Review: Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

5 Stars

Spoilers ahead if you have not read the first book. 

I avoided reading Days of blood and starlight for more than a month, although I read the first and second chapter of DOB&S - I felt as if I already knew how the book was going to play out. The first book was outright amazing, except the ending left me confused about Karou’s (heroine) character. The little twist at the end was least to say: baffling. 

Apparently, if you have read the first book, Karou was actually resurrected and is really another person named Madrigal who is a Chimera. I wasn’t entirely confused…I was misled. Was Karou the character who I’ve learned so much about throughout the first book, or was she Madrigal – a character who I was unfamiliar with, until she was hurled at me in the last couple of chapters? It was irritating. 

The plot twist included Akiva (her forbidden love interest) who had misfortunately done something terrible and betrayed Karou. I felt at that time as if it was just a reason to bring about a complication in their romance, so it would not be tedious. 

I was far from right about my predications about the second book. I had thought Karou would show a great distaste to Akiva for thirty pages, and then be all over him. I had thought there will be angst between Akiva and Karou for an excruciating 500 pages, similar to several YA books. I was very surprisingly incorrect. The book was solely focused on character building, world building and most significantly the plot. Truthfully, there was only fifty pages of Karou and Akiva together, and there was barely much romance…more like tension (good tension). 

Akiva was just amazing. His character is a demonstration of how every YA hero should behave.  He was forgiving,  complex , and most shockingly he had a functioning brain. Akiva was a very developed character, yet I still couldn't predict what his next action well be. So, probes to the author for keeping many of her characters enigmatic and entertaining, constantly throughout the book. 

"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."

The writing is one of the countless reasons I continue to read the series. It’s very evocative and descriptive. 

Karou was wonderful. The POV frequently changed, but you can always easily identify who it switched too, especially Karou. She’s tough and intellectual, but at the same time she’s human and at times she can be pretty useless. I really dislike over-the-top perfect characters with extreme selfless personalities. Karou nevertheless had the right amount of selfishness to make her easily relatable. This book also cleared Madrigal - Karou confusion I had.

The frequent change of POV was necessary in the story to add or build more into the plot. It was not like the final book - Clockwork princess (Infernal devices trilogy) where it was overdone to keep readers from getting bored with a singular POV. 

Overall, astonishing sequel. I’m deeply excited for the last book in the trilogy!

You should undoubtedly pick this up