It seems fitting that I make an art analogy when I talk about the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy: Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Days of Blood & Starlight and Dreams of Gods & Monsters. The books, collectively, had the same effect on me as seeing Monet’s paintings of water lilies in real life. At first sight, I might not have understood what a beautiful piece of art I was engaging with. But slowly, as I switched perspectives and allowed myself to truly interpret what I saw, it became one of the most beautiful things I’d ever had the privilege to encounter. The Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy might have made no sense to me at the start, but as the pieces fell into place, I found myself completely captivated by the beauty of these books.