Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor is an urban/portal fantasy published in 2011. It follows Karou, a blue-haired teenage girl who lives in Prague and goes to an art school; she also collects teeth and runs errands for her chimera father figure Brimstone who lives in a shop in a different world. The story includes angles and has a rich myth base for the two warring societies.

I originally read and loved this book in 2014. I didn't write a review when I originally read the book, but I remember really loving the imagery, the twist, Brimstone, and the international settings of the book. I have much more complicated feelings about this book reading it now.

The main crux of my issue with the narrative is that the story going on in the magical half of the story is clearly an allegory for colonialism and nothing in the human part of the story investigates the power structures of colonialism in any way. It just seems wild that the story has so many opportunities to have any sort of commentary about the real-world comparisons and takes exactly zero of them. The story's only person of color is a poacher from Somalia. I especially wanted some sort of commentary about the people who were providing teeth; it seemed like such a great moment for nuance.

I also found the way Karou and her friends talked to be both incredibly accurate to how I remember people talking in the time period and slightly upsetting. There were defiantly iffy things said, language that was problematic but in common usage at the time, but now I am sure would not have made it to publication being said by characters we are meant to like. It just made me feel weird, especially because I didn't remember engaging with any of this critique at the time.

I did still think the writing was beautiful; Laini Taylor truly writes in such a beautiful way. Her prose is certainly wonderful to read. I have that to look forward to in future books (I have read Days of Blood and Starlight before, but I don't remember much from it at all).

I remember the instalove thing not bothering me the first go around, there is a plot reason that explains the phenomenon, and I think it can be a fun trope to play with, especially when it is clearly intentional. On this reading, I was fine with it at first because I knew the in-world explanation, but it is sort of a double instance of the phenomena? I was reading very quickly at the end (bookclub deadline), so I could be incorrect about this. But the secondary romance in the main plot needed a bit more fleshing out for me as well.

This book does description incredibly well. I so wanted to go to Prague when I first read this book (and have been thwarted in every opportunity to do so since), and I would still love to go. Her world-building of the fantasy world is just ad detailed and beautiful as her descriptions of the real cities. I just adore the way Laini Taylor writes her scenery.

Another thing that irked me, Karou is a kind of perfect character. She has heartache and trauma from her isolation, but she doesn't really have flaws or the inability to do anything. The whole world is open to Karou in a way that lacks the opportunity for character growth and conflict. Her desire for belonging provides motivation and emotional conflict, but I would have really liked to have some other conflict in Karou's life before the problems of the main plot come out.

I think I am going to rate this book 4 stars, averaging my original 5 and the 3 I would give this reading experience on Goodreads and The StoryGraph. I liked a lot of aspects of this book, but the issues did significantly impact my enjoyment. I typically like to keep my original ratings in place because rereads have a disadvantage because knowing what happens leaves less room for emotional reaction or surprise. I still plan on continuing the series.