Title: Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor
Published:
November 6th, 2012 by Little, Brown Books
Source:
Purchased
Format: Audio
book narrated by Khirstine Hvam
Genre: Fantasy
| Paranormal | Romance
Age group: Young adult
Challenge(s): 2013 TBR Pile | Finish the Series
Grade rate: A+
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?
My Review
Daughter of Smoke and Bone was my favorite read of 2011
(see my review here). I was very nervous to pick up Days of Blood & Starlight, I was
sure that Taylor would not be able to replicate the awesome perfection of the
first book. I didn’t need it to worry
because she didn’t let me down.
As with the first book, I will start with a quote:
“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil
fell in love and dared to imagine a new way of living—one without massacres and
torn throats and bonfires of the fallen, without revenants or bastard armies or
children ripped from their mothers’ arms to take their turn in the killing and
dying.
Once,
the lovers lay entwined in the moon’s secret temple and dreamed of a world that
was a like a jewel-box without a jewel—a paradise waiting for them to find it
and fill it with their happiness.
This
was not that world.”
Some people are
born with the special ability to string words together in a way that transforms
their meaning. That, my dear readers, is
the difference between writing and being a gifted author. Needless to say Laini Taylor is a master of
her craft. The writing is nothing
short of sublime, evocative, lyrical, and wonderful in its inventiveness. The plot is a masterpiece as well; it’s a mix
of fantasy, from the chimera and the angels in the world of Eretz; and the real
world with its technology and ease of living.
There so many twists and turns and many voices telling the story at
once. I did not expected what happened
towards the end, but I’m very happy that it did. Certain people (and chimera
for that matter) had it coming. I’m just
saying.
My heart breaks
for both Akiva and Karou. For the
torture that their feelings brought to them that causes misguided regret, shame
and remorse. At times I felt like Karou
needed a good throttling and I’m glad that she came to her senses and is acting
more like herself by the end. I think
this has a lot to do with one of her friends being back at her side. I
adore Akiva; he has the ability to dream big and love deeply, to do what it
takes to do what’s right. He is so in
love and I completely understand what loosing that love would mean to him and
to his world.
There is a host of characters that are centric to the
story, but it would take a review twice as long as this one to name them all
and do them justice. That is to say,
that characterization is also very good and we get to meet many new characters
in this installment.
Kudos to Khirstine Hvam, the narrator of the audio book
because this was one of the most wonderful narrations ever. She was able to make Taylor’s incredible
writing come alive with feeling. The
voices and the accents were pretty cool to listen to.
The only question now is what to do until Dreams of Gods & Monsters comes
out in April of next year? Luckily we get a short novella in November, Night of Cake & Puppets (Zuzanna
and Mik’s story), just in time to tie me over the long wait for the conclusion
of this outstanding series.
More quotes for you:
“A dream
dirty and bruised is better than no dream at all.”
“You have
only to begin, Lir. Mercy breeds mercy as slaughter breeds slaughter. We can’t
expect the world to be better than we make it.”
“Mercy, she
had discovered, made mad alchemy: a drop of it could dilute a lake of hate.”
“Let's
just get this out of the way so I can relax. Karou, your friends aren't going
to eat us, are they?
"No,
Karou thought. They are not. She whispered back, "I don't think so. But
try not to look delicious, okay?”
“She
thought of Akiva, the night he had come to her at the river, the crushing pain
and shame in his face, and love, still love - sorrow and love and hope - and
she remembered the night of the Warlord's ball, how Akiva had always been the
right to Thiago's wrong, the heat to the Wolf's chill, the safety to this
monster's menace.”
“It wasn't
disgust she felt for Karou, not anymore; it was indignation. Incredulity. A man
like Akiva crosses worlds to find you, infiltrates the enemy capital just to dance with you, bends
heaven and hell to avenge your death, saves your comrade and kin from torture
and death, and you send him off looking gut-punched, diminished, carved hollow?
About the cover: I like this cover much more than the
one for the first book. There is
something beautiful about the red painted mask that I just love.
I really enjoyed the first book (the ending broke my heart, especially since I did not realize at the time that it was a series and not a standalone). I am going to wait until the whole series is published before I start reading again – I just get too into these stories to wait :)
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean! I waited a while bonfire reading this while, but I couldn't help myself. Such good books!
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