Bel Reviews: Laini Taylor's - "Days of Blood and Starlight"
If you’ve not read Daughter of Smoke and Bone, I urge you strongly not to read on until you’ve done so. Spoilers do make a difference to how you may perceive a book.
Book 1 spent so much time on the romance and the world building that book 2, Days of Blood and Starlight, feels like it went off on whole other tangent. It’s still the same gloriously rich world and intelligent character arcs as last time, but the focus falls more on the thought-provoking battle between good and evil. Not to mention the suspense.
Karou survives the dramatics at the end of book 1, and is taken in by Thiago, ‘The Wolf’. And as was hinted at in book 1, the slimy fink is still chasing tail. It is up to her to take over from her predecessor, Brimstone, to build the bodies, to house the souls, of the army who will save the future generations from the wrath of the Angels. However the true measure of an action is its intent. Just what is it that the Wolf intends to do?
I found pacing myself to savour the bitter tang of this instalment suited me better than flying through it. It took a fair bit of will power though, because the plot is certainly meant to be ready quickly. I rarely had to read back over pages and the dialogue is charmingly fresh. Especially when Karou finds her best friend and her boyfriend almost dead on the outskirts of the compound.
Laini almost had me in tears with the threads the next book will tie into. I hold much respect for her skill with twisting the knife on an already heartbreaking situation. How the events at the end of Days of Blood and Starlight will effect Karou will remain to be seen. If she can find it in her heart to allow Akiva back into her life, how will her allies react?
We’ve go plenty of time to stew over the details and reread the tortuously tangled tomes as the third instalment isn’t due out until April 2014. Considering how well the first two books are written I’d rather wait a while and get the best book Laini can write, than get it quickly and be left wanting.
You’ll kick yourself if you get on board with these books too late. Also it looks like a film adaption is in development for Daughter of Smoke and Bone, so be one of the people who read the book first. Methinks perhaps the premier should be in Prague. How about you?
http://www.daughterofsmokeandbone.co.uk/
Paperback, UK, 528 pages
Published November 8th 2012 by Hodder & Stoughton (first published November 6th 2012)
ISBN: 1444722689 (ISBN13:9781444722680)
