Title : Days of Blood and Starlight
Author : Laini Taylor
Genre : Fantasy
Published Date : November 6th 2012
Publisher : Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages : 517
Source : Bought
Rating : ✿✿✿✿✿
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?
Get a Copy : [AMAZON] | [BARNES&NOBLE] | [INDIEBOUND] | [THE BOOK DEPOSITORY]
Review
Daughter of Smoke and Bone, the first book of this series, had been an amazing read. The cover was stunning and beautiful, and I really like the story. Since I've been dying to know the continuation of this series, when Days of Blood and Starlight was out, you can only imagine how excited I was. And needless to say, I was really thrilled by it.
"It was rare. It was love, and it was beautiful.”
—Issa
Days of Blood and Starlight continued as Karou traveled to her chimaera homeland, Loramendi, where she found it being ash and ruins from the angel’s doing. Desperate to save the only family she had, Karou hesitantly joined Thiago, who had beheaded her in the previous life, as he tried to resurrect his fallen army once again. But when she found out Thiago’s true reason of war, Karou began to questioned her people, her decision, and moreover, herself.
The plot of this book was actually quite okay in my opinion. While slow-paced, it was not boring and gave too much or too little for the readers. And what made it better was that the story was not as jumpy as the first book, and I found it easier to read it this way. The tension building was also better than the first book, and it kept the reader guessing about what would happen next, and what would the consequence of the action be.
The character was showing a lot of development here too, with Karou as our main character growing stronger and fiercer. She was shown as a tough girl first, but later developed a more softer side, yet still burning when provoked.
Akiva as Karou’s counterpart, was showing a lot of development too, being more rational and more human. I love how he would defy his belief if it’s for the once in a lifetime love he found on Karou / Madrigal, yet still love his brother and sister deep down on his heart.
One character I’ve found quite interesting was Hazael and Liraz, Akiva’s brother and sister respectively. I love how they seemed to balance each other, with Hazael being the humorous one and Liraz being the icy one, yet they both still care for each other. Their past, along with Akiva was told quite well too, being laid all over the story so the reader could threw it all together to made the story of Akiva’s childhood.
One thing I’m not quite fond of this book was how the story tends to sag when it was told from Karou’s point of view. Akiva’s and Suzanna’s part was actually pretty exciting, but I found that Karou’s part was a bit repetitive at the earlier part, but got better as the story went on.
Overall, if you had read the first book and like it, you would definitely love this one. Or if you’re just looking a new series to read, or you’re just an urban-fantasy lover, or love to read a story based strongly on angel mythology, I would really recommended this one.