Thursday 1 January 2015

Dreams of Gods and Monsters - Laini Taylor (2014)

4 stars

I started this as soon as I finished Days of Blood and Starlight because I was so ready for a book full of Akiva and Karou togetherness, and I was very disappointed on that front.

It was actually quite hard for me to give this book such a high rating because I found the end, which I did not enjoy, really took over my memory of the book even though I did enjoy the rest of it quite a lot. I found the ending was like something the author thought of at the last moment and just decided to put it in this book to give it another twist ad storyline, I'm pretty sure that isn't the case, but a bit more weaving in or foreshadowing in the earlier books could've helped a lot when reading through it and finding it incredibly both boring and unneccessary. I really enjoyed the rest of the book, even if it was a bit slow for the resistance to get to Eretz I liked all the intricacies of the two armies joining together and all the betrayal and effort that took. My favourite character in this book was once again Zuzana, but in this book Liraz was also a beautiful charcater to watch develop and by the end I found her and Ziri's story was much more enjoyable to watch unfold than Karou's and Akiva's which quickly became very repetitive. I would recommend this series to anyone who likes intricate fantasy worlds and romance because it has plenty of both.


This book starts with Akiva and Liraz guiding the chimaera to the Kirin caves after they agreed to a treaty. Once there Karou and Akiva reconcile after she explains that Ziri is in the wolf's body and then she has an idea that can remove Jael and the angels from earth without harming anyone. The rebel army set off to the portal to send Karou and Liraz through to retrieve Jael and his army, but the Dominion is there in full force and in the fray Liraz manages to push Akiva through with Karou and seal the portal because she wants him to have a chance at living. Once through Akiva and Karou encounter Eliza, a descendant from one of the fallen angels like Razgut who cannot stop chanting in seraphic who they leave with Zuzana and Mik and Esther, one of Brimstone's old contacts. Esther had formed an alliance with Jael however and warned him of Akiva and Karou's approach, but they still get the upper hand as they brought Haxaya who had remained glamoured the entire time. Akiva burns a handprint onto Jael's chest, which he can alight any time which is how they convince him and his army to return to Eretz without any weapons or technology. Once returned Akiva is shown by the Stelians that he has been detroying the world by using Sirithar as it is drawing energy from the veil between worlds, which is keeping them from the beasts that almost destroyed all the angels millions of years ago, which was caused by Razgut and Eliza among others. The Stelians have been holding the veil together for years and they now require Akiva's help so he must go with them to the other side of Eretz. Eliza shows them that they are all godstars, the ones who will defeat the beasts one day when they break through the veil and the book ends with Karou going over to the Stelian islands to be with Akiva for a month before she can start resurrecting bodies in better weather for crops and survival.

No comments:

Post a Comment