Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

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. 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.

I loved the first book, Daughter of Smoke and Bone. *Loved* it. Karou and Akiva were amazing to follow, and I couldn’t put the book down because I needed to know what was going to happen to them. And I thought I was going to die of suspense when it ended.

Even with my enthusiasm left over from the first book, I had a hard time getting into this one. Mostly because a lot of time has passed and we don’t exactly know what has happened. That info is revealed, slowly, and I found it a bit confusing. Once I had a handle on everything, then I settled happily into the story.

Blood and Starlight was almost as compelling as the first book. Close, so close, but not quite. I didn’t like Karou as much this time. She seemed too conveniently dense, especially when it came to Ten and Thiago. His motives were so obvious from the start that I got frustrated waiting for Karou to figure it out. Nothing terribly convenient or pivoting comes out of it, though, which means the rest of the plot didn’t come across as contrived, so I was able to shrug it off. It was just annoying and slowed down the pacing.

The relationship between Karou and Akiva was as expected. I wished that they could recover enough to have a conversation, but it also felt real that they couldn’t. So their resulting actions were both sympathtic and heartbreaking. I really liked seeing Akiva with his brother and sister, and getting to know them more, too. Considering how it all ends, it was necessary for us to understand the relationship among the three. With that understanding came a very powerful scene where I felt Liraz’s loss keenly, and it also made me fully understand the hostile alliance at the end—which I loved. :)

The only thing I wasn’t happy with was that Karou didn’t tell Akiva her secret, and I can’t see any reason for him not to know. In fact, he *needs* to know in order for their plan to work effectively. So I had mixed feelings about the ending. I’m still hooked on the story and am dying to know what’s going to happen next, but I’m hoping there isn’t going to be the withholding of information just to create tension. I think the author has more talent than to resort to this, so I’m hoping she won’t go there. But, I guess we’ll see in the next book—which I will *definitely* be reading. :)