After almost two years in development limbo, Universal Pictures big screen adaptation of Laini Taylor’s fantasy adventure “Daughter of Smoke & Bone” is finally moving forward. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Michael Gracey has signed on to direct the project with a script from Stuart Beattie and original author Taylor.

The first book in the series is officially described as follows:

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?

Taylor will also produce alongside Joe Roth and Jane Putch while Palek Patel will serve as executive producer. There is no word on when the project will begin production or who the studio is eyeing for the lead role.