Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #2) in Around the World in 80 Books

Nov 20, 2013 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, fantasy-and-sci-fi, angels-and-demons-and-good-and-evil

This. Was. So. Fantastic.

Yes, allow me to gush like a school girl over this book, because it was really THAT good. It just pushed all my Happy Buttons: interesting characters, star-crossed yet tragic lovers who cannot be together, fate of the world, OTHER worlds, and the struggle that befalls those who survive violence.

That's mostly what this book is about: the struggle that Karou and Akiva both face, separately, to live, to live on knowing that so much violence has befallen those around them, This. Was. So. Fantastic.

Yes, allow me to gush like a school girl over this book, because it was really THAT good. It just pushed all my Happy Buttons: interesting characters, star-crossed yet tragic lovers who cannot be together, fate of the world, OTHER worlds, and the struggle that befalls those who survive violence.

That's mostly what this book is about: the struggle that Karou and Akiva both face, separately, to live, to live on knowing that so much violence has befallen those around them, to live while believing that much of the wrong-doing is their fault. It reminds me of this line from Buffy (roll your eyes if you must, I LOVE Buffy): "Strong is fighting! It's hard, and it's painful, and it's every day. It's what we have to do. And we can do it together." Although, of course, Buffy and Angel don't get to do it together for very long. Similarly, Karou and Akiva are also apart.

It's not bleak, but it's hard, and relentless, and there is no end in sight, no matter how much they WANT to end it. But they keep going, because what other choice is there? I found this to be similar to Rebel Heart

Or ... perhaps Fat laid out your life for you like a dress on a bed, and you could either wear it or go naked.

Blood & Starlight carries on with the characters we first met in Smoke & Bone, and other characters also become important. And yet, somehow, it is not difficult to keep track of everyone. Ms Taylor is brilliant in this way, she adds quirky little touches that bring everything to life in a strange, strange way. For example, Hazael gives his sister a flower. "Liraz took the flower, looked at it, and then at Hazael, expressionless. And then she ate it. She chewed the flower and swallowed it. 'Hmmm,' said Hazael. 'Not the usual response.' " Akiva's brother and sister were mere supporting players in the first book, but I became quite fond of both of them here.

In one of the early chapters, Karou describes Eretz as a "land of dust and starlight" and I was left wondering why THAT is not the name of this book. But, in the end, there is definitely a lot of blood, too.

They are not side by side as they once imagined. They are not exultant, and they no longer feel themselves to be the instruments of some great intention. They are creatures grasping at life with stained hands. There is so much between them, all the living and all the dead, but for a moment everything falls away and the fuse burns brighter and nearer.

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May 03, 2013 Sunflower rated it liked it

Shelves: series-books, e-books, fiction-read-2013

It's starting to really piss me off when I get to the end of a book and find that it isn't finished at all, and there's a sequel that isn't out yet. In my ideal world, all parts of a series would stand alone, and be able to be read on their own, if the reader so wished. On the plus side, this author doesn't baby the reader by going over and over stuff that was in the previous book. If you can't remember then you're not keeping up! Though if you WERE reading this without the previous one, you wou ...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Sam rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-2012, reviewed, young-person-protag, young-adult, 8-fantasy-scifi

The world that Laini Taylor created in Daughter of Smoke and Bone was so wonderful that, of course, I promptly picked up this second book in the trilogy.

In book two, we pick up the story after Karou has taken flight with the fallen angel Razgut into the seam in the sky in search of her chimaera family. Akiva has confessed his role in the death and destruction of her people in the long-running war between the chimaera and the seraphim. There are plenty of reviews that provide summaries of the pl The world that Laini Taylor created in Daughter of Smoke and Bone was so wonderful that, of course, I promptly picked up this second book in the trilogy.

In book two, we pick up the story after Karou has taken flight with the fallen angel Razgut into the seam in the sky in search of her chimaera family. Akiva has confessed his role in the death and destruction of her people in the long-running war between the chimaera and the seraphim. There are plenty of reviews that provide summaries of the plot points, but the thoughts that I want to capture here about the book all have to do with the wondrous way that Taylor sets up such an epic story. It really is epic; the scope and scale is sweeping; the stakes are high (both senseless and righteous deaths are a reality of this world--no sugarcoating); the characters and their motivations and emotions are complex and always authentic. The way that the book highlights the conundrum of halting the never-ending cycle of war is nuanced—you understand each side’s needs for revenge and you kind of root them on, but then all revenge does is call for retaliation, so what does it achieve? Then you throw in the issue of which side is the bad side and the right side. What if the right side is doing bad things because they believe their end is virtuous, does that make it okay? Readers really do understand how daunting the task is for Karou and Akiva to remake the world. There’s nothing simplistic or trite about Taylor’s treatment of these issues at all.

One thing that’s new in this book is how Taylor lets us see the story through the eyes of a few new characters, like the chimaera soldiers and civilians and seraphim guards, instead of just staying with Karou and Akiva’s perspectives. I thought this added a richness and some variety to the story, which was especially needed to give the story some bounce since our Karou seemed to have gone out of character here, remaining too passive for many people’s tastes compared to her kick-assness in book one. She seemed to be in a prolonged haze of self-pity, guilt, and willful ignorance about all the violence and machinations going on around her. And yet, since everything else about the story was so great, I was willing to overlook this. But good god, one thing I couldn’t get over was fucking Zuzana. She was so annoying. I get that the author injected her into the story to add some humanity and light-heartedness to what’s a pretty dark story, to serve as an ally to Karou at a time when she was really lonely. However, the Gilmore Girls-esque banter was too jarring to be cute and charming. I seriously considered lowering my rating just for the irritation and impatience that I had with this one character. The good totally outweighed the bad though.

So back to the love. I’m super impressed with the way that Taylor peels back each layer of the plot. Each plot revelation and twist is delicious and pushes forward the action seamlessly. I’m so excited for all that she’s set up for book three: how the Stelians come into play, the role of Razgut, the Dominions, and how will this task of remaking the world play out.
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Jul 29, 2014 Madeleine rated it really liked it

Shelves: favs, series, kids-ya, speculative-fiction, smart-nonannoying-entertaining

Deep thoughts on YA fantasy alert.

In a status update I said I liked this for the same reason I liked Mockingjay. The hard-hitting yet not overdone message about war and violence. More specifically, the depiction of what happens when a rebel force becomes as inhumane as the entity they want to fight. That was what I took away from Mockingjay, and I found it to be a pretty grim message, in the end.

Days of Blood and Starlight is pretty grim too--in fact, much grimmer than I expected after reading t ...more

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Nov 12, 2013 Lara rated it really liked it

Good sequel but the ending is like she just stopped writing. Good way to get us to read the third one!

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Aug 03, 2018 T.ScottReviews rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 501-550-pages, authors-female, age-young-adult, g-fantasy, f-n-fiction, 500-pages-and-over, format-audio, rating-4-a-stars, read-2018, audible-returns

4 Stars

This was a great continuation on from Daughter of Smoke and Bone. So many twists and turns that I didn't see coming. Really loving the characters and settings of this series and how fleshed out everything is. The only reason it doesn't get a full 5 stars is because I wasn't as compelled to read it in one sitting like I was (and did in fact do) with Daughter of Smoke and Bone. That cliffhanger ending however, still has me really desperate to read what happens next. ...more

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