From Goodreads: 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 Rating: 5 hearts
Thoughts
on the Novel: Since I loved Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone,
another sequel that I caught up on over my winter break was Days of Blood and
Starlight. Besides having more of Akiva’s perspective *cue my inner fangirl
screaming*, I loved that Days of Blood and Starlight was a much darker read with some very surprising twists.
Although
the main perspectives remain Akiva's and Karou's, Days of Blood and
Starlight enables you to get into the heads of other major and
minor characters too. I really loved this because it showed how war can
affect people in such different positions of life. Through these
different
perspectives, the novel introduces you to new characters like Ziri and
Jael and
fleshes out some of the secondary characters from Daughter of Smoke and
Bone. I particularly enjoyed reading the perspectives of Liraz and
Zuzana, and
hope that their perspectives are included in Dreams of Gods and Monsters.
Days
of Blood and Starlight also lacks the insta-love romance that was present in
Daughter of Smoke and Bone. In fact, considering how badly he betrayed her, I love that Karou doesn’t forgive Akiva! At the same time though, I love that Taylor leaves open the
possibility of redemption for Akiva.
A sequel that definitely doesn’t suffer
from the dreaded middle book syndrome, Days of Blood and Starlight was released
in November 2012 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
Comments About the Cover: I love how everything is in shades of black and white except for the painted mask and the author's name, which therefore really stand out.
Comments About the Cover: I love how everything is in shades of black and white except for the painted mask and the author's name, which therefore really stand out.
