Days of Blood and Starlight - Review

Days of Blood and Starlight (Daughter of Smoke and Bone, # 2)

By: Laini Taylor

Published: November 6th 2012 by Hachette Audio

Read By: Khristine Hvam

517 pages

Source: Received Audiobook version for Christmas

( Goodreads | Amazon )

Goodreads description--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?

So I listened to Days of Blood and Starlight on audio at work. Sometimes I can listen without too much difficulty, but this past week I needed my brain to think much more than I expected to so I'm quite sure I missed a good bit in this book. I kept having to re-start the tracks over and over again because I knew I hadn't heard anything that was just said. That being the case, it was slow going for me to finish. And as a result, this review will probably be just as discombobulated as my listening experience. I apologize in advance.

Days of Blood and Starlight gives us everything we've come to expect from this world of seraphim and chimera. And more.

Karou truly does have this battle within herself over how far she's willing to go for revenge and redemption. The man she loves has now become her enemy and she's helping a man she hates create an army. How far will she go? And what's it going to take for her to realize she's making a terrible mistake?

There were several major events toward the later half of the book and the ending that really made this book for me. And I'm so completely intrigued to know what's going to happen next. I want so bad to discuss some of the twists and see what everyone who's already read it thinks, but that's now how I roll. Spoiler free people!

Karou's best friend, Zuzana, is one of my favorite characters in this book. She's so adoringly innocent of the stark truths that exists in Karou's world. Yet the more she discovers, the more she respects and loves her friend. Plus Khristine Hvam gives her such an adorable voice that I just want to squeeze and pinch her.

Days of Blood and Starlight gets 4 stars from me. Have you read Days of Blood and Starlight? If so, what did you think? Let me know!