Days of Blood
and Starlight by Laini Taylor
Daughter of
Smoke & Bone #2
Release Date: November 6th, 2012
Number of Pages:
528
Publisher: Little
Brown, Books For Young Readers
Source: Bought
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?
Wow. There was
something utterly amazing about this book. I fell in love with Laini Taylor’s
world in Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and I could not wait to fall right back in
it. I do have to admit that the first part of the book was a little slow, and I
had some trouble falling back into the story. Yet, which could have been helped
if I had reread the first book. For once, I was happy that it took me so long
to finish this book, because I simply didn’t want this book to end. Even when I
was finally done with it, I couldn’t stop thinking about the story, and
wondering what will happen next.
I was excited to
see not only Karou’s story, but follow her friend Zuzana, see what was going on
with Akiva, and many other characters. This gave such a better understanding of
the world, and of what was happening at the time. I loved seeing how Karou
changed through all the events of Daughter of Smoke and Bone. She became
rougher, since she lost about everything by the end of the first book. And
Akiva really came to life as a character in this sequel. We just learned so
much about him, and we see the truth behind his past action, and I just
couldn’t stop myself from falling for him.
One of the great
parts of the novel is the writing, which is simply phenomenal. It brings
everything to life so easily and makes the world so vivid and believable. I was
simply caught by the prose used by Laini Taylor. For the second book in a
series, Days of Blood and Starlight is packed with action and there is a story
line that is for this book, which I think is important in a sequel. The ending
leaves us wanting more, but we do get an ending for this book.
Overall, this
book is simply amazing. If you still haven’t read Daughter of Smoke and Bones,
you really need to sink you teeth into this series. If you have, the sequel is
simply amazing and should be pushed higher on your TBR pile. I’m already dying to
read the next book. Amazing series.
About
the Author:
(From Amazon)
Laini
Taylor is the author of the National Book Award Finalist Lips Touch: Three
Times, as well as the novels Blackbringer and Silksinger. She lives in
Portland, Oregon with her husband, illustrator Jim Di Bartolo, and their
daughter.
