Days of Blood and Starlight

by Laini Taylor
Read: November 14 - 21, 2012
Published: November 6th 2012 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Source: Library book 

Category: Fantasy YA (But really for everyone)

Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone book 2

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? (From Goodreads)

NOTE: I'm starting with SPOILER FREE thoughts on Days of Blood and Starlight (spoiler free for those who have read Daughter of Smoke and Bone), and moving on to some that are a little less free. I'm not giving away anything specific, but enough could be inferred that you may not want to read that part it until after you've finished the book. I will tell you when you get there. 

I know this is a bit unconventional, but so many people have written fantastic reviews of Days of Blood and Starlight, that I don't feel bad. If you have yet to read this book (or series), I STRONGLY encourage you to do so, and I'd love it if you'd come back and read my more spoilery thoughts once you're done. 

_______________________________________________________________

“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.”

Days of Blood and Starlight begins sometime after Akiva's devastating revelations to Karou at the end of Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I won't tell you where the characters are or what they're doing at the start of the story. But I will tell you that this is a difficult book, and it is painful to read at times. But even at the heaviest moments, I saw threads of hope and life weaving their way through the story. Even if it felt like one single strand, I found something to hang onto. It doesn't hurt that the way in which Laini Taylor crafts her words is magical. I found myself stopping to admire how she tells the story at so many points while I was reading it. 

Taylor breaths life into the world and people she created, and they come alive in astonishing detail. I loved getting to know Eretz better and especially the Chimera and Seraphim who live there. I found myself longing to explore the landscape for myself and meet the colorful characters that inhabit it. In Days of Blood and Starlight we see some old faces and meet new ones. Some surprised me, some made me smile and several made me want to punch something. 

Karou and Akiva would never have survived without the support of others, or had the capacity to hurt each other so deeply without the warring nations who surround them. The things they are facing in this story are vast and staggering at times. It makes sense then that in addition to the former lovers, this book follows various viewpoints, and they worked so seamlessly into this tale that I did not mind the many points of views.  

In Daughter of Smoke and Bone it was the blue haired girl Karou who stole my heart. Akiva remained a bit of a mystery (although an intriguing one). For me, Days of Blood and Starlight belongs to him. I felt like I truly got to know his character and his heart, and it blew me away. I can't even express the amount of respect I have for him at this point in the story. 

Their world was a storm of misery and they were caught in its center, in the deceptive stillness that had allowed them to forget, once upon a time, that all around them was a stinging whirl of hatred that would catch them.

(Possible SPOILERS ahead, you've been warned): 

Although there are times where Days of Blood and Starlight felt like one downward spiral, I really loved watching Akiva and Karou rediscover their hope throughout the story. Even though they are physically and emotionally separated through most of the book, their journeys actually parallel each other. They’re both caught up in a horrible war, and neither of them is innocent. But they begin to remember their dream and slowly start to want something different from what they have. Karou’s change is slower to come, but she fell the hardest most recently. When the book opens, she is confused and her spirit is broken. But then she remembers who she is, and she finds reasons to hope despite everything. As for Akiva, his inner strength and utter honesty in who he is and what he has done completely slayed me. My heart bled for him.

I think what is beautiful about Akiva and Karou’s love story is that despite all the horrible things that have taken place because they dared to love, they are hanging onto the dream they created together, no matter how warped and unrecognizable it has become. Although this book doesn’t have any happy reconciliations, their living dream is proof that not everything that came out of their love was ugly. Their dream is the thread of hope that I watched strengthen throughout this book. 

Akiva had never been a stranger, and that was the problem. A kind of call echoed between them, even now, and from the hollow of Karou’s heart where there should have been only enmity and bitterness, came a slow pull of …longing.

I don't know what the future holds for Karou and Akiva, or if they could ever rebuild a relationship. But I have hope. I’m ready for them to stop reliving those moonlit nights in the temple, and make some new memories that aren’t as soul ripping painful.

(End of spoiler section)

Cliffhanger Scale: Medium

Love Triangle Factor: Mild 

Rating: 5 stars