Days of Blood and Starlight
By Laini Taylor
Genre: Fantasy
Book two and the chimera and angels are
at war. This is a spoiler-free blog, so I will give no major story
reveals.
The first of the series, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, sets up a world rich with culture and history. This
second of the to-be-trilogy hits the ground running. Laini Taylor
weaves much more complexity into this novel, world, characters, and plot.
She masterfully writes the many sides of war, so you can view reasoning or frivolity behind each decision.
We see the innocent pulled into cruelties of revenge, we see those
that blindly follow commands of their masters, and we see those that
would challenge or second guess everything.
Karou returns to us, as a willow branch
bent to the point of breaking. Her arc is slow to start as she is not
quite who we, the reader, want her to be. Then again, isn't that
realistic? No one is strong all the time. We all have our moments of doubt
and complete resignation.
While I was not as captivated during
the first half, I hit a point midway through where I could not stop reading. I can
only hope this trilogy satisfies.
4/5 STARS
Classroom: No. I can't believe this is
categorized as Young Adult. 15+ to fully grasp some of the complex
issues explored.
