[simpleazon-image align=”left” asin=”0316134074″ locale=”us” height=”500″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Ju6XfrXbL.jpg” width=”335″][simpleazon-link asin=”0316134074″ locale=”us”]Dreams of Gods & Monsters (Daughter of Smoke and Bone)[/simpleazon-link] by Laini Taylor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This being the finale to a series, it pains me to not have enjoyed it more. The first two in the series I liked a great deal, but this one just seemed to drag on and on. It was over 600 pages and most of that was ideology and politics disguised as endless battle preparations and laborious conversations or inner conflicts. The author made it clear that not all monsters were monsters and not all angels were angels and peace is always preferable to war. However, she belabored the point, and the storytelling suffered for it. Also, for all her efforts to point out the errors in judging people by stereotypes, I didn’t miss the dig she made at Christians (the judgmental, mindless way that we all are of course). The action and the romance that drew me to the series in the first place were intermittent afterthoughts set between long periods where nothing happened. Many new characters were suddenly introduced as well and not fully fleshed out which led to confusion. I stuck with it mainly because I wanted to see how it ended. As endings go, it wasn’t bad, but it left many threads dangling and another war on the horizon.

Quotes:

“The world had been stirred by a hot poker, and sparks of crazy were flying” (p. 104).

“How could you tell if your instincts were just hope in disguise, and if your hope was really desperation parading as possibility” (p. 160)?

“People with destinies shouldn’t make plans” (p.237).

“I earned this dirt. Respect. The dirt” (p. 397).