“Once upon a time, an angel and a
devil fell in love. It did not end well.”
Karou, with
her peacock blue hair, is a student at the Art Lyceum of Bohemia in Prague. Her
life is a mystery to those who know her as she expertly evades questions and
keeps her secrets close. Karou’s hair really does grow blue her sketchbooks
have quite the following around school for the stories they portray. Brimstone,
a chimera with curling ram’s horns, is the star of her sketches and deals in
wishes. He is not a figment of her crazy imagination but a part of her life.
Although no one would actually believe her if she told the truth.
An actual
monster, Brimstone has raised Karou since she was a baby. If by chance a human
would have laid eyes on Brimstone or any of his minions, they would think they
were seeing devils. An actual dealer of wishes, Karou runs errands for him. In
the beginning, she was an innocent. Now jaded, Karou is ashamed about bringing
Brimstone his treasures, teeth. Deep down, Karou knows something about her is
missing, but has no idea what.
On an errand
in Paris, Karou notices a perfect handprint burned into the door of a shed that
doubles as an entry to Brimstone’s network of portals. Within days, more
handprints appear on doors around the world. Left by beautiful men and women,
all who saw them said they disappeared upward in a wave of heat with feathers
falling behind. As soon as the feathers touch the ground, they turn into ash.
People begin to believe that angels have visited Earth.
When Brimstone sends Karou on an unexpected errand, she runs into trouble. The grave robber, from whom she has just purchased teeth from, asks her an enormous favor. Pull all of her own teeth to earn a wish powerful enough to remove the heavy, hideous creature of knowledge that hangs from his back. Disgusted, Karou backs away but not before the invisible creature licks her skin. It immediately becomes visible and the crowd surrounding them panics. It calls to a beautiful boy, Akiva, in the crowd. The creature refers to him as an angel, his brother come to take him home. The crowd is running from the scene. Akiva notices Karou and she is calm, staring back at him.
Mesmerized by
his beauty, the fight or flight instinct finally sparks in Karou. When the grave
robber screams angel at Akiva, he tells her to run and warn Brimstone that the
angels are back on Earth. She runs but soon feels Akiva behind her. Reaching
the portal back to Brimstone, Karou turns only to be struck by Akiva’s sword.
With the portal not opening immediately, the two fight one another. Staring
each other down, Karou catches a glimpse of Akiva’s soul when he hesitates. On
impulse, she throws up her hands, palms out. (An eye is tattooed on each palm.)
Akiva is thrown back. Karou makes it to the portal only to find a handprint
seared into the door. Akiva comes towards her but stops to really study her. He
asks “Who are you?” Suddenly, the portal opens and Karou disappears through it
leaving
Who or what
is Karou? How come she really doesn’t know where she came from? Who is
Brimstone? What does he do with the teeth Karou brings him? Is Akiva really an
angel and why did he let Karou go? What will happen when Karou and Akiva meet
again?
The audiobook
version read by Khristine Hvam is incredible to listen to. Listeners/readers
will feel like they are in Prague alongside Karou.
Days of Blood and Starlight – book two
SPOILER ALERT! Don’t read any further
if you haven’t read Daughter of Smoke and
Bone in its entirety.
“Once upon a time, an angel and a
devil held a wishbone between them. And its snap split the world in two.”
Now that Karou knows the truth of her
existence, Akiva’s recent actions have driven them apart. With no sign of her
anywhere, Akiva is devastated and attempts to make amends with his siblings.
Zuzana refuses to give up hope that Karou is still alive. When the seraphim
believe that they can finally defeat the chimera, they are truly unprepared for
what they run into. When it is reported that teeth are being stolen by an
unidentified girl from museums around the world, Zuzana knows that Karou is still
alive.
Why is Karou
stealing teeth from museums? Is the war between the seraphim and chimera at a
stalemate or does one side really have the upper hand? Can Akiva make up for
his past transgressions to Karou? And can two tortured souls find forgiveness
and their way back to one another?
The thrilling
conclusion to the trilogy, Dreams of Gods
and Monsters, is due out in 2014. I think the titles of this trilogy really
portray what each book is about.
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