Days of Blood and Starlight ~ Laini Taylor (earc) review

Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #2)
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
November 6, 2012
517 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depo/or Amazon

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?

The end of Daughter of Smoke and Bone let us -- and its characters -- in on some secrets.  Days of Blood and Starlight is what happens once those secrets are revealed.

I have to be honest and say that I almost wasn't going to review this title. Something about it just did not click with me. I did love Daughter of Smoke & Bone -- yet my least favorite part was the Karou and Akiva relationship (for whatever reason, one I could not pinpoint) and that is so much a basis for this book.  Don't hate me yet for still choosing to review this!

The reason I am reviewing it despite the disconnect I felt from it is because of the movie news. (Still don't hate!)

There's something about both Daughter of Smoke & Bone and Days of Blood and Starlight, as well that fall back to more of a storytelling time. Days was better for me as an audiobook, hearing someone tell me the story, brought me into it a bit more.

I think what I missed -- and part of why I'm so hopeful the movie will happen soon -- in Days was the gorgeous, exquisite world Laini Taylor created in Daughter. It reminded me a lot of if Sara Crewe from the Little Princess movie had grown up in the magical world she imagined -- and dyed her hair blue.

I did love that some of my favorite characters, like Zuzana were back in this second book. I love that human marionette ballerina -- and her friendship with Karou. As always Laini Taylor's writing is fantastic and she always has lines I'm ready to quote. It just didn't all add up to a story that's so far (see #4 below) worked for me.

So, what I'm taking forever to say is this, no, I never did really connect with Days of Blood & Starlight (I hate that!), but four things: 1) Don't let that discourage you from trying either book 2) Try the audiobook(s) for this series 3) This book/series should be crazy brilliant as a movie, if adapted well - read the book(s) so you know what's up 4) I loved Daughter of Smoke & Bone so much I'm giving this one a try again later to see if I just read it at the wrong time.


(This may be my least sense-ical and/or logical review in a long, long time if not ever . . . . hoping my four points help a bit!)


Rating: 6/10





thank you to LBYR and NetGalley for my e-galley of this title