Review: Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2)

Days of Blood and Starlight (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2)
Laini Taylor
Published: Nov. 6, 2012 (Little, Brown Young Readers)
Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon
Review Source: Purchased

Reviewed by: Amber

Rating (out of 5): 4.5 stars

Note: While this review wild be spoiler free, it does reference events from Daughter of Smoke and Bone, read our review here.

“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil held a wishbone between them. And its snap split the world in two.”

After rediscovering her memories, Karou finds herself alone in the middle of the chimaera rebellion, and worse, in the presence of Thiago. With the fall of Loramendi and the loss of Brimstone, Karou must now act as resurrectionist if the chimaeras have any hope of surviving. But Thiago has different plans for the chimaera army and Karou is going to need all her strength and cunning if she is going to survive.

Now hailed as a hero, Akiva chooses to betray his emperor and fight for hope rather than the disastrous whims of Joram. Thiago isn’t the only one with ulterior motives as Akiva is bound to discover, and unless he can gather the trust of his fellow Misbegotten, all of Earth and Eretz are going to suffer.

The story picks up shortly after Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Taylor wasted no time throwing Karou and Akiva into moral dilemmas. Karou not only struggled with her new position as resurrectionist, but also with forcing herself to hate Akiva. It was hard for me as a reader to decide whether I wanted Karou to forgive Akiva or not. I loved Akiva as a character, especially as he risked everything to right his wrongs, but considering he was the gateway for the slaughter of the chimaera…well that’s a big obstacle for Karou to overcome. Factor in a new love-interest, and Akiva just may lose Karou forever.

The continued development of the side characters is just as well done as the main characters. I was especially surprised to find myself loving Liraz. At first, she came off as a big meany-face, to say it politely, but reading from her POV opened a whole new insight to her. I’m excited to see where Taylor goes with her.

There was one character who felt a little flat to me. Thiago plays an interesting part in the book, and an incredibly important role in the rebellion, but there was just something that was lacking in his character. I felt like his true character was muted, which understandably it needed to be in order to lead the chimaera, but I felt Karou could’ve seen a little more through his disguise before his true colors became apparent.

The only problem I really have with this series is the resurrection capabilities of the chimaera. The fact that death may not be permanent makes it hard to mourn a character when they die. I love a good a tragedy, but when death isn’t final, it takes away a lot of the weight of a situation. Even when resurrection isn’t a possibility, it just isn’t the same. I’m still holding out hope for a certain character and I’m worried that Taylor may not pull off their fate as dramatically as I’d like, whether they’re saved or lost forever.

I had many expectations for Days of Blood and Starlight and I’m happy to say the novel met every one of them. Taylor’s writing continued to amaze me. 2014 is a long time to wait for the next book, but you can be sure I’ll be picking it up as soon as it releases.

Sexual content: Kissing, references to sex, rape