Book Review: Days of Blood and Starlight

Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Source: library, but I will be purchasing a copy

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.

Whew! I just finished this, and it might take me a minute to recover. This book absolutely gutted me.

But let's start at the beginning. I so wish I had either re-read Daughter of Smoke and Bone, or read a summary or something. Because I feel like it would have been so helpful to have remembered everything that happened in book one. I wouldn't have started off feeling so lost and not really into Days of Blood and Starlight.

But then I settled into the story, and I was caught up enough to be present in this story, and not lost. And I was blown away. I can't tell you how many times I cried. Or how many times I said aloud, to myself, "this is killing me". This book made me feel so much, and that is a sign of a really good book. I do not want to have to wait for the next book, but I think I will do myself a favor, and re-read at least this one when the next comes out. Laini Taylor is something special, for sure.