Dreams of Gods & Monsters is the last of the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy and I am so sad to see it end. This has been a wild ride with a beautiful cast of characters and a thought-provoking story that held me from beginning to end. Despite the length of these books, they were all fairly quick reads because I just couldn't put them down.

 

This book was full of adventure and intrigue, suspense and twists, and I loved it! The mythology of this series takes humans, demons, and angels and changes your perception of them. What does it mean to be good or evil? How does one person or thing become evil? Are those thought to be evil truly bad, or is it just one's perspective? These are all questions that this book, and the series, makes you ask yourself.

 

I felt like this book was the most emotional of the series. It tore my heart to shreds more than once, and built it right back up. The imagery and the characters are so vivid that it was impossible not to put myself in the middle of the story with them, feeling their pain, their angst, their joy, their sadness. So delicious!

Beschreibung

 

Der Heerführer Jael hat Eretz nach blutigen Kämpfen gegen die Chimären erobert. Dies ist immer noch nicht genug für Jael, und so zieht er mit seinem Dominion-Heer in die Welt der Menschen, um sich Massenvernichtungswaffen zu eigen zu machen.

 

Die Chimäre Karou und der Seraphim Akiva stellen sich währenddessen der schier unlösbaren Aufgabe, die seit jahrtausenden verfeindeten Stämme der Chimären und Seraphim zu vereinigen, um Jael’s Plan zu vereiteln. Durch ihre unerschütterliche Hoffnung und ihren Glaube an eine Zukunft, in der beide Rassen in Einklang miteinander leben können, haben sie eine Chance im Kampf gegen die Dominion Krieger.

 

Meine Meinung

 

Ich habe mich riesig auf „Dreams of Gods and Monsters“, den Abschlussband der Fantasy Trilogie „Zwischen den Welten“ von Laini Taylor gefreut. Leider hat es etwas gedauert bis ich dazu kam mir diesen Wälzer vorzunehmen, und meine Erinnerung an die Ereignisse der vorherigen Bände war daher etwas eingestaubt. Sehr passend ist da das Personenregister am Ende des Buches. So kann man sich einen guten Überblick verschaffen und seinem Gedächtnis auf die Sprünge helfen. Natürlich gibt es auch immer wieder während des Handlungsablaufs kleine Rückblenden.

 

Sehr interessant fand ich, dass eine neue Protagonistin namens Eliza eingeflochten wurde, die ein geheimnisvolles Erbe in sich trägt. Nach und nach lüften sich die Rästel um Eiliza und deren Herkunft, sowie ihre Rolle für die Geschichte. Ehrlich gesagt fand ich diesen neuen Handlungsstrang mit Eliza um einiges interessanter als das Gefühls-Hin-und-Her zwischen Karou und Akiva.

 

Laini Taylors Schreibstil ist genauso bezaubernd und atmosphärisch wie in den ersten beiden Bänden der „Zwischen den Welten“ Trilogie, und stellt besonders detailliert die Gefühlswelt der Hauptprotagonisten Karou und Akiva dar. Besonders das hadern mit ihrem eigenen Gewissen und den Gefühlen gegenüber einander nimmt einen großen Stellenwert während des Handlungsverlaufes ein. Leider wurde dadurch die Spannung ausgebremst und das Buch an vielen Stellen einfach zu langamtig für meinen Geschmack. Deshalb gibt es von mir einen kleinen Abzug in der Gesamtbewertung, so dass ich auf 4 von 5 Grinsekatzen komme.

 

Über die Autorin

 

Laini Taylor hat bereits drei Romane veröffentlicht. Sie hat Literatur und Kunst studiert und lebt in Portland, Oregon mit Ehemann und Tochter Clementine. (Quelle: FJB Verlag)

 

Information zur Reihe

1. 2012 Daughter of Smoke and Bone 2011 Daughter of Smoke and Bone
2. 2013 Days of Blood and Starlight 2012 Days of Blood and Starlight
3. 2015 Dreams of Gods and Monsters 2014 Dreams of Gods and Monsters

Fazit

Ein atmosphärischer Finalband der „Zwischen den Welten“ Trilogie!

⭐4 stars⭐

"You are a conniving, deceitful hussy. I stand in awe."

"You're sitting."

"I sit in awe."

Of course, we would never…

 

Because we’ve always been told not to.  Certainly I would never...

 

Judge a book by its cover? But it’s not judging if it’s obvious.  Right?  Because just look at these covers.

 

Obviously The Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy is for girls.  It’s nothing but a kissing book.

 

Sorry, not interested.

 

Luckily for me I have friends who enjoy shaming me into submission, who swore it wasn’t a kissing book—that it was actually so much more.  My lack of interest evolved into curiosity, and my curiosity cannot be denied.

 

So, I picked up The Daughter of Smoke and Bone and read it.  Then I read Days of Blood and Starlight.  Then I read Dreams of God and Monsters.  And guess what I found?

 

I was right. It is totally a kissing book.

 

But I was wrong too.  There’s a really cool story mixed in with all the brooding, drama, angst and kissing.  War.  Fighting.  Underdogs.  Oppression.  Heroes that rise up.   Bad guys to bring down.  Weak-but-strong good guys.  Strong-but-weak bad guys.  There are characters you want to love and characters you love to hate.

 

The writing is outstanding, very visual.  I could see everything.  The characters are tangible.  The plot pulls you along.  With out a doubt, there was way more killing than kissing.

 

That’s how this guy became a fan of these girly kissing books.

 

And…I suppose the kissing wasn’t so bad.

 

Content advisory: No language at all, but there is some PG-13 sexual content.  All implied.  Never physical, but lots and Lots and LOTS of gooey, mushy, girly LONGING and WANTING and BROODING and ACHING and PINING and LANGUISHING and…

 

 ...Barf.

 

The Value of a Star: Ratings Explained

3.5 Stars:

+world-building, plot, tension, and characters.

-romance and pacing issues, and flowery writing that crossed the line into annoying purple prose
I enjoyed it despite the problems and felt the ending was satisfying.

Romance:Let’s get this out of the way first.

Zuzana & Mike: remain the couple to beat. They’re sweet, mesh, and have chemistry that isn’t forced to fruition like a blooming onion. *cough*

Akiva & Karou:



Oy. I get this is supposed to be their epic romantic journey but I have a hard time with them being together. I mean it’s not fun to read their anguish being a part but they have lust, history, and nothing else.

They have a moment that was “YES! This!” when they realize they don’t know each other. My bubble was quickly popped when they touched and nothing else mattered. Again. *sigh*
At least I can skip their paragraph(s) long eye-fucking and lusting fire-storm BS.

Other: There’s another couple or two that blooms. I like the pairings. Especially the Hero that deserves happiness and end the love triangle mess. However, that’s more about liking the characters and wanting them to be happy than buying their connection. Again, it’s all about fate and instant attraction.

I wish some fluffy shit was cut to make room for more growth and depth. As much as I love the world-building and plot, this aspect makes me nervous to read more of Lani Taylor’s work.

Plot:

I liked the weaving perspectives. Not only does it make sense to have them, it builds the tension and suspense.

Eliza was a solid addition. I definitely had to know how humans were reacting to The Visitors and that was only possible through her. It also worked to throw me for a loop where her story was going and how it connected.

I liked reading the Chimera and Angels in the cave with all their drama and overcoming their history. Ziri as The Wolf is brilliant and heartbreaking. Lirazel surprised me.

I will admit to being confused and frustrated with not knowing Karou’s plan against the Angels until the showdown. It ended up being changed and working, so I have to wonder still what the plan was with the original crew.

Stelvians make an appearance and we finally get answers there. Most of the time they’re flittering around the edges and aren’t really important until the end.

Pacing:




Yes, I agree pacing is an issue. Many times I was frustrated because it wasn’t going anywhere or at the speed of molasses. This with the writing makes me wonder if the editor decided Taylor was “too big to fail” or something? Why does no one remember “the bigger they are the harder they fall”?

The Ending:

While I found the ending satisfying, it didn’t reveal all the answers. Like the how and why of Akiva’s power. Or the secret of tithing beyond pain being the crudest. And teeth.

At first it made sense that Karou only got and used teeth from the human world. But now that she knows about Chimera, I wonder why they can’t use Chimera or angel teeth instead of solely from the human world.

Maybe I missed something but it seems silly to just burn the bodies immediately after getting the soul. There must be a reason why but there’s no explanation.

There’s an ace pulled out of the sleeve for The Real Big Bad but we don’t see it happen. There’s no why or how, just that it will happen and it’s meant to be.

So not everything is revealed but I still feel good about how it ended. These opens could lead to more books in the world, but I don’t know if I can get excited about it.

Part of it is being relieved this trilogy is over and seeing how quality declined as it went on. The other is not wanting another insta-love fest. We’ll see. I’m at least willing to look into it because of Daughter of Smoke and Bone’s high point and good elements.