With ‘Harry Potter’ films no longer in the works and ‘Twilight’ ending next year, Hollywood is looking at young adult novels for the next big franchise. ‘Hunger Games’ is the only one in the works, but if Paramount has their way, they’ll be adapting ‘Daughter of Smoke and Bone’ as their next franchise. Paramount is said to be in negotiations to acquire the rights to this Laini Taylor novel and is reportedly offering $700,000.

‘Daughter of Smoke and Bone’ was just published last September so it’s still fairly new. Here’s the book description according to Amazon.com:

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 otherworldly 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?

Granted, this description was a little light but here’s one that seems to be more to the point:

This complex story is about a girl who has no idea of who she really is. Her life has been filled with creatures that would cause terror to most but have been family to her. Karou is a strong, talented seventeen year old who helps her “family” of demon like characters collect teeth. The teeth have a use, but Karou has never found out what exactly. She just goes to designated sights through portal doors to collect the teeth and then goes back to her private art school and her one friend. Her lonely life is interrupted by the sight of an angel who is trying to put a stop to the teeth trade and the creatures who traffic them. Even though he should destroy Karou, he cannot bring himself to kill her due to her similarities to his long lost love. What follows is an intriguing tale of forbidden love in a lush, imaginative world.

Two other studios have also made bids as the potential for this movie to bring in the same young audiences that see ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Twilight’ is big, but it looks like Paramount may get it in the end. From the descriptions above, a film adaptation of the book would fill the hole left by  ‘Harry Potter.’ After all, it has mythical beasts, magic, a mysterious girl with blue hair, an angel and forbidden love. What more can you ask for a young adult visual effects driven fantasy film?