Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor

Dreams of Gods & Monsters (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #3)

by Laini Taylor

It began with DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE
It continued with DAYS OF BLOOD AND STARLIGHT
It ends with DREAMS OF GODS AND MONSTERS

Common enemy, common cause.

When Jael's brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.

And, perhaps, for themselves.

But there are bigger threats than Jael in the offing. A vicious queen is hunting Akiva, and, in the skies of Eretz ... something is happening. Massive stains are spreading like bruises from horizon to horizon; the great winged stormhunters are gathering as if summoned, ceaselessly circling, and a deep sense of wrong pervades the world.

What power can bruise the sky?

From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theatre that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy.

At the very barriers of space and time, what do gods and monsters dream of? And does anything else matter?

Reviewed by Angie on

2 of 5 stars

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Well, this was unexpected. It seriously never crossed my mind that I wouldn't enjoy Dreams of Gods and Monsters after absolutely loving the previous two books. Maybe my expectations were too high, or perhaps the book and I really just didn't mesh well. Either way, I'm saddened. I was beyond excited, but also nervous to find out how Karou and Akiva's story ends. This series has been heartbreaking and beautiful, but also full of hope and a little humor, but most of that was missing for me from this finale.

My biggest issue with Dreams of Gods and Monsters was that it felt long. It is long at just over 600 pages, but it felt never ending. There's a lot of detail, and many characters to follow, but it's also repetitive. Many scenes are repeated in adjacent chapters and this annoyed me to no end. It's not like I forgot what happened two pages ago and needed a reminder from another character's perspective. Then there's also repeats from earlier scenes that I don't think were needed. All of these things are short on their own, but they do add up and really messed with the pacing.

Another element that I didn't care for--and which added to the substantial length--was the introduction of Eliza. I simply wasn't interested in her from the beginning. She felt like an addition just so we had a way to see what was happening in the human world while the Seraphim/Chimaera war was starting. She does wind up being important at the end, but all of her chapters bored me. Most of them are the same: her worrying about her dreams and anyone finding out who she really is. Then I was bothered by the fact that she had run away from home as a teenager, and wants nothing to do with her family at all, and yet her mother calls and texts her constantly. This made no sense, and seemed to only serve as a way for someone to expose her identity. To what purpose? I have no clue. I think she hurt Dreams of Gods and Monsters more than she helped.

After the whole Eliza fiasco, I had to wonder what did happen in the human world after the war ended. I know it's not that important in the grand scheme of things, but humans were brought into it, so I want to know. There's no way to write away humans not noticing a swarm of angels, but what about when they found the Chimaera bodies? What about when the angels were gone? What happened to humanity?! Did they study the bodies? Write it all off as a hoax? What happened?! We see what happens in Eretz in the epilogue, but Earth is completely forgotten!

There were parts of Dreams of Gods and Monsters that I loved, but those scenes were few and far between. They also didn't grab at me the way the other two books did, which was disappointing. I loved the tension between Karou and Akiva! I wanted to smash their faces together almost as much as Zuzanna did! I also found myself oddly drawn to Razgut and actually wanted a novella or even a full story about him and his past. Zuzanna and Mik provided some lightness that I appreciated, but overall I found them a bit out of place.

So, in the end, Dreams of Gods and Monsters did not make me happy or satisfy my craving for more from this fantastic world. Everything felt drawn out and over complicated. And I'm not even going to pretend like I understood those last chapters all. It felt like a new book, with new world building, and a new plot was starting, then abruptly ending. It was a struggle for me to get through, since I felt like I was reading forever and making no progress. Dreams of Gods and Monsters will, of course, work for many fans of the series. I just couldn't get into it.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 21 April, 2014: Finished reading
  • 21 April, 2014: Reviewed