The Recommended Reading Order
Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke & Bone is a masterpiece of modern young adult fantasy, blending a gothic Prague setting with the war-torn alien realm of Eretz. While the core story is told as a tight trilogy, there is also a beloved companion novella and a sister duology set within the same shared multiverse. To get the absolute most out of the story's emotional beats and world-building, we recommend reading them in publication order.
- Daughter of Smoke & Bone (2011)
- Days of Blood & Starlight (2012)
- Night of Cake & Puppets (2013) — Companion novella focusing on Zuzana and Mik.
- Dreams of Gods & Monsters (2014)
Once you finish the main saga, you can venture further into the same multiverse with the Strange the Dreamer duology. Although it takes place in a different corner of the cosmos with an entirely new cast, it connects directly to the cosmic lore established in Karou's story.
- Strange the Dreamer (2017)
- Muse of Nightmares (2018)
The Main Daughter of Smoke & Bone Trilogy
The trilogy follows Karou, a seventeen-year-old art student in Prague with natural blue hair and a family of chimeric monsters who raise her. Her life is split between drawing in cafes and running errands through magic portals to collect teeth for her guardian, Brimstone. The status quo shatters when she encounters Akiva, a beautiful seraphim warrior on Earth, sparking an epic conflict that spans worlds.
Daughter of Smoke & Bone (2011)
The novel that started it all introduces Karou’s mysterious double life. When black handprints begin burning into magic portals across the globe, Karou is cut off from her chimera family. She is forced to seek answers, leading to a fateful meeting with Akiva and the revelation of a tragic past life, a star-crossed romance, and an ancient war between the Seraphim and the Chimaera.
Days of Blood & Starlight (2012)
The second book takes a darker turn. The portal to Earth is closed, and Karou is now in Eretz, working as the new resurrecter for the Chimaera rebellion. Suffering from intense guilt and grief, she must make impossible alliances while Akiva leads a quiet revolution among the Seraphim. The stakes grow as both sides realize that their unending war of vengeance is destroying their world.
Dreams of Gods & Monsters (2014)
The epic conclusion ties together the fates of both Earth and Eretz. As the Seraphim emperor brings his armies directly to Earth, Karou and Akiva must unite their peoples against a shared, cosmic threat. This final installment expands the scope of the universe, introducing mysterious ancient forces and setting up the multiversal framework that Laini Taylor explores in her later works.
Where Does 'Night of Cake & Puppets' Fit?
Published in 2013, Night of Cake & Puppets is a delightful, lighthearted novella that shifts focus away from the grim war of Eretz to the streets of Prague. It tells the story of Karou's human best friend, Zuzana, and her eccentric crush, Mik. The novella details their magical first date, which was orchestrated with a little bit of help from Karou's chimaera magic.
While it was released between the second and third books, its chronological events actually occur during the timeline of the first book, Daughter of Smoke & Bone, before the portals are closed and everything falls into war. You have two excellent options for reading it:
- After Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Chronological Order): Reading it immediately after the first book provides a warm, romantic break before the story takes a sharp, tragic turn in the second book. This is highly recommended if you want to stay anchored in the cozy Prague aesthetic.
- After Days of Blood & Starlight (Publication Order): Reading it after the second book serves as a much-needed breath of fresh air and emotional relief after the dark, heavy events of Days of Blood & Starlight, preparing you for the grand finale.
The Shared Multiverse: Connecting to Strange the Dreamer
After finishing the trilogy, many readers ask if they should pick up Laini Taylor's next project, the Strange the Dreamer duology (consisting of Strange the Dreamer and Muse of Nightmares). The answer is a resounding yes!
While these books are not direct sequels and feature different characters, they exist within the same overarching multiverse. In Muse of Nightmares, Taylor explicitly bridges the two worlds. The book explains that the Seraphim originally came from a world called Meliz, and when it fell, some escaped to Eretz (the world of Daughter of Smoke & Bone) while others went elsewhere. There is a direct easter egg referencing a "bold young queen" in a distant world training seraphim and chimaera together, linking the climaxes of both stories.
Reading the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy first is recommended because it lays down the rules of portal magic and seraphim biology that make the revelations in the duology even more satisfying.
What to Know Before You Start
Laini Taylor’s work is characterized by its exceptionally lush, poetic prose and deep focus on the consequences of war, hatred, and generational trauma. The romance is central to the plot, but it is accompanied by dense world-building and high stakes. While the first book begins with a whimsical, urban fantasy feel in Prague, the series quickly transitions into a dark high fantasy epic. Prepare for a story that is as brutal and heartbreaking as it is beautiful and hopeful.