. Oh, and of course there is some complicated forbidden love that is both doomed and destiny. 





About the Book                                                                                                      Awards and Recognition

• Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone                                        • ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults (2012)

• Author: Laini Taylor                                                                                                            • NYT Bestseller

• Genre: Fantasy/YA Fiction/Romance                                          • Amazon Editor’s Pick - Best Teen Book

• Year of Publication: 2011                                 • Andre Norton Award Nominee for YA Sci-fi and Fantasy

• Pages: 418                                                                                  • Included in many “Best YA Fantasy” lists


Why This Book? 

The prelude description of the book had me incredibly interested and curious. The art really popped and set the tone for a potentially vivid story, which turned out to be the truth. I also enjoy the dark and atmospheric worlds of fantasy so this was an easy sell!

Teaching and Content Considerations 

• This book could serve well as an individual choice read or mentor text in a genre study on magical realism. 

• I would recommend this book to an audience of grades 10-12 as it doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to detailing scenes of violence and emotional pain. 

• Content warnings necessary are strong violence, some moderate scenes of romance, and some heavy instances of emotional trauma. 

Instructional Ideas

• Theme Analysis: Cycles of war and revenge, Othering, and morality.

• Literary Techniques: This book has an interesting non-linear story line. It could be perceived as a flashback, but it is much more than that. Perhaps exploring why that is could result in some great ideas for students’ own writing. 

Potential Read Aloud Passages

• Pages 52-54: In this passage Karou is travels between worlds embarking on a quest for her “father” Brimstone. She journeys to collect some rather rare teeth in exchange for wishes which grant her power of herself and the world around her. 

• Pages 158-161: This is the section where the forbidden lovers meet. Karou meets Akiva, but the moment is not necessarily your classic Romeo and Juliet. Swords slash, stakes are driven, but glances are shared and heartstrings are tugged. 

Overall Thoughts and Reflections

This is a great story with rich emotional depth that made me vicariously heartbroken at times, hopeful and excited in others. Daughter of Smoke and Bone was a terrific read that feels like it should be a staple in the YA genre of magical realism. I found the story incredibly compelling and nothing about it felt like a standard angel vs demon trope. It touches on sensitive topics with a firm yet gentle grasp, slowly squeezing my heart. I also enjoyed the creativity that went in to the world building! An exciting read that was hard to put down. 

Next Steps? 

 There are sequels! Thank goodness! I truly want to continue reading this series. It is a trilogy with the next book being titled Days of Blood and Starlight. How cool does that sound? I think that this creation of a new mythology is an interesting skill, one that I would love to practice and read up on more! 

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