Days of Blood & Starlight

Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor
Hachette Book Group - November 6, 2012
513 pages

Warning: This is the sequel to Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. My synopsis and review may involve things that are not spoilers to people who have read the first book, but would be to people who have not. If you have not completed Daughter of Smoke and Bone, do not read the following until you have finished it.

Karou had loved the enemy and had sorely paid the price for it. Now they were dead: Brimstone, Yasri, Issa, and Twiga. Karou has gone to Thiago's army, even after what the White Wolf did to her previous self as Madrigal. In the wake of Brimstone's death, it is now Karou's job to resurrect the dead chimaera as revenants so that they may be able to defeat the seraphim for once and for all. But Akiva is waging his own war, this one for redemption.

Can I just start by saying that I absolutely detest the character of Akiva? I don't know what makes me loathe him so, but I cannot stand him at all. Karou needs Ziri, her "little Kirin shadow" from when she was Madrigal. The other characters, however, were wonderful. The dark, sarcastic senses of humor from Karou's friend Zuzana and Madrigal's friend Haxaya were outstanding. There were brief flashes to three escaped chimaera: Sveva, Sarazal, and Rath. Nothing truly important happened to them, so they had better become a large part of the third book in the trilogy, or I will wreak havoc. And nobody wants to see my havoc. The strong Karou plot was weakened by side Zuzana and Sveva/Sarazal/Rath side-plots, and the Akiva plot only built up steam about two-thirds of the way in. While the characters (especially the chimaera) are much more outstanding than its predecessor, the plots of Days of Blood and Starlight left me wanting something thicker.

Grade: B