Daughter of Smoke and Bone (DoSaB, #1), by Laini Taylor
11:00 PM Posted by Ella Preuss
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Age Group: Young Adult
Overall: 5 out of 5 Stars (Unputdownable!)
Categories: Paranormal, Romance, Angels, Reincarnation, Magic
Goodreads Page
Read in March 2012
Summary:
Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.
Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.
When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?
My Opinion:
I started this book without having read any reviews, so I didn't know what to expect. Laini's world definitely blew me away. I was not expecting that!
The writing style of this book is so light and at the same time, intense; I couldn't put it down (but there were times when I had to). Taylor's descriptions made my imagination soar through the cities she wrote about, imagining scenes, towns, people, like a good book is supposed to do.
We start out not knowing who Karou is, or where she comes from; we only know that she has a lot of secrets, like her family and Brimstone, the closest thing to a father she has. With her blue hair, she's a rebel that seeks the truth about herself, but at the same time, does not want to disappoint mighty Brimstone.
Her human friend Zuzana, is an ordinary girl, your typical teenage friend. I'd love to see more of her, see how she progresses in the story. Karou keeps many secrets from her, but she's still loyal to her, and that says so much about her character. She's definitely an anchor for Karou, who's losing touch with everything that means something to her.
There are so many characters worthy of mentioning, but then this post would be very long. Karou's "monster" family is extremely caring, I started loving them just as much as Karou does.
The veil between our world and the Other Side (I read the book in Spanish; how do you call Brimstone's world?) is thinner than Karou could know, and she'll soon learn that there's more behind Brimstone's closed doors than she could ever have imagined.
Then there's Akiva. A tortured soul with a heavy bagagge. He's here to destroy Karou's world, but when they meet, sparks fly. He's such a deep character, I loved him from the start, even when he was trying to kill Karou!
A legendary battle is playing our between the monsters that have raised Karou and Akiva's own race, and she's stuck in the middle. But what part does she play?
Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a book filled with hope: hope of a better world, of happy endings, and of sad stories. You'll pick it up and won't want to let it go until you're finished, and then you'll cry because you'll want to know more!
Is it November already?
Labels:
Angels,
Laini Taylor,
Little Brown,
Magic,
Paranormal,
Reincarnation,
romance,
Series Daughter of Smoke and Bone,
Young Adult
Avatar: The Last Airbender, Volume One: The Promise, #1, by Gene Luen Yang
11:26 PM Posted by Ella Preuss
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Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Age Group: Children's
Overall: 4 out of 5 Stars
Categories: Avatar: The Last Airbender, NetGalley, Comics
Goodreads Page
Read in April 2012
Summary:
My Opinion:The wait is over! Ever since the conclusion of Avatar: The Last Airbender, its millions of fans have been hungry for more--and it's finally here!
This series of digests rejoins Aang and friends for exciting new adventures, beginning with a faceoff against the Fire Nation that threatens to throw the world into another war, testing all of Aang's powers and ingenuity!
The continuation of Airbender and the link to its upcoming sequel, Legend of Korra!
I love Avatar: The Last Airbender, so when I saw this title in NetGalley, of course I had to have it!
The Promise starts off just where the TV show ended: with the Fire Nation's Lord defeated, Aang victorious and with Katara (YAY!) and Zuko at the Fire Nation's throne.
It is now Aang's job to ensure that everything goes peacefully with the Harmony Restoration Movement, aimed at bringing the people from the Fire Nation living in the colonies in the Earth Kingdom back to their land. But of course, when stuff like this happens, people tend to make roots in the place they're taken to, and that's what the Fire Nation people have done. Now they don't want to leave, and this may bring problems to Aang and Zuko's plan to take them "home".
Aang is a young boy, playful and loveable like always, as the rest of the characters: they're the same as they were in the TV show. The art was also very faithful, I loved some of their expressions! Especially Toph, love her!
This was a very short read, at 74 pages, and we'll have to wait until next month for the next installment. Avatar fans, this is a must read, as it works as a link between A:TLA and Avatar: The Legend of Korra (now on TV!)
Free Four! (INSURGENT Pre-Order Campaign!)
1:10 PM Posted by Bonnie @ A Backwards Story
I'm so incredibly excited for INSURGENT and actually pre-ordered my copy this past weekend before I heard about Veronica Roth's pre-order campaign.
If 35,000 copies of INSURGENT are pre-ordered, HarperTeen will release an e-novella from Four's POV. Um, I want this! Don't you?
There are already close to 30,000 pre-orders, according to the following widget. Go, go, GO!!!
