Book Review: Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor

Title: Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #2)
Author: Laini Taylor
Pages: 513

Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy
Story Perspective: Alternating Third-Person
Themes: Trust, Love, Revenge, Friendship, Peace, Redemption, Hope

Publication Date: November 6, 2012
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

In the second installment of the Daughter of Smoke & Bone series, Karou finally knows who she is. She knows what her life was like before being resurrected, knows who murdered her family, and what she must do to survive. However, building an army full of monsters isn’t the easiest and most rewarding job. What makes it worse is her involvement with the White Wolf, adding a layer of challenge and fear to her everyday life.

Will Karou find her way in her old world? Will she able to forgive the one person she always confided in and who betrayed her?

Though this book was pretty good, I did find that it took me longer to go through than the first one. Let’s start with the positives, though. The protagonists in the story continue to be developed fairly well, and those we are meant to like continue to be likable. Though Karou and Akiva are the main storyline, I found the relationship between Zuzana and Mik more enjoyable and sweet to read than Karou and Akiva. Their constant devotion and care for one another was refreshing and sweet.

When looking at the plot, I found most of it to be paced well with the few exceptions. Some of Akiva’s perspective were interesting to read and some were not. His relationship with his siblings was sweet and the conflict of him wanting to make the right choice was interesting. However, there were other moments when the plot dragged. This might have been because of his relationship with Karou. What made the first book lovely for me was their relationship and since they were apart for most of this one, I wasn’t as invested in reading.

What I did like, though, was most of the ending sequence. It was exciting and I found myself rushing through its pages to find out what will happen next. There was a nice twist built in that I’m excited to see how it will develop in the next book. However, I was somewhat frustrated with the trope of a love triangle and how the main relationship is being dragged out more than it needs to be.

Overall, it was still a fun read even with its slower parts and the dragged-out relationship. Therefore, I do plan on moving onto the third in the series.