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.
But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?
I don't know why I'm not really feeling connected to this story or its characters. Maybe because this book is all about people warring for no reason other than they've been doing it for who-knows-how-long, and it's getting more into other PoVs when all I really want is to know Karou's thoughts.
And though I did love learning about all the other chimaera, I still felt that there was a lack of world building in Eretz, the other world. Where are the other creatures, the other life? It feels like everything is limited to chimaera or angels - and a bit of bugs. An entire world; there's gotta be other life forms populating it!!
But I think my main reason for not enjoying this book so much was that there was so much war and not so much plot. What was the main plot arc? (and I didn't appreciate the fact that there's a whole other world, and there's still alpha males in charge, women seen as property, etc. etc. etc. Why make new worlds and new cultures just to follow our awful social norms??)
There were also some transphobic comments, and important info told in summary, names thrown at the reader that weren't necessary, that all bogged down my reading experience. I think this trilogy just isn't for me!
