Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone (2))

I really enjoyed this book. The relationships were complex but still relatable. I loved the tempo of the story and the end left me immediately wanting to rip into the third.

I don’t really know how to begin this review. I finished this book over a week ago and I’m still slightly unsure how I feel about it? I’m confused? Normally I very quickly know how I’m going to rate a book, usually even while I’m still reading it I know! This one has me boggled though, I think partially because I loved the first book so much and immediately started reading this sequel after I finished book one and I almost feel like I should have taken a break first and read something else.

This one to me had a feeling of second book syndrome. The first book was SO GOOD and honestly blew my mind that I waited this long to read it, it was absolutely phenomenal and beautiful. But Days of Blood and Starlight was just, not. The plot was slow, there was an abundance of new characters that I had a hard time keeping straight, it was much longer than it needed to be, and it mostly felt like the dreaded filler book before the real story begins again in book three (I feel this with absolute certainty now that I am about halfway through Gods & Monsters!)

In the first book I loved Karou and Akiva, no matter what happened between them. I love them separately, as people. This book though Karou kind of annoyed me? She spent the majority of the book hating Akiva and it really bothered me, I know she’s young and angry and feels betrayed but I just wish she would hear Akiva out and give him a chance. Again, I realize I can’t impose my adult feelings onto a teenager but just UGH I want her to at least listen to what he has to say! Akiva is such a gooey cinnamon roll that deserves more love than he gets.

I also feel like the plot took a weird turn? I’m not sure, maybe it’s just me or because I listened to the audiobook and not the physical book. The plot just never gripped me like the first book, I found myself drifting away from the story while I was listening and then I would come back it confused as to what was happening. This doesn’t normally happen to me with audiobooks so I’m not sure what happened but I couldn’t get into it. I think it’s also partially because this book was mostly a setup for book three. This whole story (spoiler) was about getting ready for a war and I just found it slightly, boring. I just want to get to the war already!

I don’t want to spoil too much since this is a second book in a series so I’m going to leave it at that. You guys know how much I love Laini Taylor, unfortunately I think this is my least favorite book I’ve read by her thus far. She is still a phenomenal writer and has the most gorgeous writing style, so extra stars for that!

Good seris

This book is a terrific second book in a series. There is certainly no second book slump happening here. This book picks right up and throws you back into the world as it is now becoming. You have your demons and angels and they aren't real happy with each other right now. It does have some slower moments but there are times of contemplation, story progression that is needed but a little draggy, things like that. All in all though it does have a nice flow just like the first book. Things go from one thing to something else by the end and the in between stuff is all crazy good. Things happen that you see coming and many that you don't.
There are a lot of review for this already so I'm going to keep this short and let you read a good one for more specific descriptive stuff if you want to. If you liked the first book, just dive into this one without reading too much about it if you can. It's a great one to do that with. Just go from one to the other and enjoy the journey. I'm going to the third soon and going to do just that! Happy reading!

Book Talk 1/11/19: Laini Taylor’s Days of Blood & Starlight
Traci Kenworth

Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor 2012 Little Brown & Co.
Amazon Blurb: In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed paranormal fantasy--Daughter of Smoke & Bone--Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people.

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.

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 a battle: a battle for redemption. But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dreams?

My Review: The story begins with Zuzana and Mik trying to trace Karou’s whereabouts. What they find, neither is prepared for. Karou has gone home to find everyone and everything she loved destroyed—by Akiva. Love turns into hatred. Seeking revenge, she begins to build an army to go against the seraphim, led by Thiago. But Thiago still remembers her treachery in choosing Akiva over him. He sends one of his chimera to spy on her. When Zuzana and Mik stumble upon her hideout, Thiago uses them to threaten Karou. After Akiva saves his life, Karou is told by Kirin, one of her own kind from Eretz, that Thiago is stoking anger and distrust about her to all the chimera. It looks as if Karou doesn’t have a way out. When Akiva tries to talk to her, she turns away, in league with Thiago. But is Thiago the brute he was?

This was kind of hazy in the beginning as to what was happening with the story as Karou is missing for a quarter of the story. The beginning is about the search for her. And for Akiva to think she died like her people. I liked how the story pulled together though after that and the viewpoints of Zuzana and Mike, Karou, and Akiva weave together well after that. It is a tragic and sad story but both Akiva and Karou hold on to hope, even if it’s not at each other’s side.

Loved the book. Bit slow to start and kind of dragged but really enjoyed this book/series

Daughter loved it

I purchased this book from Amazon to #buddyread with my bestie @mycornerforbooksand. All opinions are my own. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor. This is the second part of The Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I enjoyed the action in this one way better than the first. The story continues and the characters grow. Karou has learned more about the strengths she has and begins to rebuild her chimera army side by side with The Wolf until she learns the truth of what the Wolf is doing and then she pulls her inner rebel and begins to work her own plot to save the chimera. While all of that is happening on Earth, Akiva is in Astrae planning the downfall of throne of angels. The demons and the angels are both planning downfalls that can only lead to a war in a place neither have dreamed. Can't wait to dive into part 3 soon with my bestie @mycornerforbooksand.

When I first heard of this series, I assumed it was going to be another basic YA novel. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing; in fact, bad ya novels are almost exclusively what I listen to while driving. They’re simple enough not to pull my mind completely away from the road, but interesting enough to hold my attention. Hence my buying the first book in this series through audible

I was pleasantly surprised by the complexity of the first book, but was not totally blown away. Karou was as expected: a childish protagonist with a simplistic view of the world, tied up in a forbidden romance. That said, the story was interesting and Taylor is inarguably a fantastic writer, so I decided to keep on with the series

And I’m glad I did, because this book is probably as perfect as it gets. Karou is no longer a child, and the war is not longer a backdrop for a teenage romance. On the contrary, Akiva and Karou’s relationship is now more of a spark to light the flames of a new catastrophe.

I definitely recommend this book, and this series, to any teenager or adult. The covers may be dumb and aspects of the first book a bit silly, but almost every element of this book is completely serious and in some spot maybe a bit /too/ gruesome for younger ages.

On that note, Triggers (with some spoilers):

Rape, genocide, and torture are all described in beautiful written but very illustrative detail

It's so dark and heavy and everyone is acting so regal and stiff and fabulous!*
I know, I know my words and thoughts are all over the place, I was just so sucked in at times by the monstrosities of this book. Laini Taylor is such a master mind. I'm sorry Sarah J. Maas but someone is clawing at your throne!
This one is a lot heavier and darker than the first one in this series, but I loved it none the less!

*Except for Zuzana, she just stays the delicious smol bean that she was in the first one. Don't you just love her! 

After the mind blowing ending of Daughter of Smoke and Bone that left my heart into little pieces, Karou is trying to come back from the blow Akiva dealt her. She has so much character development going on. I'm surprised how lonely and lost she often seems in this book. It made me actually like her more than I did in the first one. She just seems more "human" and down to earth.

I don't know how I feel about Akiva, I actually still kind of like him. But everything and everyone changes so much in this book that it's almost impossible to keep track of how I feel about everyone. And I also don't want to spoil to much and I feel if I talk too much about Akiva I'm just going to start spoiling everything.

My emotions where all over the place in this book. It's impossible to choose a real side for me! So much happens and so much changes, we get to know a very different side of some of the characters. The war in this book is so life like. Not the battle scenes (monsters and angels can't really be portrayed in an earthly manner) but all the emotions and mental conflicts feel just so real and raw (this series is making me into a poet, I don't want to know what the review of the last book will look like if it keeps on messing with my head like this  ).

The ending really makes me so curious about what the last book has in store for us!