Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy

Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy, or Karou series, is a Young Adult Urban Fantasy series written by Laini Taylor.

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?

Books

 * 1) Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Sept. 27, 2011; 418 pgs)
 * 2) Days of Blood and Starlight (Nov. 6, 2012; 513 pgs)
 * 3) Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Apr. 8, 2014; 624 pgs)

Companion books

 * 2.5. Night of Cake & Puppets (2013; novella)

Publishing Information

 * Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Dreams of Gods & Monsters
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?

Dreams of Gods & Monsters
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?

Awards
1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone 2. Days of Blood and Starlight 3. Dreams of Gods and Monsters
 * 2012 Best of the Best Award from the Chicago Public Library
 * Ranked #1 for Amazon.com's list of the Best Teen Books of 2011
 * Winner of the
 * 2012 Audie Award for Best Fantasy Audiobook
 * Oregon Spirit Book Award
 * Finalist of the
 * Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book
 * Children's Choice Book Awards Teen Book of the Year
 * Nominee of the 2011 Goodreads Choice Awards
 * "Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction" category
 * "Favorite Book of 2011" category
 * Listed amongst the
 * 2012 YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association)
 * Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults
 * Reader's Choice Booklist for Sci-Fi/Fantasy
 * Amazon.com's September 2011 Best Books of the Month
 * LOCUS Recommended Reading List for 2011
 * New York Times' Notable Children's Book of 2011
 * Barnes & Noble Review's Best YA Fiction of 2011
 * 2011 ABC's Best Books for Children Catalog
 * Placed on the "Best Books of 2011" lists of
 * Publishers Weekly
 * School Library Journal
 * Kirkus Reviews (Best Teen Books)
 * The Los Angeles Public Library
 * Amazon.com's November 2012 Best Books of the Month
 * Listed amongst the Amazon's Best Books of 2012: Teen & Young Adult
 * Finalist of the 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards "Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction" category

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.