Reading Until Dawn: Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor Review

Hardcover: 528 Pages

Release Date: November 6, 2012

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Genre: Fantasy/Paranormal

Daughter of Smoke and Bone Series

Book One: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Book Two: Days of Blood and Starlight

Book Three: Untitled (2013)

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Amazon Summary:

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.

Ar 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:

"Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love.

It did not end well."

Karou and Akiva did the impossible. They fell in love. If you have never read this series before, you would ask, "What's the big deal"? But you see, Karou and Akiva are not your everyday humans. Karou was once a chimera who was scorned by her people for loving the enemy, but was given a second chance for life. Akiva is a seraph, the bastard son of the infamous King Joram. Both races have been destined to war against each other from the beginning of times. There was always hate, so much hate. Never before had a chimera and seraph been friends, let alone lovers.

Until Now.

“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love

and dared to imagine a new way of living."

Karou and Akiva once had a dream that one day in the future, both their races would live in harmony. That they would spread their ideas of a world of peace, a world where mothers and children didn't have to constantly be worried if they would survive the next day. In Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Akiva broke Karou's trust. It was not intentional, but because of both of their actions, Karou's entire family and almost all of her race was annihilated by seraphs. She has almost completely lost her hope of a perfect world, she called it naivete and dreams of a child. Can Akiva teach Karou how to hope again? Will they succeed in a dream long forgotten?

I had to wait two days in order to write a review on this book. Right after I finished Days of Blood and Starlight, I was reduced to excessive fangirling and crying my eyes out. I couldn't explain in coherent words how much I absolutely adored this book without jumping around in the air again. Not sure if I'm ready to write a review right now.....but lets hope for the best!

The one characteristic that I loved the MOST about this novel, was the message it sent to the readers. Here are two characters who have been repeatedly bombarded with problems and situations where I would've probably given up. But they never lost hope. Yes, there were times when they wanted to throw in the towel, but they never did. They continued to fight for a dream everyone else considered impossible to achieve. It was just so awe inspiring and beautiful....and I should probably change subjects before I start massively weeping again.

I didn't love Karou as much as I liked her in the first novel. Not sure why, but it didn't matter much to me because the other parts of the novel made up for it completely. Throughout the first part of Days of Blood and Starlight, she was dejected and had given up, almost. She did what she was told to do with no questions asked because she felt like it was her fault that her race was so close to dying. Yes, she did bring events into motion that led to the war, but even if she had never been born, the war would've been fought sometime in the future anyways. Tensions were running high and both sides hated each other. It was like a ticking bomb, just waiting to blow up. However, after a certain event happened (Can't say or I'll give away spoilers!) she regained her drive and motivation to live. For those of you who absolutely loved Zuzana (Like me xD), don't worry she'll definitely be making an appearance along with her boyfriend Mik in this novel. She hasn't lost her signature witty comebacks and recklessness which I'm so very grateful for! Every single one of her comebacks made me laugh like a madwoman and the conversations she had with Mik (One in particular) were so sweet!

Such a tragic star crossed romance between Akiva and Karou! My heart literally wrenched when I read about them together. It seemed like they were ripped apart just when they needed each other most. Fate is a cruel cruel thing. I understand where Karou stands, why she hates Akiva and why she promises to kill him, but I just wanted them to get together throughout the whole novel. Of course, we can read from both Akiva and Karou's perspectives so we know things that the other character doesn't.

Only particular problem I had with Days of Blood and Starlight, was the abundance of POVs. When I started reading this novel I had trouble keeping up with who was who, and sometimes there were also these random sections about characters I'd never met before. However, as the story progressed, the POVs got smoother and soon I was too immersed to even care.

The Days of Blood and Starlight is one of those books where everything is intricately woven together. If you missed something in the last chapter, you'll be floundering around for the rest of the book. So I suggest that if you don't understand a sentence's intended meaning, read it again until you know, because if you don't, it'll come back to bite you in the end.

I loved the style of writing that Laini used! I'm so used to the regular American contemporary writing, that reading about how people speak in the cities of Praugue and their funny sayings are like a breath of fresh air! I'm so envious of how easily Laini can string sentences together and how they all form into one big picture. And of course with a theme this unique, you need amazing wordbuilding as well. Laini didn't disappoint! I knew exactly what type of castle they lived in, what each of the chimera looked like, and even how certain scenes smelled!

Overall, I loved Days of Blood and Starlight very much. If I was asked to choose whether I liked Daughter of Smoke and Bone or this one more, I would be at a loss for words, because there both equally amazing! The twists and turns were jawdropping and I was left flipping page after page begging for more. Be sure to set aside a couple of hours to read this book, because once you pick it up......you won't be able to put it down until your finished.

Favorite Quotes:

"Once upon a time, an angel and a devil held a wishbone between them And its snap split the world in two."

"Brimstone once told me that to stay true in the face of evil is a feat of strength."

"Akiva had always been the right to Thiago's wrong, the heat to the Wolf's chill, the safety to this monster's menace."

Heroine- 4/5