Once upon a time, an angel and a devil held a wishbone between them.
And its snap split the world in two.
Hello everyone!
On occasion when I'm trying to come up with a blog post, I will go and consult my little sheep notebook which I dedicated to random notes and jotting down lines about the stuff I read and/or watch. I don't always use it - sometimes it's all so fresh in my mind I only have to close my eyes to remember what it was all about - but when I'm trying to conjure a blog post about, say, a book I've read a couple months ago, it isn't always as easy as thinking about it.
This book tonight is a prime example of what I'm talking about, because I think it's been at least three months since I sat down to read it.
Now, not sure if any of you will recall, but I did a review about Laini Taylor's first book, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, way back when. I'll be posting a link down below so if you need it, scroll to the bottom of the page, please!
My point being here that I had read and written a blog about book one, but then didn't seem to get around to book two for a little while.
Actually, a long wile. But I finally got my butt into gear, and lo and behold, here is the review for Days of Blood and Starlight!
I'm not exactly sure why I had such trouble with this book to start off with, because once I actually sat to read it I breezed through. Maybe it had something to do with just being preoccupied with everything else that was going on, or maybe I was worried the second book wouldn't be as good as the first.
Briefly, in the first book we learn that the angels and chimaera (half-and-half creatures) have been battling for eons, and Karou is a reincarnated warrioress who dreamed of a better world, with her angelic lover Akiva, but unfortunately things went south when Akiva, in his ignorance, killed off what remaining pseudo-family the girl had left, just as she remembered their past life together. So, the book ends with Karou heading off into Eretz, her world, and leaves us with that.
The second book, however, begins with the Misbegotten, that is illegitimate children of the Emperor, Angels of course, who are sent to wipe out the rest of their enemies. Akiva has returned to his garrison, where Hazael and Liraz (his half-siblings) welcome him back, but cautiously.
He had lied, obviously, and they don't know about his history with Madrigal, though after the confrontation on the bridge back in book one, they demand an explanation.
He provides it. It doesn't make them happy.
But what starts to happen is that the three of them slowly turn their own violent natures as they spare those of their enemy who aren't soldiers, keeping them alive instead and helping them flee.
Akiva thinks Karou is dead, but in reality, she has gone to join Thiago, the White Wolf and rebel leader, who is going to take the throne if he can. She's his resurrectionist, bringing back fallen warriors from the dead and giving them wings, although she does later learn that he has lied to her about the fact that their people need time to forgive her. In reality, he has told them never to trust her again, isolating her in the hopes of finally having her.
Yeah, the big bad wolf wants the girl. Nothing new.
He even tries to rape her, not that it goes well, that, as she kills him in self-defense, and puts Ziri, the young man who has always loved her, into Thiago's body to keep up appearances and keep the army together.
If we rewind a little, this complicates things for her because Akiva had, during skirmishes, heard about her, and come looking, only to find her cold and aloft, but he did bring her a thurible with a soul - one of her family, Issa, who survived. And luckily too, because while Karou is on the verge of rape, Issa and her reptilian friends take out Thiago's second-in-command.
With that deception in place, it's time for the final act, which is Akiva's plan of murdering the Emperor and giving power to the son, who will hopefully not want endless war.
He does actually succeed - he steals a whole lot of power he inherited on his mother's side - but unfortunately, his power-hungry uncle stages a coup and kills the rightful heir, deciding to take the angels into the human world to get modern weaponry.
Akiva might have tried to stop him, but Hazael dies during the coup and, even though Liraz and Akiva brought his body to Karou to resurrect, his soul is gone and she can't do it.
To top it all off, they're all fugitives now - Mik and Zuzana, Karou's human friends too - and huddling together in Madrigal's former home to get a strategy going and somehow prevent the human world from falling into a mad emperor's clutches.
So, an army of chimaera, with hamsas on their hands that hurt the angels; an army of Misbegotten, with eternal hatred in their hearts.
And the star-crossed lovers, Akiva and Karou, desperately trying to deny their attraction to each other.
Gotta love sequels that set the stage for the last part!
xx
*image not mine
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