Friday, August 5, 2011

New UK cover for Daughter! + Kirkus starred review!



Here it is, the final UK cover for Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Isn't it gorgeous?! I wasn't expecting a total change, on top of which a false cover had popped up on my google alerts that threw me, and then there was this. Yay! I love that there ended up being this cohesiveness between the US & UK covers: though they're so different, they share the feather motif and color scheme and look related. Cool! 

And here is the back of the book, which I lurve, blurb and Prague and all:




Thank you Hodder! I love it!


Now, back to the US. Daughter has gotten its second trade review and it's another star!!! Yippee!! It's from KIRKUS REVIEWS, and it's wonderful, if a tad spoily, so if you don't want to risk spoilers, skip to the bolded line at the end and rejoice with me :-)


starred review!! 
A love thought lost proves anything but when another world’s 1,000-year war spills over into this one.
Seventeen-year-old Karou leads a double life: as an art student in Prague with normal boyfriend troubles—and as a runner of bizarre errands for Brimstone, a scarred and saturnine sorcerer with the head of a ram and the lower body of a dragon. With similarly chimerical associates, he has raised her from infancy and dispatches her through magic portals to destinations all over the world. She knows nothing of her past or purpose—until a sudden, fiery closure of all the portals cuts her off from the only family she’s ever known, and an initially violent but ultimately “sweet and beckoning collision” with winged, inhumanly beautiful Akiva leads to revelations of an ancient conflict between Seraphim and the supposedly bestial Chimaera. Switching points of view and settings, Taylor then fills in a back story that links Akiva and Karou in an older tragedy, while planting seeds that might lead ultimately to peace. The plot hinges on major contrivances, but along with writing in such heightened language that even casual banter often comes off as wildly funny, the author crafts a fierce heroine with bright-blue hair, tattoos, martial skills, a growing attachment to a preternaturally hunky but not entirely sane warrior and, in episodes to come, an army of killer angels to confront.
Rarely—perhaps not since the author’s own Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer (2007)—does a series kick off so deliciously. (Fantasy. 13-16)

I have had a place in my heart for Kirkus ever since their review of Blackbringer, so this is especially lovely. Thank you Kirkus!

15 comments:

Connie Onnie said...

What a great way to start off my Friday morning! My excitement is getting hard to contain!!!!!!!!!!

storyqueen said...

Best.Blurb.Ever.

Kate Hart said...

Well deserved, congrats!

Alwyn said...

Lovely cover! Loved the old one too, but the blue is gorgeous with any design!

Kiersten White said...

OH. MY. LOVE.

I am totally going to have to order a UK copy now, too. Seriously. SO MUCH PRETTY.

And Kirkus has such excellent taste : )

Sarah Beth Durst said...

Congrats, Laini! Well-deserved review and a lovely cover!

Stephanie Perkins said...

Love love love love LOVE.

LOVE!!!!!!!!!

I second what Kiersten said: A U.K. edition will be ordered.

And how brilliant is your back cover? Holy snickerdoodles! Best marketing move EVER to just put that quote on the back!

WANT.

tone almhjell said...

Ah! This is so amazing! I adore the cover, and the back maybe even more. Patrick Rothfuss! Holy squit! I skipped the review because I want to read it first - but the final line - fantastic! Congratulations and prohugelations!

Ginny said...

Wow, it's so simple, yet stunning. I actually prefer it to the US version (& I love that one). Luckily I live in the UK, so I'm grabbing this one asap.

Unknown said...

I love the cover! The blurb is great too :)

& said...

I like the new cover -- especially the back! That's gorgeous.

And congratulations on the starred review! DAUGHTER's such a gorgeous read that it really truly deserves it.

Natalie Zaman said...

Love the cover--LOVE the book :)

Kathy said...

OMGSH I TOTALLY LOVE THE COVER!! it's gorgeous!
Congrats!, definitely well deserved.

Diana Peterfreund said...

That's a FANTASTIC COVER.

And despite the stars and general squeeage, I want to tweak Kirkus for inaccurate nitpicking. Contrivances? Seriously? Is that what they say when everything is unexpected yet inevitable and TOTALLY FITTING?

Mary said...

LOVE this cover! Enough so, in fact, that I ordered one from Amazon UK! Squee! So easy, too - same sign in and ordering process as Amazon US (in case anyone else is thinking of doing the same).

Of course, I'm not exactly sure what it cost me... :-)

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