savvyrosereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Mini reviews for each book are below, but the main takeaway: READ THESE BOOKS!
Daughter of Smoke and Bone (4.5 stars): The world building was incredible and the characters pulled me in! Also the ending absolutely BROKE ME into a million pieces.
Days of Blood and Starlight (5 stars): Possibly a hot take but this was my favorite of the series! I absolutely loved it, start to finish, and literally could not put it down.
Dreams of Gods and Monsters (4 stars): An amazing conclusion to an incredible trilogy! It wasn’t my favorite ending and I could probably nitpick a lot of things, but overall SO emotional and captivating!
Night of Cakes and Puppets (5 stars): An absolute DELIGHT of a novella spotlighting Zuzana and Mik, who might be two of my all time favorite secondary characters.
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicide and Murder
Minor: Sexual harassment
cosy_armchair_reader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
It is such a mysterious tale which really drew me in and made me want to stay.
The only complaint I have, which really isn't that much of a complaint and more of a personal preference, is that when we take a look back on Akiva and Madrigal's memories it feels very slow and slightly dreary and I would rather get back to the action that had been carved so wondrously in the previous chapter.
I loved the element of magic, love and wishes. And hope.
So beautiful. Top marks for Laini Taylor.
Moderate: Blood, Death, and War
Minor: Abandonment
jadehusdanhicks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I truly didn’t see the twists and turns coming and was sat with my jaw dropped to say the least. Dived into the next one already
Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, War, and Death
moonchild_cos's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Abandonment, Torture, Genocide, Sexual harassment, and War
Minor: Sexual content, Medical content, and Trafficking
scarlett_f's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Animal death, Grief, Murder, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, War, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore
Minor: Toxic friendship, War, and Sexual content
doodeedoda's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.75
Graphic: War
Moderate: Death and Violence
Minor: Slavery, Rape, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Grief, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
kayelina's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Moderate: War, Blood, Sexual content, Torture, Murder, and Violence
donatio's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I liked the characters as well as the world-building but some things didn't sit right with me.
Spoiler
I'm a big animal friend and I'm intrigued by the concept of opposites, how something cannot exist without an opposite, but the depiction here failed sometimes. The fact that the angels basically colonised the world of the chimaera often fades into the background and the chimaera are still often described as the villain(monsters) because the angels make no appearance except for Akiva's "rightness" and so on; the balance it was probably supposed to be... Is just not there. Even though it is said that the chimaera are intelligent and feeling beings this behavior isn't shown, there is no tender love in Eretz in the chimaera capital described. That makes them seem cruel even though the angels are the "real" enemies.Furthermore I had a problem with some comments made in the book I can't recall specifically now and the fact that everyone seems to be beautiful (ly thin) in some way upsets me.
Still the story managed to draw me in, to care about the characters.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Genocide, Gore, Sexual content, Slavery, War, Classism, Animal death, and Colonisation
Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Child death, and Torture
whatsophsreading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, and Abandonment
_alyssar_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.25
Graphic: Death, Violence, War, Suicide, Blood, Animal death, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Slavery
Moderate: Body shaming, Genocide, Bullying, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, and Sexual content