Book Review: Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

Title: Days of Blood and Starlight

Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2

Author: Laini Taylor

Publisher: Little Brown and Company for Young Readers

Published on:

Source: own copy

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 Thoughts:

" It was brave" countered Issa "It was rare. it was love, and it was beautiful."

Wow. I can literally feel my breath rush out of me as I read the last sentence. What a book! What a brilliant book! The writing was spectacular: deep and sensible. The riddle-like and the metaphor-filled sentences were present and complet and right. The atory building was great. I can say everything was perfect and clean. The twists happened at the right time and exactly when I was not expecting it. How secrets were hidden beneath the words, and how marvelously eloquent they were revealed.

The book was intense. Every burning anguish and every savage death I felt and mourned for. I was so into the story that I felt each character's feelings, whether of remorse or jubilance. Karou's transformation from the first book and here is pretty far-fetched, considering her memories returned. But what I didn't expect was that she was still more of Karou. I was kind of expecting Madrigal to take more of her mind now, but no, she was just a memory. A long forgotten, sometimes-remembered bittersweet memory. My heart still goes to Akiva, of course. Ha! Then there was Zuzana and Mik, the presence of the couple in the book was very heart-warming. And I liked them.

I swear, the scheming and mystery the book held was addicting. I love love stories, romance and all that jazz. But, I love them more when they're in the middle of an action, war. And this book was so under it's category. In Days of Blood and Starlight, the love story was more of a background, but it was still there. It's like it's presence doesn't want to be left behind and so it lingers in every page, and every thought of everyone involved, Being told from alternate and different perspectives, each chapter was refreshing. I particularly like how, after one heavy chapter, Laini Taylor will put in a lighter chapter, and so my heart was not sinking deeply. The balancing was awesome, and I'm thankful.

What I thought was going to be a long arduous read turned out to be a very fascinating journey, I mean read, haha. I absolutely recommend it.