Review: Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

Days of Blood and Starlight

By: Laini Taylor

Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Length: 517 pages

Synopsis From Goodreads:

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.

This is not that world.

Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.

In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.

While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.

But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream? 

Goodreads | Amazon

My Review: 

Rating:

***Caution May Contain Spoilers***

Most would agree that sequels don't always hold a candle to the very first book or movie. But Days of Blood and Starlight was just as great a book as the first, if not better!

After finishing Daughter of Smoke and Bone I jumped right into Days of Blood and Starlight, I just had to know what was in store for both the chimaera and the seraphim. Both sides destroyed in a war created by cruel rulers with hate in their hearts. Can they find their way into a new world?

Days of Blood and Starlight picks up only months after Karou and Akiva break the wishbone. Karou remembers everything about her past and the love she and her angel shared, the dream they had for a new way of life. But that is all wiped away when Karou discovers the treacherous events Akiva set in motion. 

"A dream dirty and bruised is better than no dream at all."

Angry and hurt, Karou finds herself fleeing the only true happiness she has known into the arms of the man she fears more than anything. Karou has discovered her true calling and has sided with the chimaera once again in a fight to save her people and avenge their fallen. However, the White Wolf has other plans and they do not include a happy ending to all. 

Throughout the book Karou struggles to squash her feels for Akiva, angered by his betrayal Karou shuts down her feelings in a struggle to hate the man she once loved. However, that task does not seem to be as easy as one would hope. She cannot see his side of the story as she is so wrapped up in her own grief and loss. But can anyone really blame her? 

In the meantime, Akiva is fighting to save as many chimaera as he can, to hopefully atone for his sins. But he can't save them all, not so long as the tyrant Joram is alive. Plotting, planning and initiating an assassination with the help of his brother, Hazael and his sister, Liraz; Akiva hopes to make the the first steps towards a dream long forgotten.

While Karou and Akiva are struggling with their own battles against evil men, a darkness is squirming into the land plotting an even scarier war. One that endangers not only the chimaera and seraphim, but the human world. Now these two enemies must work together to stop a common threat. Can they put aside their differences for the greater good? And what of Karou's new secret? Secrets only stay buried for so long. 

“Your heart is not wrong. Your heart is your strength. You don't have to be ashamed.” 

I love how easy it is to fall into this world of chimaera and seraphim. To feel as though you are struggling right alongside them. This writing style is beautiful and amazing, keeping you hooked from the very first page. There is such elegance in each word that it brings every page to life. 

And each character is so unique in their own way, you can see the fine division between them. No two characters sound the same or appear to have the same personality, each one is uniquely their own and for there to be so many characters in one book I can't imagine that was an easy feat. 

It is not common for a second book to be just as spectacular as the first but Laini Taylor was able to pull in off. I look forward to seeing what happens to Karou and Akiva in Dreams of Gods and Monsters. Can they defeat the new dark presence? Will they be able to find their way back to one another? Or has their love had its day in the sun? So many questions and hopes that I can't wait to see how book three unfolds. 

Published by: K

Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

By: Laini Taylor

Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy, Romance

Length: 422 pages

Synopsis From Goodreads:

Around the world, black hand prints 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 grows 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 beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery 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?

Goodreads | Amazon

My Review:

Rating:

***Caution May Contain Spoilers***

Daughter of Smoke and Bone has been sitting on my shelf for years now. I purchased the complete trilogy from Book Outlet and just couldn't wait to read them. However, like most of the books I have read lately, these sadly got pushed to the bottom of my TBR list. 

With all the hype surrounding these books I was bit nervous to read them. So many loved and were captivated by these stories and I couldn't help thinking, "what if I end up hating them." Yet I am glad to report that while it was a slow start at the beginning by the end I was completely enthralled and wondering at every turn. 

Daughter of Smoke and Bone follows a young girl, Karou has she discovers the many secrets hidden from her throughout her life. Karou is an art student in Prague and her drawings of Brimstone and his band of misfits have captivated her audience in class. But little do they know those unusual creatures are real and they are the only family she has ever known. 

Then one day while running "errands" for Brimstone she stumbles upon a uniquely beautiful man. A man with vengeance in his eyes and yet she appears to be drawn to him. But why?

Akiva is hell-bent on destroying those hideous monsters that took the love of his life from him. Vengeance is all he knows, until one day in Marrakesh he spots a blue-haired girl that seems to remind him of someone from his past. 

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a tale of both love and hate. It is the iconic tale of two races; the seraphim and the chimaera, set in a battle for centuries. (Much like we see in the real world.) A war against a race that on the outside appears different from those that despise them. The seraph see the chimaera as hideous, vile monsters that must be destroyed. Two rulers determined to bring an end to one another's race. And yet in the midst of war two unlikely individuals fall in love; an "Angel" and a "Demon."

Now while I struggled a bit at the beginning, I have to say I found this story quite intriguing. After a couple of chapters I had so many questions such as, "what are the teeth for" and who is Karou, where did she come from?" I was surprisingly lucky to avoid spoilers with this series, so I was just as lost and wondering as any first time reader. 

I must say Laini Taylor is a phenomenal author. At first I was a bit skeptical, especially after I struggled so much at the beginning. I couldn't help but think, "I don't like this writing style." However, after a few more chapters it grew on me and I found myself enthralled just like many other readers. I loved how the book was sectioned off, almost as if every few chapters was the start of a new book/story. 

I plan on hopping right into the next book, Days of Blood and Starlight. I must know how it all ends. Will Akiva and Karou finally have their happy ending? Will they be able to stop a centuries old war? 

Published by: K