Monday, January 7, 2013

'Days of Blood & Starlight' (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2) by Laini Taylor

I'm not sure why, but it seems as though the Goodreads reviews of this book are uncharacteristically packed with animated GIFs and internet MEME references. And while a few of them are well done most are... well... nauseating and borderline offensive. See for yourself. Oh, go ahead, I don't mind - I'll be right here waiting.

See what I mean? Too much BLINK BLINK BLINK and not nearly enough substance. I'm sure that there are some great insights to be had in that epileptic stroke waiting to happen, but when you start to feel nauseous just scrolling through the page I'm not sure how much of them you'll see, never mind retain long enough to make any sense of it all.

But we aren't here to review the reviews and on that note the follow-up to 'Daughter of Smoke & Bone' left me jaw-gnashingly expectant of the final book in the trilogy and a thousand times more depressed than I'd every imagined. Launching into 'Days of Blood & Starlight' we find Karou living a life that fits her about as well as a potato sack mumu. It's an existence entirely devoid of happiness - her friends, family, life, love... all of this has has been pushed away aside and replaced with a single, brutal focus: war.

Overall, I'm still in love with all of the characters and getting to see a lot more of the chimaera and Karou's best friend Zuzana is a huge plus. While I did find myself missing the romance that was so heavily played out in book one, this second installment by Laini Taylor still finds plenty of ways to pull at your heartstrings. By finding a perfect balance between the apex of a brutal, soul-shredding war and heartwarming and emotional scenes that will, in all likelihood, carry us to an epic book three due out sometime in April 2014, this book is absolutely worth your time.




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