Days of Blood & Starlight

From Goodreads:    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?

My Thoughts:

-    I have mixed feelings about this one, but they are mostly negative. 

-    I loved the world building. The Angels and Chimaera are awesome.

-    The writing is good and kept me interested, but the story is pretty slow. It wasn't too bad, but it still felt slow.

-    I would say this book is for older teens and adults. There are some graphic and brutal scenes, and there are a lot of dark themes. 

-    There are too many characters, and a lot of them aren't needed. The two deer girls were really useless. Why do we care about these characters? Do they have a future role to play? Do we really need Zuzana and Nick?

-    I'm still not on board with Akiva and Karou's relationship. I've grown more against it. Akiva is a boob. He needs to man up. I'm so sick of him crying. Karou needs a swift kick in the butt.

-    When I finished the book, I felt sad and depressed, and not in a good way. I'm not super excited for the last book. I felt awful, and I needed something happy and fluffy after this read.

Previous Book

(covers are linked)