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Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy

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Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy — or Karou Series by Laini Taylor. 

Next Release: Dreams of Gods and Monsters — pp: July 7, 2015

Genre and Sub-genres[]

Young Adult Urban Fantasy (can be enjoyed by adults) 

Series Description or Overview[]

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. Karou 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? ~ From: Laini Taylor's blog: Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy

Lead's Species[]

  • starts as a mystery

Primary Supe[]

  • Chimera, Faeries

What Sets it Apart[]

  • A unique main supe — Chimera

Narrative Type and Narrators[]

  • Third person narrative 

Themes[]

The author tackles themes of longing and self-­actualization with a sympathetic understanding of her audience. ~ Daughter of Smoke and Bone — By Laini Taylor — Book Review - NYTimes.com

Books in Series[]

Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy:

  1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone (2011)
  2. Days of Blood and Starlight (2012)
  3. Dreams of Gods and Monsters (2014) ~ pp: July 7, 2015  ~ Final

Shorts, Anthologies and Guides[]

World Building[]

Setting[]

Prague — “a city of alchemists and dreamers”

Places: []

  • Eretz: Magical world where seraphim and chimaera live. Similar to Earth except it has two moons.
  • Elsewhere: another name for Eretz
  • Brimstone's Shop: 
  • Poison Kitchen: A cafe in Prague
  • Morocco:
  • Paris:
  • Idaho:
  • Loramendi: city of the chimaera — The Cage, the Black Fortress, the Warlord's Nest. Home to millions of chimaera.
  • Kirin Caves:
  • Astrae: Known as the City of a Hundred Spires. Built by Joram on the ruins of the old city.
  • Cape Armasin: the former chimaera garrison
  • Adelphas Moutains: ice-rimmed peaks that served as a fortress between the empire and the free holdings
  • Kasbah: Castle built of Earth
  • Secret Coast: home to tidal villages and folk who could live in the water or out of it
  • Hintermost: the highest moutains in Eretz
  • Ouarzazte: pronounced War-za-zat - a region of palm oases, camels, and kasbahs at the fringe of the Sahara desert.
  • Azenov: landmass that made up the heart of the Empire's land
  • Tane: a river east of of Azenov
  • Ait Benhaddou: most famous kasbah in Morocco
  • Agdz:
  • Bullfinch:
  • Rome, Italy:
  • Vatican City:

The Supernatural Types[]

✥ Chimera, faeries, devils, seraphim warrior, seraph sorcerers, Naja, Revenants, winged stormhunters, portals, ,  

Glossary:[]

  • Chimaera: Demons/Monsters; inherently peaceful creatures; two raised the main protagonist, Karou, from birth;
  • Naja: chimaera of human and snake aspect—Issa serpent from the waist down and woman from the waist up.
  • Scuppy: The smallest denomination of wishes.
  • Shing: Second smallest denomination of a wish, used for things like tattoo removal or "natural" blue hair.
  • Lucknow: The third denomination of a wish.
  • Gavriel: The second most powerful wish.
  • Bruxis: The most powerful denomination of wishes. The only way to secure a bruxis is to pull all of one's own teeth.
  • Revenants: Chimaera soldier that has been resurrected into new body, marked by Hamsas on their hands.
  • High-human aspect: Chimaera races with head and torso of man or woman (versus other creature aspect with heads of animals).
  • Hamsas: Known as the "Devil's eyes" and marks those that have been resurrected. They shoot evil magic of sickness and weakness at angels, paid for by the chimaera's original death.
  • Seraphim: High order of angels
  • Magi: Seraph sorcerers, murdered by chimaera
  • Thurible: a vessel for the capture of souls of the dead, to preserve them for resurrection
  • Dama: Deer centaur
  • Dashnag:
  • Skinwights:
  • Caprine: sheepfolk, nicknamed herdbeasts
  • Akko:
  • Hartkind:
  • Kirin:
  • Nitid: One of the two moons in Eretz, and the bigger one
  • Ellai: The second moon in Eretz. Goddess of assassins and secret lovers
  • Stelians:
  • Silverswords: (aka Breakblades) – Seraphim that guard Joram's palace. They are only chosen for their physical looks (eight feel tall) and not for their skills
  • Sirithar: the state of calm in which the godstars work through the swordsman
  • Nithilam: the godless thick-of-battle frenzy to kill instead of die
  • Tithe: Creating pain that can be used for magic.
  • Dominion: Seraphim led by Jael
  • Misbegotten: The bastard children of Joram, including Akiva, Hazael, and Liraz.
  • Stelians: Race of seraphim from the Far Isles, who Joram wants to go to war with. They are magical. (Akiva's mother was a Stelian.)

Groups & Organizations:[]

  • Art Lyceum of Bohemia in Prague: school that Karou attends.

World[]

✥ There is this entire separate world, with its own mythologies and stories and this raging war between two species: the Seraphim and the Chimera. This story is unique and it’s unique because of the Chimera, and everything about their lives.

✥ In this world, the angels are powerful and vindictive and the so-called demons (or monsters, or chimera) are vulnerable a

✥ The story of a tattooed, blue-haired orphaned teenager named Karou caught up in an ancient war between angels and demons.nd frequently victimized.

✥ Karou has hamsas tattooed into her palms, she can fulfill small wishes with a necklace with unusual powers, and she dashes through magic portals on her errands to land on the streets of Marrakesh and Paris. But it's a life she has to hide from her best friend Zuzana and everyone at her school, and things get more complicated when black handprints begin appearing on doorways all over the world. ~ Goodreads | Wendy Darling - Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Protagonist[]

✥ Karou is an orphaned 17 year-old art student living in Prague with Brimstone, the only father she's ever known, in his secret shop. Her hair grows aquamarine blue, she has hamsa eyes tattooed on her palms that have been there for as long as she can remember. She speaks many languages (not all of them human). She runs mysterious errands for Brimstone, traveling through magical doors opening around the world. Best friend of Zuzana. ~ Shelfari

✥ Karou is a seventeen-year-old Prague art student who was raised by creatures called chimaera that she has to go on tasks for: namely, collecting teeth for her foster father Brimstone. Karou has no idea what the teeth are used for. Furthermore, a man with fiery eyes and wings who has spent his time scorching handprints on doors across the world is about to kill Karou until she turns around and he sees something in her that causes him to falter. ~ Wikipedia

✥ Karou is a young art student living in Prague, except that the fantastic figures she draws are actually of demons that she has known. She meets them in her strange teeth-collecting errands whenever she's summoned by Brimstone, a beast who has been a father figure to her as long as she can remember. ~ Goodreads | Wendy Darling -  Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Sidekick[]

Zuzana — sidekick to Karou — specializes in puppetry 

Characters Chart[]

Characters What About
Karou Protagonist, teen; orphaned 17 year-old art student living in Prague
Akiva seraphim soldier Karou's boyfriend; has a secret; half brother of Hazeal and Liraz.
Zuzana Novakova Art student; pixie-size human; Karou's best friend; specializes in puppetry and the only one who knows Karou's secrets; in love with Mik, a violinist.
Brimstone Resurrectionist; sorcerer; Chimaera aka "The Wishmonger"; stern, horned monster with the golden eyes of a crocodile who is a kind of father figure to her He deals in wishes, and is also known as a sorcerer; he trades for teeth: animal and human;
Issa Naja beautiful; serpent from the waist down and woman from the waist up; she can command serpents to do her bidding; protector and family to Karou, works with Brimstone. The closest thing to to mother figure Karou has.
Kazimir Andrasko Karou's ex-boyfriend; an actor leads ghost and vampire tours around Prague; betrayed Karou with Svetla;
Madrigal Kirin Kirin: Chimaera of high-human aspect; vast bat wings, horns and gazelle legs from the knees down. She worked as Brimstone's apprentice; Chimera, a warrior tired of war, who carries this secret and whose actions in the name of love have terrible, unexpected repercussions
Thiago Chimaera general aka "The White Wolf"; Son of the Warlord
Chiro chimaera of creature aspect Madrigal's foster sister; a chimaera of creature aspect, with bat wings and the head of jackal.
Hazael Seraphim warrior half brother of Akiva
Liraz Seraphim warrior half sister of Akiva
Razgut fallen angel Decrepit and broken fallen angel who is attached to Izil like a parasite after he makes a wish for knowledge
Izil Moroccan grave robber supplies teeth to Brimstone; saddled with carrying the fallen angel Razgut.
Avigeth Deadly snake commanded by Issa, used to keep Brimstone's clients in line.
Bain Trades teeth with Brimstone for wishes that he hides
Profesorka Fiala art teacher Zuzana and Karou's art teacher
Twiga chimaera Part of Karou's chimaera family; has a giraffe neck
Yasri Chimaera parrot beak and human eyes, works for Brimstone, part of Karou's family.
Josef Actor friend of Kaz
Frantiska Friend of Svetla, Kaz and Josef.
Mikolas (Mik) Vavra Violinist Violinist at the Marionette Theater in Prague, love interest of Zuzana.
The Warlord
Imrich restaurant owner owner of Poison Kitchen, Kaou and Zuzana's favorite hangout. 

To expand the table, in Edit–Visual mode, right-press on a Row of the table (Control-press on a Mac)—choose add Row or Column. Or, in Source Mode: copy-paste rows.

Laini Taylor

Lani Taylor

Author[]

Laini Taylor

Bio: Hi there! I'm a writer of fantasy books for young people, but my books can be enjoyed by adults as well. My 'Dreamdark' books, Blackbringer (2007) and Silksinger (2009) are about faeries -- not dainty little flowery things, but warrior-faeries who battle devils. My first young adult book, Lips Touch, is a finalist for the 2009 National Book Award! It's creepy, sensual supernatural romance. . . about kissing. I am also an artist with a licensed gift product line called "Laini's Ladies." ~ Goodreads

Days of Blood and Starlight

Days of Blood and Starlight—original art by Cliff Nielsen

Contributors[]

Portrait of Karou, from Laini Taylor's amazing Daughter of Smoke and Bone series

Portrait of Karou — art by Lindsey Look

Contributors[]

Cover Artists[]

  • Artist: Alison Impey ~ book one only 
  • Artist: Cliff Nielsen ~ book two only. 
  • Artist: Sammy Yuen ~ book three only
  • Artist: Lindsey Look — Character Portrait

~ Source: Karou - Series Bibliography

~ Website: CLIFF NIELSEN: Sci-fi and Fantasy Illustrator

Other Contributors:[]

Khristine Hvam narrates the entire trilogy on the audio books. ~ We Still Read

Publishing Information[]

  • Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
  • Author Page:
  • Bk-1: Hardcover, 418 pages, Pub: Sept 27th 2011—ISBN 0316134023
  • Bk-2: Hardcover, 513 pages Pub: November 6th 2012—ISBN 0316133973
  • Bk-3: Hardcover, 624 pages, Pub: April 8th 2014—ISBN 0316134074

Book Cover Blurbs[]

✤ BOOK ONE BLURB—Daughter of Smoke & Bone (2011): 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 grows 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 beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery 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? ~ Goodreads | Daughter of Smoke & Bone (#1) by Laini Taylor 

✤ BOOK TWO BLURB— (2012): Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war. — This is not that world. — Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it. In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life. While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope. But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream? ~ Goodreads | Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #2) by Laini Taylor

✤ BOOK THREE BLURB— (2014): By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her, if there can even be a future for the chimaera in war-ravaged Eretz. Common enemy, common cause. When Jael's brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people. And, perhaps, for themselves. Toward a new way of living, and maybe even love. But there are bigger threats than Jael in the offing. A vicious queen is hunting Akiva, and, in the skies of Eretz ... something is happening. Massive stains are spreading like bruises from horizon to horizon; the great winged stormhunters are gathering as if summoned, ceaselessly circling, and a deep sense of wrong pervades the world. What power can bruise the sky? From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy. At the very barriers of space and time, what do gods and monsters dream of? And does anything else matter? ~ Goodreads | Dreams of Gods & Monsters #3 — by Laini Taylor

First Sentences[]

  1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone ~ Walking to school over the snow-muffled cobbles, Karou had no sinister premonitions about the day.
  2. Days of Blood and Starlight ~ Prague, early May. The Sky weighed gray over fairy-tale rooftops, and all the world was watching.
  3. Dreams of Gods and Monsters ~ Once upon a time, an angel and a devil pressed their hands to their hearts and started the apocalypse.

Quotes[]

Read Alikes (suggestions)[]

Awards[]

Daughter of Smoke and Bone was named one of Amazon.com's Best Books of the Month for September 2011. At the end of the year, it ranked #1 for Amazon.com's list of the Best Teen Books of 2011. The novel was on the YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults 2012 list as well as landing on the Reader's Choice Booklist for Sci-Fi/Fantasy. It also won the 2012 Audie Award for Best Fantasy Audiobook. Daughter of Smoke and Bone was placed on "Best Books of 2011" lists for Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews (Best Teen Books), and the Los Angeles Public Library, as well as a Best of the Best award from the Chicago Public Library for 2012. The book was a finalist for both the Andre Norton Award and the Children's Choice Book Awards Teen Book of the Year. It was also a winner of the Oregon Spirit Book Award, something that Taylor previously won for Lips Touch: Three Times in 2009. Daughter of Smoke and Bone was also a New York Times Notable Children's Book of 2011, the Barnes & Noble Review Best YA Fiction of 2011, a selection for the ABC Best Children's Book Catalog for 2011, and on the LOCUS Recommended Reading List for 2011.

Days of Blood and Starlight was named one of Amazon.com's Best Books of the Month for November 2012. At the end of the year, it ranked #10 for Amazon.com's list of the Best Teen Books of 2012. ~ Wikipedia

Trivia[]

Notes[]

Inspirations and origin  The inspiration for the setting of Daughter and Smoke and Bone, Prague, came from a graphic novel that Taylor wrote with her husband. They were looking for settings when her best friend suggested Prague, so the two went to the city to get an idea of the setting. When Taylor was thinking of writing Daughter of Smoke and Bone, she decided to work with Prague again because of its "moody Gothic atmosphere", "stunning beauty", "mazy ways", the history and art of the setting, the marionettes, and because it gave her an excuse to go back to Prague. In addition, she chose the secondary setting of Marrakesh because she became "fascinated" with the city after reading Tahir Shah's books and My Marrakesh. ~ Wikipedia

See Also[]

See Category links at bottom of this page

External References[]

Books:

Summaries:

Excerpts:

World, Characters, etc:

Series Reviews (series as a whole):

Book Reviews:

Night of Cake and Puppets: 

Interviews, Guest Posts, Author Commentary: Interviews:

Video & Audio Interviews:

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