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Return to Smoke & Bone
Portland author Laini Taylor this week unveiled the title of the sequel to her wonderful fantasy novel, DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE.
As a fan of Taylor’s writing, this is sanguine news for me. Remember, please, that “sanguine” means both “hopeful” and “bloody.” I think that pretty much sums up my emotions about her 2011 novel.
Book 2 in this lovely and violent trilogy, to be released later this year, will be DAYS OF BLOOD AND STARLIGHT.
A mock-up for Book 2 in Laini Taylor's fantasy trilogy
If you haven’t read the story of Karou, the part-time art student in Prague and full-time messenger for a family of demons, go do so right away. The novel is romantic and lush and dangerous and stunning.
Learn more at Taylor’s delightful website.
Smoke and Bone and Excellent Storytelling
If you don’t mind a bit of fantasy and romance mixed in with your adventure, I can’t recommend any book more strongly than “Daughter of Smoke and Bone” by fellow Portland author Laini Taylor.
Taylor has crafted a bittersweet, magical tale of an artistic loner girl juggling the mundane necessities of being an expat art school student, bouncing off a bad romance with a jackass and struggling with the nature of being an adoptee. That, plus she collects teeth for a demon.
The heroine, Karou, is one of the best, most complete protagonists I’ve met in years.
While the story is grand and operatic, I have to take a moment to applaud Taylor’s use of Prague as a setting. I don’t know if she lived there, although I suspect she must have. She paints the city with incredible, loving beauty. A scene in which Karou’s best friend from art school performs a puppetry act for tourists on a busy city thoroughfare was hauntingly beautiful. That, and the scene in which two mystical beings share a loaf of bread and watch the sunrise over the parapets and facades of the ancient Czech city will stick with me longer than the actual fight scenes.
“Daughter of Smoke and Bone” is the first book in a trilogy, and I for one can’t wait to see where the author takes us next.
