Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I had the opportunity to get a bit of a taste of the beginning of Days of Blood & Starlight because I picked up the sampler of it when I was at SDCC this year. I have been dying for the full book since way before that simply because of where we had left Karou and Akiva in Daughter of Smoke and Bone.
I don’t even know where to start with this book, it was nothing like I expected, yet it was incredible. Taylor pulls you into the world she’s created and I didn’t leave until I read the very last page.
In Days of Blood & Starlight, to steal a phrase… the honeymoon is over. The focus here is the war that is happening and it’s not pretty. The book has an incredibly dark and harsh feel to it and Taylor doesn’t pull any punches.
Thiago and Jael are so damn evil and fittingly, and it wasn’t forced evil either but I was nervous every time they appeared simply because I knew no good was going to be coming from them.
I loved Mik and Zuzana in this book – they were the perfect compliment to the darkness adding a bit of light and sweet that was necessary.
“What is it about you?” she had asked him recently. “I almost never like people, even in tiny doses. But I never get tired of being with you.”
“It’s my super power,” he had said. “Extreme be-with-able-ness.”
I also loved the addition of Ziri to the story. I spent a bit of time thinking there might be a love triangle there, but it becomes apparent quickly that it is not. He is the last of her original kind, and therefore she feels a connection to him unlike any other. It’s lovely and the twist to his existence late in the story will have you bouncing in your seat.
But my first love from these books is Akiva… I can’t help it and my opinion will never change. From the very first page you can feel his sadness, desperation and heartbreak over what happened with Karou and his determination to make things right.
Taylor will break your heart with sadness (view spoiler) and she will put it back together with the determination of the characters and their beliefs.
Karou – is of course a total badass. She’s tough and strong with just hints of vulnerability and a softness that she buries down deep. She struggles with her feelings for Akiva and putting them in order because of what happened.
This is a series you must read. Taylor is an incredible storyteller and the world and characters she has created is amazing. If by some chance you haven’t read Daughter of Smoke and Bone – stop everything and go now… then pick up Days of Blood and Starlight.
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