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Days of Blood & Starlight
(Daughter of Smoke & Bone #2)
by
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, ...more
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, ...more
Hardcover, 517 pages
Published
November 6th 2012
by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
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Community Reviews
Showing 1-30
Sep 28, 2014
Nick
rated it
it was amazing
Shelves:
angels-aliens,
angels-demons,
2014,
fantasy,
paranormal-fiction,
favorites,
favorite-authors,
series
5 SMOKING STARS!
Daughter of Smoke & Bone Review
You can find the full review and more about this book on my blog
_________________________________ ...more
Daughter of Smoke & Bone Review
This is the best sequel I have ever read.The first book was great ,but this one...perfection.Everything fits amazing,the characters had a truly development,they are perfectly explained and described,the background is smoky cool,and antique.The story is mind blowing,written so smart.There were some moments I was speechless,like what just happened.
You can find the full review and more about this book on my blog
_________________________________ ...more
“Let’s see. You know how, at the end of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet wakes up in the crypt and Romeo’s already dead? He thought she was dead so he killed himself right next to her?”
“Yeah. That was awesome.” A pause, followed by “Ow,” suggested elbow punctuation on the part of Mik.
Karou ignored it. “Well, imagine if she woke up and he was still alive, but…” She swallowed, waiting out a tremor in her voice. “But he had killed her whole family. And burned her city. And killed and enslaved her people.” ...more
“Yeah. That was awesome.” A pause, followed by “Ow,” suggested elbow punctuation on the part of Mik.
Karou ignored it. “Well, imagine if she woke up and he was still alive, but…” She swallowed, waiting out a tremor in her voice. “But he had killed her whole family. And burned her city. And killed and enslaved her people.” ...more
May 12, 2012
Nataliya
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
awesome-kickass-heroines,
2012-reads
"What are we fighting for? What are we killing for? What do you see when you look into the future?"
Gone are the first book's spunkiness and lightheartedness, and (thankfully!) the annoying romance angle (even though the deceiving and useless cover of this book may wrongly lead you thinking otherwise).
Instead the darkness and dirt and tiredness and betrayals and pain and weariness and hopelessness and violence and vengeance and grim determination set in, and it is so much more realized and gri ...more
Gone are the first book's spunkiness and lightheartedness, and (thankfully!) the annoying romance angle (even though the deceiving and useless cover of this book may wrongly lead you thinking otherwise).
Instead the darkness and dirt and tiredness and betrayals and pain and weariness and hopelessness and violence and vengeance and grim determination set in, and it is so much more realized and gri ...more
.....
....
***
***
Oct 24, 2011
Cait
added it
A-a whole year until the next book comes out?!
I can't.....I can't........ *snaps*
OHMIGOD I CANT W8 I CANT I REALLY CANT AHHHHH OMGOMGOMG THIS IS GOING 2 TAKE 4EVER ND I WANT IT NOW! I NEED MORE AKIVA AND KAROU! Y DOES THIS HV 2 TAKE SOOOOOOOOOOOO LIKE LONNNGGG!
Woahhhhhhh. Did I just have a total trolly fan-girl rant... over a book? Taylor...
I think....I think I just need to go sit down. I feel so woozy. This series just does such weird things to me *looks at the release date again*
Ooooo ...more
Right
I mean reading this book was a hell of a ride. Taylor doesn't just like to rip things apart, she bloody well SHREDS them and scatters the remaining pieces into the wind.
Like, I mean this book is really not for the faint of heart. It brings back all the magic of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but there's more pain involved in this one, both physical and emotional.
AND THAT ENDING
NO
I MEAN COME ON
STOP LEAVING ME HANGING LIKE THIS, TAYLOR.
I mean reading this book was a hell of a ride. Taylor doesn't just like to rip things apart, she bloody well SHREDS them and scatters the remaining pieces into the wind.
Like, I mean this book is really not for the faint of heart. It brings back all the magic of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but there's more pain involved in this one, both physical and emotional.
AND THAT ENDING
NO
I MEAN COME ON
STOP LEAVING ME HANGING LIKE THIS, TAYLOR.
“Dead souls dream only of death. Small dreams for small men. It is life that expands to fill worlds. Life is your master, or death is.”
But of course, my favourite instalment in the DOSAB trilogy has the honour of being my 50th Goodreads review! ;)
(P.S. How did this happen???! I only began reviewing books in June! How did I manage to review 50 books in less than 5 months?! I am shooketh…)
Where to begin? Where to BEGIN? Now that I’m finally reviewing (arguably – as it changes on a day-to-day basi ...more
war.
just... war.
i have read plenty of books about war before. fiction, yeah, but fiction about wars that actually happened: conflicts in europe, america, africa... but i have never read another book that did what this one did for me - i have never felt the horror of war as much as i felt in this one. and that's a little messed-up, right? that it would take a YA fantasy novel about imaginary battles between imaginary beings to bring the horrors of war and genocide into my emotional sphere?
in my ...more
just... war.
i have read plenty of books about war before. fiction, yeah, but fiction about wars that actually happened: conflicts in europe, america, africa... but i have never read another book that did what this one did for me - i have never felt the horror of war as much as i felt in this one. and that's a little messed-up, right? that it would take a YA fantasy novel about imaginary battles between imaginary beings to bring the horrors of war and genocide into my emotional sphere?
in my ...more
OMG! I can't believe my first review of this back in 2015 was 3 stars. I must have been on crack!
This book is amazing and it made me cry for really sad things and really good things and just OMG!
God!
Karou is living with the evil freaking Thiago and the other chimaera. They are all hateful and evil with the exception of a few. But I won't go into that without giving away some major spoiler ...more
This book is amazing and it made me cry for really sad things and really good things and just OMG!
Once upon a time,
an angel and a devil held a wishbone between them.
And it's snap split the world in two.
God!
Karou is living with the evil freaking Thiago and the other chimaera. They are all hateful and evil with the exception of a few. But I won't go into that without giving away some major spoiler ...more
4.5 stars!
I think this is a 4.5...
Wow, just wow. *switches to spanish*
Les dije que mi GR era spanglish, y hoy se me antoja escribir en español. ES QUE A VER. No sé ni cómo expresar mi sentir sobre este libro, tuvo muchas cosas increíbles y pocas cosas que no me gustaron, así que empezaré con lo que no me gustó.
Creo que tuvo partes algo densas y aburridas, y las historias de algunos nuevos personajes no me interesaban para nada. Y otra cosa es que siento que le faltó esa MAGIA del primer libro. Yo me enam ...more
Wow, just wow. *switches to spanish*
Les dije que mi GR era spanglish, y hoy se me antoja escribir en español. ES QUE A VER. No sé ni cómo expresar mi sentir sobre este libro, tuvo muchas cosas increíbles y pocas cosas que no me gustaron, así que empezaré con lo que no me gustó.
Creo que tuvo partes algo densas y aburridas, y las historias de algunos nuevos personajes no me interesaban para nada. Y otra cosa es que siento que le faltó esa MAGIA del primer libro. Yo me enam ...more
May 07, 2012
Meredith Holley
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Pol Pot
Recommended to Meredith by:
Stalin
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
With it's amazing die-worthy gorgeous cover, how can this book be bad at all? Really? It would be a sin!
Days of Blood and Starlight is the fantastic sequel to the very well loved Daughter of Smoke and Bone, where we met the lovely Karou and her unimaginable surroundings. Both the characters and world building in this series are created wonderfully and incredibly vivid--which is surreal for such an imaginative fantasy world. While we are taken on a mind blowing journey when this world unravels i ...more
Days of Blood and Starlight is the fantastic sequel to the very well loved Daughter of Smoke and Bone, where we met the lovely Karou and her unimaginable surroundings. Both the characters and world building in this series are created wonderfully and incredibly vivid--which is surreal for such an imaginative fantasy world. While we are taken on a mind blowing journey when this world unravels i ...more
okay. when i read ‘daughter of smoke and bone,’ i complained that the relationship felt too insta-lovey. and now after reading this, im going to complain that there wasnt enough love. WHO EVEN AM I?! i just really want to see karou and akiva happy and heathy and in love. is that too much to ask!?
overall, this wasnt bad! ive seen nothing but absolute obsession when it comes to this series, and i desperately wanted to feel the same. after ADOSAB, i thought i was on the right track, but after read ...more
overall, this wasnt bad! ive seen nothing but absolute obsession when it comes to this series, and i desperately wanted to feel the same. after ADOSAB, i thought i was on the right track, but after read ...more
If Daughter of Smoke and Bone was a dream, a mirage, a masterpiece of writing and phrases and words, overlapped and edited and fine-tuned to create a perfection of romance, snark, and pulsating chemistry, all tinged with a palpable undertone of bittersweet, Days of Blood and Starlight is like a hard slap, the cold splash of water, and the startled opening of ones eyes into the bleak, war-ridden, fragile, and bloody reality of life. Unlike most trilogies which follow in a steady rhythm of romance
...more
Only one word can describe my feelings about this book:
Fuck.
Fuck.
FUCK.
Don’t take that the wrong way. I mean it in a good way. A very good way.
You know why I love this series so much? Because it’s different. I’d previously rage-quit reading anything even remotely YA because I just can’t with the contrived drama, and the angst, and the dopey, sappy, first time love, and the Mary Sues. The goddamn Mary Sues.
Authors, stahp it with the goddamn Mary Sues.
And then there’s the love triangles. Anyon ...more
Fuck.
Fuck.
FUCK.
Don’t take that the wrong way. I mean it in a good way. A very good way.
You know why I love this series so much? Because it’s different. I’d previously rage-quit reading anything even remotely YA because I just can’t with the contrived drama, and the angst, and the dopey, sappy, first time love, and the Mary Sues. The goddamn Mary Sues.
Authors, stahp it with the goddamn Mary Sues.
And then there’s the love triangles. Anyon ...more
YES! This was better!
Mainly because and I'm sorry to say, I don't care much about Akiva and Karou. In this we get more of the other characters and everyone needs Zuzana and Mik even if you don't know you do.
Oh and the world! The world! THE WORLD!
This felt like it's happening outside my door. Most of the action is happening in Morrocco and gosh darn it felt like home.
The food, the places, all of it is just so familiar.
The Kasbah, which are these ancient castles and homes clustered around them. Th ...more
Mainly because and I'm sorry to say, I don't care much about Akiva and Karou. In this we get more of the other characters and everyone needs Zuzana and Mik even if you don't know you do.
Oh and the world! The world! THE WORLD!
This felt like it's happening outside my door. Most of the action is happening in Morrocco and gosh darn it felt like home.
The food, the places, all of it is just so familiar.
The Kasbah, which are these ancient castles and homes clustered around them. Th ...more
IM A MESS THIS DESTROYED ME AND IT WAS AMAZING
I'm currently mourning that I don't own the third book :/
I like this series! I forgot how amazing the writing is and how much I love these characters. I'm really into this magic system with the animal hybrid characters; I think it's super neat. This one dragged a little, even though I like that it's set somewhere in the world that I've never read about before. It was just a little bit stagnant because pretty much this entire book was characters watching the war from the sidelines, whereas I thin ...more
I like this series! I forgot how amazing the writing is and how much I love these characters. I'm really into this magic system with the animal hybrid characters; I think it's super neat. This one dragged a little, even though I like that it's set somewhere in the world that I've never read about before. It was just a little bit stagnant because pretty much this entire book was characters watching the war from the sidelines, whereas I thin ...more
Days of Blood and Starlight was always going to be a hard sell after the stark and hauntingly beautiful Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I want to address the all-important question of whether Taylor has an obsession with the letters DBS or not.
Okay, fine. Not relevant. Really….party poopers.
Most of us had to prepare ourselves for the fact that DoBaS, like most middle child books, was probably not going to be quite as good as it’s older siblings. Personally, I always hold out hope for middle child bo ...more
Okay, fine. Not relevant. Really….party poopers.
Most of us had to prepare ourselves for the fact that DoBaS, like most middle child books, was probably not going to be quite as good as it’s older siblings. Personally, I always hold out hope for middle child bo ...more
“A dream dirty and bruised is better than no dream at all.”
After finishing Daughter of Smoke & Bone., I immediately picked up the second book because this is one of those series you just can’t put down until you know every possible detail about it. For once, I’m really happy I didn’t start this series when it first came out because how can you possibly wait a whole year between each new release? This is what I like to call a marathonable series.
The plot:
This book took a turn for the blea ...more
The characters: 
Dec 04, 2011
Ela
marked it as to-read
Exactly what I felt like after reading the publication date.
...EDIT...
Ooh. Days of Blood and Starlight. Nice title.
Oct 07, 2011
Kyle
marked it as to-read
EDIT #11: I'm actually holding this beautifully book in my hands. I seriously don't know how I didn't spontaneously combust right then and there when the Customer Service lady handed it to me. <3
I'm not allowing myself to read it though until I finish NaNoWriMo. Just a little incentive to get writing.
EDIT #10: OHMAGAWD. NOT EVEN 4 1/2 HOURS LEFT.
EDIT #9: 9 MORE DAYS PEOPLE. 9. [image error]
EDIT #8: 24 MORE DAYS. 24 MORE DAYS OF TORTURE. Laini, I am begging you. Let this book be the exce ...more
I'm not allowing myself to read it though until I finish NaNoWriMo. Just a little incentive to get writing.
EDIT #10: OHMAGAWD. NOT EVEN 4 1/2 HOURS LEFT.
EDIT #9: 9 MORE DAYS PEOPLE. 9. [image error]
EDIT #8: 24 MORE DAYS. 24 MORE DAYS OF TORTURE. Laini, I am begging you. Let this book be the exce ...more
Feb 03, 2012
Kristalia
rated it
it was amazing
Recommends it for:
everyone who like mature ya and combination of contemporary and high fantasy :D
Final rating: 5/5 stars
“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a new way of living—one without massacres and torn throats and bonfires of the fallen, without revenants or bastard armies or children ripped from their mothers’ arms to take their turn in the killing and dying....more
Once, the lovers lay entwined in the moon’s secret temple and dreamed of a world that was a like a jewel-box without a jewel—a paradise waiting for them to find it and fill it with their hap
Jan 31, 2012
Stacia (the 2010 club)
rated it
really liked it
Recommended to Stacia (the 2010 club) by:
buddy read with sandra, jenny and meg
These are the Days of Blood & Starlight.
Oh, Ellai, my hands will never be clean again.
4.5 stars. I want to crawl inside of Laini Taylor's head and live there for a little while. For every creative idea I've ever had, it feels like a penny compared to a hundred dollar bill. Laini falls on the idea-rich side.
In the past, you might have seen my enthusiastic gushing about book 1 and how I likened it to word porn. Because, you know, that's what it was - porn for the brain that wants to li ...more
I think this set up the third book to be pretty awesome, but it wasn't my favorite book in itself.
This story mostly focuses around Karou working as a resurrectionist in the desert where she builds new bodies for the souls of dead chimaera. The war is brutal, widespread, and pretty much the main focus of the book. Basically everyone's in a bad situation and it's looking pretty bleak. Akiva is with his half sibling seraphim and then there are a few other perspectives from new characters thrown in ...more
This story mostly focuses around Karou working as a resurrectionist in the desert where she builds new bodies for the souls of dead chimaera. The war is brutal, widespread, and pretty much the main focus of the book. Basically everyone's in a bad situation and it's looking pretty bleak. Akiva is with his half sibling seraphim and then there are a few other perspectives from new characters thrown in ...more
Original review posted on The Book Smugglers
Warning: this review contains inevitable spoilers for book 1 in the series.
Trigger warning: rape.
Laini Taylor is doing really interesting things with her series. When it comes to romance in the Paranormal/Fantasy YA landscape, more often than not the reader is presented with truly problematic pairings where rape culture is normalised and where insta-love is presented as par for de course and in lieu of actual romantic development.
Daughter of Smoke and ...more
Warning: this review contains inevitable spoilers for book 1 in the series.
Trigger warning: rape.
Laini Taylor is doing really interesting things with her series. When it comes to romance in the Paranormal/Fantasy YA landscape, more often than not the reader is presented with truly problematic pairings where rape culture is normalised and where insta-love is presented as par for de course and in lieu of actual romantic development.
Daughter of Smoke and ...more
This book was amazing. I enjoyed the first book, but this one was leagues ahead.
The one thing I really appreciated about this story was the tone. I felt that Laini Taylor expertly captured the feeling of war. Taylor painted both sides as exhausted and frustrated, the soldiers were unable to articulate why they were fighting anymore. All they knew was blood. There was this air of hopelessness, this feeling that neither side was winning, that both were destroying themselves. But even within this ...more
The one thing I really appreciated about this story was the tone. I felt that Laini Taylor expertly captured the feeling of war. Taylor painted both sides as exhausted and frustrated, the soldiers were unable to articulate why they were fighting anymore. All they knew was blood. There was this air of hopelessness, this feeling that neither side was winning, that both were destroying themselves. But even within this ...more
I have to admit, I wasn't worried I wouldn't love this. I loved book one, after all! But this sequel is even better. In terms of character work and romantic arcs, I'm amazed at how far Laini Taylor has come.
HOW THIS BOOK LIVES UP TO BOOK ONE
• The writing here is possibly even more beautiful. Laini Taylor's writing flows across the page to the point where instead of skipping across paragraphs as I usually do, I was hanging on her every word. It's so simple and yet so gorgeous. I'd read her groce ...more
HOW THIS BOOK LIVES UP TO BOOK ONE
• The writing here is possibly even more beautiful. Laini Taylor's writing flows across the page to the point where instead of skipping across paragraphs as I usually do, I was hanging on her every word. It's so simple and yet so gorgeous. I'd read her groce ...more
"Mercy breeds mercy as slaughter breeds slaughter. We can’t expect the world to be better than we make it."
I do recall that I said the first book brought my girly wishes to life but this book, THIS BOOK! If I had murderous, savage, bloodthirsty wishes, this book would have definitely brought them to life.
I was completely exhausted from the never ending war between the angels and the chimaeras, the different kind of war dear, sweet Akiva is trying so hard to wage and the war inside Karou’s h ...more
Συγγνώμη, αλλά δεν καταλαβαίνω για ποιο λόγο λάτρεψαν όλοι αυτό βιβλίο.
Είμαι απογοητευμένη!!
Λυπάμαι που δεν συμμερίζομαι τη γνώμη της πλειοψηφίας. Ήθελα όσο τίποτα να με ξετρελάνει αυτό το βιβλίο ακόμα περισσότερο από το πρώτο.
Η γραφή της Laini Taylor παραμένει μαγική, το χάρισμά της. Αλλά 620 σελίδες για να περιγράψεις γεγονότα, που θεωρώ πως μπορούσαν να ειπωθούν στις μισές σελίδες, είναι υπερβολικά πολλές. Για 400 σελίδες βλέπαμε τα ίδια και τα ίδια (view spoiler) ...more
Είμαι απογοητευμένη!!
Λυπάμαι που δεν συμμερίζομαι τη γνώμη της πλειοψηφίας. Ήθελα όσο τίποτα να με ξετρελάνει αυτό το βιβλίο ακόμα περισσότερο από το πρώτο.
Η γραφή της Laini Taylor παραμένει μαγική, το χάρισμά της. Αλλά 620 σελίδες για να περιγράψεις γεγονότα, που θεωρώ πως μπορούσαν να ειπωθούν στις μισές σελίδες, είναι υπερβολικά πολλές. Για 400 σελίδες βλέπαμε τα ίδια και τα ίδια (view spoiler) ...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fantasy Buddy Reads: Days of Blood & Starlight [August 2018] | 95 | 45 | Sep 10, 2018 08:05AM | |
| YA Buddy Readers'...: Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #2) by Laini Taylor - Restarting August 12th 2018 | 287 | 395 | Aug 28, 2018 06:39PM |
Hi! I write fantasy books. My latest is STRANGE THE DREAMER, about a young librarian, a mythic lost city, and the half-human children of murdered gods. Check it out :-) Before that I wrote the DAUGHTER OF SMOKE & BONE trilogy, which has been translated into 32 languages. It's about a blue-haired art student raised by monsters, a broken angel, and a war that has raged for 1000 years in another
...more
Other books in the series
Daughter of Smoke & Bone
(3 books)
3 trivia questions
More quizzes & trivia...
“A dream dirty and bruised is better than no dream at all.”
—
828 likes
“I am one of billions. I am stardust gathered fleetingly into form. I will be ungathered. The stardust will go on to be other things someday and I will be free.”
—
760 likes
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