Scottish Writer of Fantasy & Sci-Fi
The cover for the UK hardback of Laini Taylor’s “Days of Blood and Starlight” (sequel to “Daughter of Smoke and Bone”) has been revealed:
I really enjoyed “Daughter of Smoke and Bone”, which has had some interesting cover redesigns.
But honestly, I’m not really feeling it with this cover. I much prefer the US cover set:
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It’s not going to stop me picking this book up, because DoS&B was one of my favourite reads last year.
Readers, I’m curious — what do you think of the cover?
On 16th August Hodder Books will publish the paperback edition of Laini Taylor’s brilliant YA fantasy novel “Daughter of Smoke and Bone”.
The book itself is wonderful, and you can find my review and the hard back cover over here. I have a bias towards the original cover, because it’s the cover I own and love — and I adore designs that use feathers. but there’s plenty of interesting aspects in this new cover. It seems to be aiming at an older audience (crossover?), reminding me a lot of some women’s fiction covers while still keeping the story elements obvious, and I like that the font is almost identical to the original.
Laini Taylor’s “Daughter of Smoke and Bone” was released this week, and I reviewed it here. To celebrate, I have 1 brand new hardback copy to give away!
The story includes a shop where wishes are a currency. Wishes rang from scuppies – little wishes which can change hair colours, remove tattoos and cause uncomfortable itches – to larger wishes which can grant flight, and even knowledge, but often at a price.
To enter just leave a comment below telling me what small thing you would wish for, if you had a scuppie to spend.
You won’t get extra entries for multiple comments, but feel free to chat to your fellow commenters anyway.
Here’s how to gain extra entries:
+1 extra entry if you link to this contest on your Twitter/Facebook/Goodreads/etc. (Limit of +4 extra entries)
+1 if you follow me on Twitter (@EMaree) and/or add my Facebook fan page
+1 if you link to this post on your blog (includes Blogger, Tumblr, Livejournal etc).
Drop me a comment with links to places you’ve been spreading the word, mentioning everything you’ve done to get extra entries. The winner will be decided next Monday by random.org. Make sure you use a valid e-mail address when you comment, so I can contact you if you win.
This contest runs from today (Friday 30th September) through to Friday 14th October at midnight (UK Time: GMT+1). Any entries after that point will not be counted.
Because I am a poor IT monkey, this competition is only open in the UK. Sorry, international guys and girls.
“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well.”
This is one of those books that’s hard to sum up in a review because I am ridiculously in love with it. Laini Taylor takes the old story of an angel falling in love with a devil and makes it new and original. It’s not the only cliche she freshens up either – Taylor takes heroines with a secret, angels fighting demons, magic boy-meets-girl, and turns it into a vivid fantasy series.
But that’s not where I got hooked – it was the opening scene that got its claws into me. In a beautifully described, snowy Prague our protagonist Karou wearily shrugs off a man jumping out at her from the shadows. The man is her ex, Kaz, and he’s got a surprise in store to try a win her back… a surprise involving his appearance on stage during her life drawing class.
It’s just hilarious, watching Karou trying to deal with the whole class seeing her ex naked–and the humor doesn’t end there, with Karou returning to the shop of the demon she works for and wryly recalling the ram-headed demon’s last attempt at a sex ed talk.
And this is all before the real story begins:
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 otherworldly 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? – Goodreads
“The Daughter of Smoke and Bone” really shines at dropping hints for you to piece together – by the end of the story, all the little details slot into place and you see how Laini planned everything perfectly from the start.
The book is split into three parts – part 1 lets you fall in love with Karou and her life as an errand girl for a shop full of loveable demons, part 2 introduces a flame-eyed angel Karou can’t keep herself away from, and part 3 is full of surprises and secrets.
It’s coming out this week in the UK, and I cannot recommend it enough. It’s a captivating, stay-up-all-night-to-finish it fantasy story that takes everything cliche and tired and makes it shine. I can’t wait for UK readers to get their hands on this – and I can’t wait for the sequel!
“The Daughter of Smoke and Bone” is released on September 29th!
Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for providing a copy of the work for this review. This review is based on the ARC, and may not represent the final content.