Dreams of Gods and Monsters

Dreams of Gods and Monsters

by Laini Taylor

SYNOPSIS:

By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her, if there can even be a future for the chimaera in war-ravaged Eretz.

Common enemy, common cause.

When Jael’s brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.

And, perhaps, for themselves. Toward a new way of living, and maybe even love.

But there are bigger threats than Jael in the offing. A vicious queen is hunting Akiva, and, in the skies of Eretz … something is happening. Massive stains are spreading like bruises from horizon to horizon; the great winged stormhunters are gathering as if summoned, ceaselessly circling, and a deep sense of wrong pervades the world.

What power can bruise the sky?

From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy.

At the very barriers of space and time, what do gods and monsters dream of? And does anything else matter?

Read More
21014
5
Book #3 in Series

I do believe in magic: the magic of words.

And Laini Taylor might as well have pure magic on the tip of her fingers, as that’s how enchanted I am by her story.

This series is just too wonderful for words, absolutely mesmerising! And I could never recommend it enough.

“Once upon a time,an angel and a devil pressed their hands to their hearts
and started the apocalypse.”

akiva&madrigal alikeWhen I finished this story I was absolutely happy.
I was locked into my own personal bubble of happiness, bursting right trough & from my heart, and it filled me with so much emotion that I can barely conceive to put into words right now. It felt like having wings – like I could reach Eretz if only I would spread them wide and let my soul soar into the sky.

But then it hit me, it hit me to the roots, it hit me hard:
There will be no more Prague (as seen trough Karou’s eyes), no more Poison Kitchen…
There will be no more desert adventures, no more flying, no more Eretz.
There will be no more Karou & Akiva to cheer for, no more Zuzana & Mik to make me giggle. No more monsters to love, no more Ziri, my dear sweet Ziri with his first love that could melt even the coldest of the hearts.
There will simply be.. no more.

How can such an amazing world not exist, huh? How can such wonderful characters not be real, how can this story be only trapped between the pages of this book, how can I not be part of it any longer?

And so my bubble broke right in front of my eyes.
And my vision blurred.

I cried then. For all the hours I spent reading this book that I won’t relieve for the first time; for all beauty of this story and the wonder of Laini’s world that I keep hidden deep into my heart. For all the moments I stopped breathing and the ones when my heart seemed to stop beating; for all the instances when the happiness or the despair broke me and for all the tears that threaten me through the series. For all the moments I smiled like a kid, for all the moments when I though it could never get ‘better than that’, but oh, how much better it did get!

So, this it it… That moment when a story seems to kill every other story for me, because after I finished reading IT what else in this world could possibly make my heart flutter the same way, what characters can make me love them just as much, what emotional carousel could ever break me and still make me whole again? *sniff*

“We are the beginning … We always have been. This time, let it be more than a beginning.”

karou-alike

For our characters this is not the ending, they have more adventures awaiting for them, but just how cruel is it, Laini, to know ‘that‘ but not be able to follow them to the end of the world and beyond?

I want to be there when their world heals, I want to see monsters and angels in their ‘ever after’, I want to share their secrets and their adventures…

Pretty please… Can I make a wish, can I find a portal? Or couldn’t Zuze just come and take me with her to Eretz?

‘Cuz I refuse to say goodbye, I refuse to close this book! I refuse to let it end!

If only words could evanesce and I could set them free into my world, if only I could have one more moment with them all, just one to last me a lifetime.. If only….

Boy, I am drunk with this book, ain’t I?… If that’s even possible. I swear I am floating through the air, in my way to the skies of Eretz.

Don’t you believe me? Just take a sip, and when you finish reading it, come back to contradict me.

I dare you!… I really do.

Happy midnight rea… Oh, forget it, what can be happy about this story forever ending, huh? *crying in a corner*

My only wish:

… Is now to find this set, to have it on my shelf and cherish forever

daughter-beautiful-set

… And if someday the graphic novel will become reality.. Oh my, that will be a dream come true!

daugther-of-smoke-and-bone-graphic

Random silly notes:

– As coherence is not an option today –

These things probably make no sense to you if you didn’t read the book yet (they are not intended to anyways), but I would still consider them spoilers of sorts. Feel free to skip them. Then again, some might not make much sense if you read it either, they are just ramblings from while still reading the book, but I do want to keep them alive in my memory:

♥ Human’s reaction to angels vs “demons”. How they perceived the bodies, how the menace of the apocalypse got the best/worse of them.
♥ The change of heart when it came to monsters & angels; the painful, heart-stabbing evolution of their relationship.
♥ Akiva & Karu. Zuze & Mik, our cute samurai.
♥ The diplomacy with witch they asked ‘nicely’.
♥ Ziri & .. Oh, I will leave that aside 😉
♥ But.. Why didn’t we hear more about Gabriel? show

♥ If I’d die even a bit every time Laini drops a bomb, I would never see the end of this story.
♥ I’m not sure what food is good for mending hearts, but keep that close while reading.
♥ Heart-breaking.. stitching it and breaking it again, but beautiful nonetheless.
♥ Please don’t end, please don’t end, don’t you dare to ever end, you beautiful story!

keep calm-lainitaylor-readon

READING PROGRESS – mild spoilers!

[su_progress_bar style=”thin” percent=”33″ text=” 33.0% – I need to read this slowly, I never want it to end! *sigh*”] [su_progress_bar style=”thin” percent=”53″ text=” 53% – No, no, no, no.. no, no no.. No! Tell me you just.. didn’t! NOOO!!!!”] [su_progress_bar style=”thin” percent=”75″ text=” 75% – And just when you think things can’t get any worse.. Remember that very first line in the first book? ‘It did not end well’

Dear Laini Taylor,
you better make it ‘well’ again (or I’ll become a samurai instead of Zuze)!”] [su_progress_bar style=”thin” percent=”76″ text=” 76% – Phew! I almost had a heart attack, damn it!!!!”] [su_progress_bar style=”thin” percent=”85″ text=” 85% – If things seem pretty well when there’s still a lot of space between me and the last page, I should fear.. right?!
Or can’t there be a full 15% of happy endings?
Oh.. Now I’m just being silly, I know… My poor heart can take no more…”] [su_progress_bar style=”thin” percent=”90″ text=” 90% – Damn you, sleep, why do I ever need you? But if I dream tonight.. Oh, I know I will dream of Gods and Monsters :)”] [su_progress_bar style=”thin” percent=”100″ text=”100% – How dare you be over, book, how dare you! A thousand chapters more and I would want a thousand still…”]

CREDITS: Cover image picture: Akiva And Madrigal. You can click on the other images for the sources.

Music of choice:

« »

LEAVE A COMMENT

Discover more from Reading After Midnight

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading