Book Review: Dreams of Gods & Monsters

Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publication Date: April 2014
Source: bought

 Daughter of Smoke and Bone #3

This was such a beautiful book. It was a love story at its core, but also so very much more than that. This book reminds me of a quote by Tolkien from LotR:

"The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater."

I loved this whole trilogy, and would highly recommend it. It's all about the power that love can have. I've read complaints that the love story and the angst between the two main characters overshadows real suffering, but I don't agree. I think the whole trilogy is meant to illustrate the power that love and hope can have over hate and suffering.

The only thing that kept this from being 5 stars (which I reserve for favorite books) was that I felt the ending got a bit convoluted.

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.

Lips Touch

Title: Lips Touch
Author: Laini Taylor
Genre: YA Fantasy (short stories)
Page Count: 265
Why I read it: like the author
Grade: C+

Synopsis:
Three tales of supernatural love, each pivoting on a kiss that is no mere kiss, but an action with profound consequences for the kissers' souls:

Goblin Fruit: In Victorian times, goblin men had only to offer young girls sumptuous fruits to tempt them to sell their souls. But what does it take to tempt today's savvy girls?

Spicy Little Curses: A demon and the ambassador to Hell tussle over the soul of a beautiful English girl in India. Matters become complicated when she falls in love and decides to test her curse.

Hatchling: Six days before Esme's fourteenth birthday, her left eye turns from brown to blue. She little suspects what the change heralds, but her small safe life begins to unravel at once. What does the beautiful, fanged man want with her, and how is her fate connected to a mysterious race of demons?

My review:
I'm sorry to say I didn't like this one nearly as well as the Dreamdark series. But, to be honest, I'm not and probably never will be a fan of short stories. And this was no exception.

I love Laini Taylor's writing. It's so imaginative, and you can really feel the depth and beauty of it. I even liked the ideas for these stories. I just felt like they were build-ups for real stories (novels) and left me feeling a little unsatisfied. The third story in particular felt like a lot of world building, especially for a short story.

This is not to say that I wouldn't recommend this book. If you like short stories, these are wonderful. It's like reading fairy tales like they're meant to be (not the Disney versions): dark, scary, not entirely happily-ever-after. I'm just not a short story person, no matter how much I love the writer.

Silksinger

Title: Silksinger
Author: Laini Taylor
Genre: YA Fantasy
Page Count: 445
Why I read it: 2nd in series
Grade: A

Synopsis:
Whisper Silksinger is the last of the secret guardians of the Azazel, one of the powerful Djinn who dreamed the world into being. Relentlessly pursued by bloodthirsty devils, she flees to the city of Nazneen to restore the Azazel to his temple. At the same time, Hirik Mothmage is also on a secret quest, to find the Azazel and restore his disgraced clan’s ancient honor.

And behind them all flies Magpie Windwitch, first champion of the new age of faeries, desperate to rescue Whisper and the Azazel alike before they fall in the clutches of a sinister hidden enemy.

My review:
I think I have found a new favorite author. There is just something about this world that captivates me, and I find myself reading slower so that I can make the book last longer. This book (and the previous one) should be read by every fantasy lover. I'll even go so far as to say they should be read by every book lover. I'll never understand how certain YA books (I won't mention any titles here) get so darn popular, and gems like this don't get the attention they deserve.

In Dream...more I think I have found a new favorite author. There is just something about this world that captivates me, and I find myself reading slower so that I can make the book last longer. This book (and the previous one) should be read by every fantasy lover. I'll even go so far as to say they should be read by every book lover. I'll never understand how certain YA books (I won't mention any titles here) get so darn popular, and gems like this don't get the attention they deserve.

In Dreamdark, Laini Taylor keeps up the fantastic characterization, the adventure--all the good stuff from the first book. We meet some great new characters, although I didn't like Whisper as well as Magpie (who is one of my favorite literary characters ever), but she was definitely an interesting character. There was also some great backstory, and although the surprise twist in this one didn't surprise me, it was still good.

Once again, I have to mention the artwork. It really brings the story to life. I would love to see a graphic novel made of this series, because the artwork would be incredible. I really can't wait to read more of this series, and I hope the next one isn't too long coming. I'll be reading everything this author writes!

Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer

Title: Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer
Author: Laini Taylor
Genre: YA Fantasy
Page Count: 437
Why I read it: fairies!
Grade: A+

Synopsis:
When the ancient evil of the Blackbringer rises to unmake the world, only one determined faerie stands in its way. However, Magpie Windwitch, granddaughter of the West Wind, is not like other faeries. While her kind live in seclusion deep in the forests of Dreamdark, she's devoted her life to tracking down and recapturing devils escaped from their ancient bottles, just as her hero, the legendary Bellatrix, did 25,000 years ago. With her faithful gang of crows, she travels the world fighting where others would choose to flee. But when a devil escapes from a bottle sealed by the ancient Djinn King himself—the creator of the world—she may be in over her head. How can a single faerie, even with the help of her friends, hope to defeat the impenetrable darkness of the Blackbringer?

My review:
I wish I was a good enough writer to convey exactly how much I loved this book. But I'm not, so I'm left with writing a review that will never do it justice. I think there are rare times in life when you read a book and you feel like it was written just for you. I can recognize that this book will never be as popular as some of the other juvenile or YA fiction out there, but it was perfect for me. I loved everything about it, and I can't think of one thing I didn't like.

For start...more I wish I was a good enough writer to convey exactly how much I loved this book. But I'm not, so I'm left with writing a review that will never do it justice. I think there are rare times in life when you read a book and you feel like it was written just for you. I can recognize that this book will never be as popular as some of the other juvenile or YA fiction out there, but it was perfect for me. I loved everything about it, and I can't think of one thing I didn't like.

For starters, this is what fairy stories should be like. The fairies were not humans with wings like I see so much of in stories now--they were small, completely different, exactly how fairies should be and so rarely are. Anyone who really knows me knows how much I love fairies. I have a fairly large collection, including a collection of warrior fairies, which made this book even better for me, because the main character in this is a warrior fairy. And she's so very likable and strong. This is what I've been missing in YA fiction. I'm sick of the simpering, man-obsessed girls, and this was exactly the opposite of that.

The other characters were wonderful. I loved the crows, more than I ever thought was possible to love animal characters. I loved the language, the writing, and the artwork--oh my goodness, I want to hang it on my walls; I just wish there would have been more! And I'm so excited that there's another book in this series for me to read. I would highly recommend this to YA fantasy fans--this will go on my very small list of all-time favorites.