The Daughter of Smoke and Bone [ The Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1 ] by Laini Taylor

Title: The Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Series: The Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Author: Laini Taylor
Publication Date: January 1st, 2011
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0316134023 
Rating: 5 stars

[NOTE: I will have a section called “SPOILERS”. It will, as you may have guessed, feature spoilers. So, here’s your warning to look at for that, lest you be spoiled!]

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone is one of the best books I have read this year, and the hype has definitely been earned. Laini Taylor weaves words with magic; her style is eloquent and poetic without ever going over-the-top, and I’m sure she’s going to quickly become one of my favorite authors. Beautiful prose mixed with excellent characters that are constantly developing, an enchanting setting, and an intriguing plot makes this a book an excellent start to what will surely be a wonderful and immensely magical series. 


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Touch of Power [ Healer # 1 ] by Maria V. Snyder

Title: Touch of Power
Series: Healer
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Publication Date: December 20th, 2011
Publisher: Mira
ISBN: 0778313077 
Rating: 4 stars

Avry is a selfless healer with a pure heart who is rescued from execution by a band of rogues. By rescued, of course, I mean kidnapped, as they intend to use her to heal Prince Ryne, whose body has been frozen in time to prevent the plague from killing him. The leader of the group – Kerrick – claims that Ryne is the only hope to put the Fifteen Realms back together, stop the fighting over who should rule, and make things right ever since the plague. Although Kerrick can be an asshole, especially if Avry is insulting Ryne (he’s very, very obsessed), these rogues are actually quite nice, so it’s not surprising that Avry becomes attached to them and learns to enjoy their company. They are a very close group and Avry slowly becomes an integral member of their makeshift family, which was very lovely to read.

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Graceling [ Graceling Realm #1 ] by Kristin Cashore

Title: Graceling
Series: Graceling Realm
Author: Kristin Cashore
Publication Date: October 1st, 2008
Publisher: Harcourt
ISBN: 015206396X 
Rating: 3 stars

Some people in the Seven Kingdoms are born with a “Grace”, an extreme skill that manifests itself at a young age, and is marked by heterochromia. One can be graced with a multitude of different things, from cooking to dancing to mind-reading. Our heroine, Katsa, is graced with killing, and she is exploited as King Randa’s personal assassin slash torturer. Unexpectedly, she meets a graced fighter, and she cannot help but become his friend. 


The world of Graceling is fascinating, and one of the strongest points of the novel, although fans of intricate worldbuilding ala George R.R. Martin are bound to be disappointed. 

I found the prose to be quite lovely, and I believe Kristin Cashore is a talented author. With that said, the pacing was occasionally problematic, and I often felt that there was too much about Po and Katsa’s relationship and not enough about the actual plot.  It was so relationship-driven that I sometimes felt like that was the plot itself, as opposed to saving the Seven Kingdoms from an evil king with a dangerous Grace. 

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Sisters Red [ Fairytale Retellings #1 ] by Jackson Pearce

Title: Sisters Red
Series: Fairytale Retellings
Author: Jackson Pearce
Publication Date: June 7th, 2010
Publisher: Little Brown
ISBN: 0316068683
Rating: 3 stars

I wanted so, so much more from this book than it gave me. I expected an epic sister relationship, badass girls, horror, creepiness, some sort of monster-of-the-week type of format, and a new favorite book. I was so let down; I was given very little of what I was looking for.

Sisters Red is a Little Red Riding Hood retelling. The main characters are Rosie and Scarlett March, two teenage werewolf hunters. Scarlett is scarred – like, actually scarred, not typical YA fantasy scarred – from an encounter with a werewolf in her childhood. She lives for the hunt, and she loves nothing more than killing the wolves. Rosie, on the other hand, mostly hunts because she feels like it’s her duty, and because she feels like she owes her life to Scarlett. They are close with a fellow hunter, Silas, who is close to Scarlett’s age, and like Rosie, does not live for the hunt.


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