Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor.

Warning: Spoilers! (duh)

 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.

Image courtesy of sheturnspages

The first book in this series A Daughter of Smoke and Bone was a beautifully written book, if not heavy on the set up. Of course everyone who read this book fell in love with Akiva and Karou/Madrigal. The flashback scenes of there past lives was a thing of beauty and with the bombshell ending  of Akiva killing Karou's 'family.

Safe to say, I had no idea what to expect from the second book in the trilogy, Days of Blood and Starlight.

Admittedly I got into this series a little too late. The final book Dreams of Gods and Monsters has been released  and I am desperately trying not to find spoilers. Days of Blood and Starlight was one emotional journey. Karou and Akiva are over and for the first 40 pages Karou is nowhere to be found. And the reader feels her loss. By the time we hear from her again I was bouncing around, jumping up and down excited for it. She is by far one of my favourite protagonists, she's strong-willed and yet still retains emotional depth and vulnerability. In this book we find her siding with the Chimaera and most shockingly Thiago (The white wolf who executed her past self).

The most refreshing thing about this series is that the love story is very minor, at its core this series is about war, the loss, darkness and sacrifices in thee name of war.  This is where Thiago comes in. Karou works for her murderer, sacrificing her safety and putting up with harassment and even an attempted rape scene in order to protect her people in the name of Brimstone. I mean, can this girl get any more awesome. We start to feel her gentleness in this book, within Daughter of Smoke and Bone Karou was a badass, martial arts, blue haired flying goddess and in Days of Blood and Starlight we see all of this stripped away. She is still a badass but more in the internal strength to go on and protect her people everyday. I had a lot of respect for Karou in this book.

With Karou's struggle we luckily have Zuze to give us a little comic relief and to reignite the hope (Karou!) that we slowly lose watching Karou struggle. Zuze and Mik remind us that even in this world at war that people still retain the ability to surprise, enchant and adore. There love story is so refreshing, the trust and banter is a wonderful antithesis to Karou and Akiva's.

I want more Zuze and Mik.

This book is a lot heavier on Akiva than it's predecessor. Taylor somehow gives us the information that Akiva killed Karou's 'family' and yet we feel his guilt and struggle so hard that we still root for him. Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl style we are rooting for him. We are rooting for forgiveness, for accepting mistakes (even though it was an colossal one) and we are rooting for the ability of love to conquer all. To unite worlds, mend hearts and end suffering. Taylor manages to do all of this without Akiva coming across as pius, preachy or more loquaciously 'douche-y' and that is a feat most authors struggle to do so successfully.

Days of Blood and Starlight is not as quirky and charming as its mischief-filled predecessor,  but it's a novel that encourages you to contemplate the consequences of war for both winners and losers and futility of revenge. It discusses the ugly face of war in which nobody wins and everybody suffers. It is heart wrenching and this series has turned into something very special and very unexpected.