Booktober #2: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

"In general, Karou has managed to keep her two lives in balance. On the one hand, she's a seventeen-year-old art student in Prague; on the other, errand-girl to a monstrous creature who is the closest thing she has to family. Raised half in our world, half in 'Elsewhere', she has never understood Brimstone's dark work - buying teeth from hunters and murderers - nor how she came into his keeping. She is a secret even to herself, plagued by the sensation that she isn't whole.

Now the doors to Elsewhere are closing, and Karou must choose between the safety of her human life and the dangers of a war-ravaged world that may hold the answers she has always sought."

I have finished the second book of Booktober and I must admit that I massively regret this choice.... because thank to booktober I now have 2 more books to read before I can start the second in this series. Had I known how deeply I would fall in love with this book there is no way I would have even considered starting it without purchasing the next one, alas I now must wait.

The most important aspect of this book that needs to be mentioned is the language that Laini Taylor uses, every sentence oozes with stunning phrase and poetry and at times it's simply, heart achingly beautiful.

The story follows a girl named Karou who as main characters go is fascinating, she's unique and creative and pretty much everything I want to be as a person. You are immediately pulled into her world which on the surface is, well fairly average but falling deeper you learn about the dark, dangerous and exciting life she was truly born to live. Add to the mix Akiva who enters her life with an almighty force that pulls her away from everything she once knew. 
Everything that happens in this book is a fresh twist that changes all that you thought you knew about the creatures you have met along the way. There is so much more depth and many hidden secrets within each person that becomes entwined in Karous life.

I read most of this whilst on the train and on multiple occasions had a panic when I realised that I wasn't actually in Prague running errands for Brimstone but actually was heading home and needed to get off at the next stop.....
If you are at all interested in fantasy and other worldlyness ... or honestly even if you're not this book demands to be read. There's adventure, mystery and of course a romance that makes everything else seem so lack luster in comparison.

Pick up this book and you will not be disspointed. That's a guarantee. 

x