Ceramics have found their use in numerous crosscutting industrial applications because of excellent hardness, wear, corrosion resistance, and ability to withstand high temperatures. However, ceramics' reliability and ductility compared to metals are not very high. The best approach to increasing the fracture toughness which enables the structural application of ceramics is through the development of ceramic composites. Fiber-reinforced composites demonstrate the highest fracture toughness and damage tolerance. However, since these materials have a very high density of weak interfaces, they are not very strong. In addition, their high cost limits their commercial applications. Particulate composites are less expensive to manufacture, but compared to monolithic ceramics, their fracture toughness increases are insignificant. Several publications on ceramics show that the use of layered materials is the most promising method for controlling cracks by deflection, bifurcation, microcracking, or internal stresses. Layered structures clearly offer a key to greater reliability at a moderate cost and new applications may result as more complex structures are tailored to specific applications. [...]