Hello everyone & happy Friday! This week we're gonna welcome the weekend with the review of a most wonderful book as my Friday Reads!
This book is yet another final book in a series, and this series is one that I started earlier this year. I'm glad that only had to wait a few months till this book was released, cause otherwise it would have killed me! Those cliffhangers were of the very evil quality! As it is, this one is part of my 2014 Series Challenge and it counts as another finished series, woohooo!
Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Dreams of Gods and Monster is the last book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy and it is a worthy ending for it. It might have affected me emotionally more than other people due to personal circumstances, but it is a book full of wonderful epic writing, tension and our very beloved characters and a few new ones.
As with any final book review I will do my very best to keep it as spoiler free as possible but there might be some spoilers for the other two books in the trilogy.
After the quite cliffhangery ending of Days of Blood & Starlight we are facing quite dangerous odds, from enemies within and without and if the stakes weren't high enough, we're introduced to some new characters which was a bit surprising. Who are these people and why are we getting to know about them only now? How are they gonna be relevant to the story?
The story is told through various different POVs and although some weren't as central to the bigger picture, they all gave us some insight or other, and they all started or took part of the action and moved the plot along.
Through Morgan and Eliza we see how people on Earth and the bulk of humanity react to the arrival of the angels, and we also get much more than I would have expected at first, even if I suspected something big was afoot. Nope, THAT I was not expecting! And that's all I will say about them, anything else would risk spoilers cause once I start talking about what a weasel Morgan was but how in the end it was the starting point of something for the best... I might end up spoiling something!
Akiva and Karou are still finding their footings as new allies, and it's painfully amazing seeing them work through the differences of their races and search for that hope of a better world for everyone and a chance at love and a future for themselves. My heart was hurting with every interaction, full of hope, joy, sadness, mourning... A bit of everything really!
Zuzana and Mik have to be my favourite characters in this series. Being human they might lack the magic and the powers to make big contributions, but trust me, they are not useless at all! Not only they provide a bit of comic relief, but they also provide a different perspective and a different support for Karou. These books wouldn't be as wonderful as they are without the rabid faery and the violin boy!
Liraz and Ziri are two secondary characters that really come into their own in this book, and that take charge of themselves and their lives. Not only that, they are instrumental in the changes and battles to be fought and in the outcome of not only the battles but also the whole course of the war!
The world building has always been extraordinary in these books, but now it takes on a bigger dimension. Magic and science mix in an epic way and show us that knowledge lost can be utterly dangerous and that Earth and Eretz are not the only places out there, and that the portals are more dangerous than we knew.
The ending is more open than I had expected but it is a perfect ending. Full of hope and beginnings and middles and with a lot of not exactly dull moments to image. It left me bawling like there was no tomorrow, but it was just perfect. Very much deserved 5 stars for this final book, and all the stars to the whole trilogy. Thank you, Laini Taylor, for these wondrous books!
View all my reviews
This book is yet another final book in a series, and this series is one that I started earlier this year. I'm glad that only had to wait a few months till this book was released, cause otherwise it would have killed me! Those cliffhangers were of the very evil quality! As it is, this one is part of my 2014 Series Challenge and it counts as another finished series, woohooo!
Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini TaylorMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Dreams of Gods and Monster is the last book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy and it is a worthy ending for it. It might have affected me emotionally more than other people due to personal circumstances, but it is a book full of wonderful epic writing, tension and our very beloved characters and a few new ones.
As with any final book review I will do my very best to keep it as spoiler free as possible but there might be some spoilers for the other two books in the trilogy.
After the quite cliffhangery ending of Days of Blood & Starlight we are facing quite dangerous odds, from enemies within and without and if the stakes weren't high enough, we're introduced to some new characters which was a bit surprising. Who are these people and why are we getting to know about them only now? How are they gonna be relevant to the story?
The story is told through various different POVs and although some weren't as central to the bigger picture, they all gave us some insight or other, and they all started or took part of the action and moved the plot along.
Through Morgan and Eliza we see how people on Earth and the bulk of humanity react to the arrival of the angels, and we also get much more than I would have expected at first, even if I suspected something big was afoot. Nope, THAT I was not expecting! And that's all I will say about them, anything else would risk spoilers cause once I start talking about what a weasel Morgan was but how in the end it was the starting point of something for the best... I might end up spoiling something!
Akiva and Karou are still finding their footings as new allies, and it's painfully amazing seeing them work through the differences of their races and search for that hope of a better world for everyone and a chance at love and a future for themselves. My heart was hurting with every interaction, full of hope, joy, sadness, mourning... A bit of everything really!
Zuzana and Mik have to be my favourite characters in this series. Being human they might lack the magic and the powers to make big contributions, but trust me, they are not useless at all! Not only they provide a bit of comic relief, but they also provide a different perspective and a different support for Karou. These books wouldn't be as wonderful as they are without the rabid faery and the violin boy!
Liraz and Ziri are two secondary characters that really come into their own in this book, and that take charge of themselves and their lives. Not only that, they are instrumental in the changes and battles to be fought and in the outcome of not only the battles but also the whole course of the war!
The world building has always been extraordinary in these books, but now it takes on a bigger dimension. Magic and science mix in an epic way and show us that knowledge lost can be utterly dangerous and that Earth and Eretz are not the only places out there, and that the portals are more dangerous than we knew.
The ending is more open than I had expected but it is a perfect ending. Full of hope and beginnings and middles and with a lot of not exactly dull moments to image. It left me bawling like there was no tomorrow, but it was just perfect. Very much deserved 5 stars for this final book, and all the stars to the whole trilogy. Thank you, Laini Taylor, for these wondrous books!
View all my reviews
I am so glad to see you were satisfied with the ending, Pili! :) I wasn't a huge fan of book 1 but I did love the world building and the gorgeous writing which is why I do plan on giving this series another shot soon. It helps that the ending wasn't disappointing. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat review, Pili! :)
Rashika @ The Social Potato
I absolutely adored this trilogy, Rashika! So I hope you will give it a chance again and binge read it!
DeleteThank you!
I'm thrilled to see you loved this one so much Pili! Zuz and Mik have always been favorites of mine as well, but I have to say Liraz and Ziri gave them a run for their money in this last installment. Ziri made me want to cry every time he appeared, I just felt so awful for him throughout. *sobs just thinking about him* I wish the ending hadn't been quite so open, I would have liked a little more finality after everything the characters went through, but I understand why she left things the way she did. Beautiful review:):)
ReplyDeleteI agree that Ziri and Liraz were fantastic in this book, but Mik and Zuze being human had always a lil bit bigger bit of my heart!
DeleteI cried so much reading this book, Jenny! This one was a very hard book to read emotionally but a fantastic one!
The open ending was fine with me, but I think it is cause I secretly hope we'll get more of the story at some later point!
Thank you, Jenny!
I AM SKIMMING/NOT READING YOUR REVIEW BECAUSE I STILL HAVE TO READ BOOK TWO AND THIS ONE SO AHHH. I did see the part about an open ending... hmm, I dislike open endings. HOWEVER, if it isn't horrible then I'll be fine :D Fantastic review, Pili!
ReplyDeleteAlyssa @ The Eater of Books!
It's open in the sense of not giving you all the details but it's not open enough to be annoying, at least for me!
DeleteNOW GO AND READ THE BOOKS!!
Aw, YAY :D I'm so glad you loved this book sweetie. <3 That makes me so happy :) As I do own them all, but have yet to try them, hih (A) But soonish. Maybe. If I can handle all the heartbreak, lol. Great review :)
ReplyDeleteOh Carina, you really need to read these books! The story is amazing if heartbreaking and the writing is beyond gorgeous!!
DeleteI hope you give them a try soon and love them sweetie!
I'm so glad you enjoyed this book. I agree, Zuze and Mik are my favorite characters as well. Though, I liked Liraz almost as much.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, I also wish the ending wasn't that open, but at least it wasn't a chiffhanger (that's what I say to myself!)
Great review, Pili!
Lis @ The reader lines
I'm hoping we'll get some more of the story at some point, one can dream, right?
DeleteThanks Lis!
Zuzana and Mik are absolutely the best. NO ONE can call them side characters--they own the book. And the ending was absolutely amazing, right?!?! (It confused me, but what I did get? WOW.)
ReplyDeleteAgreed!! They're main characters too, as are Ziri and Liraz!! I hope that if we don't get more books, we could at least get more novellas??
DeleteYAY!!! I am so glad you loved this book, Pili! I did too, and adored the whole trilogy in fact. I agree with you about the ending, and also really love Zuzana and Mik. They brought little streams of entertainment to the book at all the right moments. I will miss them the most, I think!
ReplyDeleteI think so too, Sam! Zuze and Mik need another novella at least!
DeleteI know I will be re-reading this series in the not too far future!
YES this sounds absolutely awesome Pili, the first book was brilliant and I haven't read any after that but it sounds like the trilogy lived up to its name all the way through. Lovely review, I can't wait to read this.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, Jeann! You need to binge read the series now that it's over!
DeleteI hope you'll love it when you do!
I almost completely agree. I loved this book, and I loved this series, and while I appreciated the open ending, b/c I would LOVE to see more of this world . . . I kind of wish we had a more definitive answer in regards to hopefully-you-know-what-b/c-I-don't-want-to-say-it-b/c-spoilers. But yeah, seriously awesome world-building and character development throughout this final installment. LOVED it.
ReplyDeleteI think I know what you mean... the ending had plenty of hope for good things to happen and enough hints to imagine it so, as I choose to imagine it, but yeah I would have loved more stuff wrapped up in an epilogue or something!
DeleteI seriously need to read The Daughter of Smoke and Bone! There's been so much raving and buzz behind it and I've had it for a long time! Now that the whole trilogy is out, I can read it without screaming for the next book. x)
ReplyDeleteGreat review as always, Pili!
Really good choice! The cliffhangers on the books are rather evil! But this series is a MUST READ! Enjoy binge reading it and I cannot wait to hear what you think!
DeleteThank you!