Review: Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

Book: Days of Blood and Starlight (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2)
By: Laini Taylor
Published: November 12, 2012
Published by: Little, Brown

Description: 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?

My Thoughts: After reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone (DSB), I absolutely couldn't wait to begin Days of Blood and Starlight (DBS2). DSB left us as a cliffhanger with the split between Karou and Akiva, and I couldn't wait to see what would happen. DBS2, though I don't believe it was quite as addicting and amazing as DSB, was good and interesting in its own way. In my attempt to avoid spoiling the first book for everyone who hasn't read it, this review will probably be brief.

DBS2 started us off with a broken heart. It was slow, and angry and betrayed with hints of sadness, worthlessness and regret mixed in. I honestly didn't like it. Karou's life away from Akiva actually sucks, as his does without her, and the way they beat themselves up about it is even worse. I didn't like the skulking person Karou became. I didn't like her weakness and I was very disappointed in her. As the book progressed however, things got better. Karou got stronger and became closer to the person I expected her to be.

This will never be my favorite book of the series due to the sadness, and the darkness it possesses, but it was absolutely necessary. It works and makes this series so much more than any other. I loved all the characters again, even the bad ones. They knew how to really make me happy, angry, sad, or absolutely terrified (chapter 71 anyone?) and that's what I expect out of a book. It was well written and, since I listened to the audiobook, well read by the Narrator. It was perfect and imperfect at the same time. I both hated and loved it. I will give it 4.5 stars. The slow start bothered me, as did my constant unease/sadness, but it was necessary and was a wonderful sequel to DSB.