Book Review: Dreams Of Gods & Monsters; Laini Taylor.

Hooray! I finally got to this book! But uh oh? I'm afraid I didn't enjoy it as much as a lot of people did, in fact I would go as far as to say I was a little disappointed. Please don't hurt me, let me explain why instead! Just as a little side note, this book marks my first read for the Prequel & Sequel Challenge! Exciting stuff!

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: Dreams Of Gods & Monsters
AUTHOR: Laini Taylor
SERIES: Daughter Of Smoke & Bone (#3)
PUBLISHER: Hodder & Stoughton
PAGES: 616
GENRE: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

RATING: 2/5 Stars

Blurb:
By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her, if there can even be a future for the chimaera in war-ravaged Eretz.

Common enemy, common cause.

When Jael's brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.

And, perhaps, for themselves. Toward a new way of living, and maybe even love.

But there are bigger threats than Jael in the offing. A vicious queen is hunting Akiva, and, in the skies of Eretz...something is happening. Massive stains are spreading like bruises from horizon to horizon; the great winged stormhunters are gathering as if summoned, ceaselessly circling, and a deep sense of wrong pervades the world.

What power can bruise the sky?

From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy. 


At the very barriers of space and time, what do gods and monsters dream of? And does anything else matter?

What I Liked:

• So I gave it 3.5 stars. I must have liked something, right? In fact I did. From about a third of the way through the book, I really enjoyed the story. Taylor had the pacing spot on, and I was hooked throughout that portion of the story. The interruptions from the Eliza story-line vexed me a little but I overlooked them because I was enjoying what was going on elsewhere!
• Akiva and Karou! Finally their relationship got the time that it needed and I was so glad that Taylor didn't choose to drag their consistent misunderstandings and argument into this book as well. I think if she'd continued that ridiculous, irritating charade up I would have had a meltdown! And the two of them together were such a great couple, I was so happy every time they were together. Of course Mik and Zuzana deserve a mention for being awesome couple of the century, and I loved the moments that Liraz shared with Ziri too.

What I Disliked:

• So I'll start with the beginning of the book. This one is probably a little bit my fault because I read 'Days Of Blood & Starlight' so long ago, but I was so confused. I couldn't remember who people/creatures were, who was pretending to be who, who knew about this. I felt a little thrown into the book and just had to go with it, hoping that at some point I would understand. As well as that, there was a new character and I couldn't remember if I was supposed to know who she was or not already. It left me feeling a bit lost.
• So if I didn't like the beginning then I really didn't like the end. There was a point in the story which I felt made a good ending. Then the story just didn't stop. It kept going and from that point onwards in my opinion it went downhill. It felt like Taylor suddenly thought 'Oh that new character I introduced actually has no purpose, I'll just make something up, tag it on the end and hope for the best'. In fact it didn't conclude anything, it made the entire book feel like it was the precursor for yet another story-line rather than a series finale.
• There were many times that I felt like Taylor just wrote in a stream of whatever came to mind, and it didn't feel entirely edited. During these moments I actually got to a point where I read them as words and couldn't put them together as sentences. It made for frustrating reading and I was so disappointed that I didn't like Taylor's writing style as I had done in previous books. The constant character switching in the middle of chapters confused me so much as well!

Overall Conclusion:

I'm really annoyed that I didn't like this book, as I had done her previous books. During the middle section there were some amazing sections that I really did like reading so I gave it 3.5 stars for that reason. But for me the beginning and ending were totally messed up and I felt lost and confused so many times that it became frustrating. Sorry Taylor lovers!

Book Review: Days Of Blood & Starlight; Laini Taylor

Goodness me, I took much longer than I wanted to getting through this one! But wow, I'm so glad I got into this one. It was such a great book! I wanted to finish it today before posting my April Round-Up, so that I could have a totally fresh start for May! I may as well enter this for the 'Key Words' challenge seeing as both 'Star' and 'Light' are in the title. I won this one in a Goodreads Giveaway, and I was so excited when I got it!

SOURCE: Goodreads Giveaway
TYPE: Paperback

TITLE: Days Of Blood & Starlight
AUTHOR: Laini Taylor
SERIES: Daughter Of Smoke & Bone (#2)
PUBLISHER: Hodder Paperbacks
PAGES: 518
GENRE: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy

RATING: 5/5 Stars

Blurb:
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.

Once, the lovers lay entwined in the moon's secret temple and dreamed of a world that was like a jewel-box without a jewel - a paradise waiting for them to find it and fill it with their happiness.

This was not that world.

What I Liked:

• Where to start? I really liked the pacing of this book, I felt like Taylor was a lot more comfortable with her writing style in this book. It flowed well, wasn't too slow that I got bored but wasn't so quick that I felt confused or lost at any point. Just right! It was broken up nicely so I felt like I was making good progress despite the length of the book! The plot-line was great and filled with some great twists and turns which kept me on the edge of my seat!
• The characters were beautifully written! So complex, deep every single one seemed to have a back-story and no-one faded into the background at all. I just loved reading each one, understanding their motives for their sometimes horrific actions. Taylor did a great job! My favourites were Zuzana and Mik. There isn't an awful lot of Karou/Akiva time in this installment (they spend most of the story apart) but Zuzana and Mik were more than worthy substitutes for the romantic in me! I  think in some aspects I even prefer them! At the same time, they didn't dominate the story and I liked that a lot! Another perfect example? I didn't really like Liraz and Hazael last book, but Taylor developed them so well and really sold them to me as good characters in this one! I won't spoil, but I will say my heart broke a little at the end. That is all.
• Again I must applaud Taylor's imagination and attention to detail in her world building. She's got it all figured out and everything she described, I could see it in my mind's eye! This was one of my main loves from the other book, and she did it even better this time (which I didn't think was possible). 

What I Disliked:

• Okay so in the last book I mentioned there wasn't enough Karou and Akiva development. I said I really wanted to see more from them in this one and I didn't get that, they spent a good majority of the book separated. At first I quite liked this development. There was a series of misunderstandings and a lot of understandable anger that lead to their separation and I felt that some time apart developed them more fully as individual character's in my mind. But I began to get a bit frustrated after a while. A lot of their problems could have been resolved if they (Karou in particular) could just stop being so secretive and stubborn. I think it was a necessary plot device but it began to grate a little. I really hope they completely come clean with each other in the beginning of the final book because otherwise I'm going to go mad!

Overall Conclusion:

Well I didn't quite get what I asked for after reading the first book, but this was such an amazing read that I couldn't not love it. Yes the lack of Karou/Akiva was frustrating but I still got my fill of romance with Zuzana and Mik (if anything happens to them I will not be happy...) and I was too busy focusing on the great story-line, characterisation, detail, and imagery to care. Thank you Laini Taylor for writing such an awesome series, I'm so glad I've got round to reading this one!

Book Review: Daughter Of Smoke And Bone; Laini Taylor

Wow, I am on fire with getting through these books now that I have time on my hands! This book has been a joy to read and I am sharing my thoughts now, while they're still fresh in my mind. I will be using this book as an entry for the 'Jumble Your Genres' challenge, as the genre this month is 'Urban Fantasy' and this book definitely fits into that category. The button, as always, is at the bottom of this review.

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: Paperback

TITLE: Daughter Of Smoke & Bone
AUTHOR: Laini Taylor
SERIES: Daughter Of Smoke & Bone (#1)
PUBLISHER: Hodder & Stoughton
PAGES: 418
GENRE: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

RATING: 4.5/5 Stars

Blurb

In general, Karou has managed to keep her two lives in balance. On the one hand, she's a seventeen-year-old art student in Prague; on the other, errand-girl to a monstrous creature who is the closest thing she has to family. Raised half in our world, half in 'Elsewhere', she has never understood Brimstone's dark work - buying teeth from hunters and murderers - nor how she came into his keeping. She is a secret even to herself, plagued by the sensation that she isn't whole.

Now the doors to Elsewhere are closing, and Karou must choose between the safety of her human life and the dangers of a war-ravaged world that may hold the answers she has always sought.

What I Liked:

• Laini Taylor has injected a lot of personality into every character that is in this book. I think I pretty much fell in love with them all, and they all had such a great dynamic with each other. I mean the conversations between Karou and Zuzana were just hilarious and they didn't even make up the main premise of the story. Really, there was some awesome characterisation stuff in this one!
• The concept of 'Elsewhere'. Karou's other life, her 'family' are just fantastic. The amount of thought that went into their creation was clear and I loved the world-building images we get, in particular, of Brimstone's shop and how his line of business works. Taylor has obviously really thought about exactly how she wants her other world to look, sound and feel and it was just wonderful to read.
• The romance was very heated. I like it when romantic leads have chemistry, and in particular, Karou and Avika seemed on equal terms, rather than one giving chase while the other plays hard to get. It was nice to read about them both being a bit unsure but both feeling an undeniable attraction.

What I Disliked:

• Towards the end of the book, Taylor jumps about a bit. This is entirely necessary, as it is the 'big reveal' that I had been waiting for, and yet because it jumped around time so much, I found my interest waning ever so slightly and the desire to just finish the book increasing. I don't think the ending was bad, it just felt a bit disorganised and confusing for me.
• Despite liking the chemistry between Karou and Akiva, I wanted a bit more of the romance stuff. I felt like they fell for each other just a bit too easily, I mean one minute they're fighting, the next they're having tea together! The big reveal at the end does go someway towards explaining this however. I think the next book will be better as it can focus a lot more on the present day story-line, and there might be a bit more development between the growing relationship between them. Fingers crossed!

Overall Conclusion:

I really enjoyed this book and it is easy to see why it has become so popular! The ideas behind the fantasy world are very original and I really embraced the whole concept, the characters and enjoyed the plot too. I was a little thrown at the end with the jumping about, and I felt that the relationship between Karou and Akiva may have been ever so slightly under-developed at this point (though definitely enjoyable to read). This series has a lot of good stuff and the potential to be awesome. I thoroughly look forward to the next book!