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.
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?
-
Sexual Content - 3/5
3/5
-
Violence - 2/5
2/5
-
Language - 1/5
1/5
-
Drugs and Alcohol - 1/5
1/5
Summary
As soon as I started this book, I knew it would be different than anything I had read before. It definately had the most interesting first sentence I have ever encountered: (\"Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well.\"). The writing read lush and poetic (I found myself jotting down one of the very first quotes of the book- \"Karou was... creamy and leggy with...the eyes of a silent movie star, she moved like a poem and smiled like a sphinx) and at the same time retained a dark, gritty undertone. From the book jacket and even from reviews, I was unable to figure out the plot before I began reading. Halfway into the book, I honestly still wasn't positive about the plot, only that it was extremely complicated, but I didn't care because the writing was so unique and artful. Then, when I finally figured out what was going on, I was awed by the author's creativity and attention to detail. This was one of those books where it seemingly throws out a lot of random, meaningless details that suddenly all slide together to create something perfectly genius. The author mixed Gothic romance with steampunk fantasy to create a very interesting combination. Despite an over-the-top complicated plot, this book was beautiful and unique and I can't imagine anyone who loves fantasy not liking this book.
Violence-I felt like this book was in between a two and a three. Someone was beheaded and people have their teeth pulled out.
Sexual-Romance and doomed lovers are the main focus of the book, as is evident from the first sentence. Sex occurred, but it wasn't graphic. This was a YA book, after all.