Book review - Days of Blood & Starlight

Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor
Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2
Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on November 6th, 2012
Format: Hardcover
Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal Romance,Young Adult
Pages: 513
Goodreads • Good Books • Amazon

(★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★)

Reading Days of Blood & Starlight was hard. Not in the oh-god-this-book-is-bad-how-am-I-gonna-get-through kind of way, but in the ouch-my-heart kind of way. It was exhausting and life-giving, breathtaking and heart-throbbing, tears and joy--blood and starlight.


As a result, it feels like I've been moving the entire time, struggling alongside the characters, feeling what they felt, doing what they did and I have this strange notion that my breath should be ragged, my legs and arms heavy and throbbing from exhaust--except the only muscle in my body that is aching is my heart.


Oh, the deep-felt pain I had to endure...one character in particular, the last of the Kirin, had my heart in his scarred hands and crushed it until it bled several times - not that he's to blame. I cried inconsolably each time and I am not ashamed for they were well-earned tears.


And then there's the other stab to my heart, that I'm not going to mention because I'm still healing from its sting. And this review is supposed to be spoiler-free.


Having read this book I feel like I've been part of something magical and secret and sacred, although I'm all-too-aware that I am far, far from the only person to have read this and even farther away from being the first.


If I thought Daughter of Smoke & Bone was fantastic, I don't even know how to describe this sequel in one word. Can I just give it a gazillion stars out of five?

Grand arrival!

*sky opens*
*angels sing*

In a small town in a small country in a big world, on this this day, a young girl received mail - BOOKS. The two sequels to Daughter of Smoke and Bone has finally found a home on mah bookshelf an' it looks beauh-tey-ful!

 Just luk at deese covers *faints*

Have a look at the spines as well...just because?

Anyway, I'm beyond excited right now so I'll apologize beforehand for any absence and anti-social behavior - cuz I'll be diving into these as soon as I've finished with this post...which is now. Bye!

xoxo, Maria

Book review - Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1
Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on September 27th 2011
Format: Hardcover
Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal Romance,Young Adult
Pages: 418
Goodreads • Good Books • Amazon 

This first installment of the trilogy is - sorry for sounding like a cheeseball - nothing short of a masterpiece. 

I cannot fathom my love for this book into words, but I can tell you why I loved it so much.

First of all, the writing. Holy smoke (pun intended) the writing kept wowing me as I read, it's so poetic and yet manages not to be pretentious at all. 

The worldbuilding is also A+, and Laini does a nice job of weaving it in so you don't get stuck on page 20, unable get through it. It's really inventive and genius.

Everything about it is really clever, and the few things that bugged me (trust me there were close to zero) were explained later on so I went like "Ohhh, oh my god! It totally makes sense now." But I also love how she puts out these tiny breadcrumbs and allows you to think for yourself. When realization hits you it hits you hard and I love it.

The characters are really complex and intriguing - especially Karou, the main character, I really like her. The ending gained her a complete new dimension, making her all the more interesting and layered. 

The point is, I really love this book and I so recommend it to everybody who haven't read it yet. 

I finished it this morning, and I've ordered the next two in the trilogy and the wait is already killing me...

Bookshelf Tour [AUGUST 2014]

At the moment, my bookshelf is a huge blob of organized mess. But I'm gonna show it to ya anyways. Mostly because I want to do another bookshelf tour at the end of 2014 and I'd like to have something to compare to.

So enjoy my hot mess of a bookshelf!

(Books with a * are books I've read)

Bookshelf No. 1

Greetings, fellas!

Since I don't have the camera nor the courage to start a video blog on YouTube, I have made the decision to write about books on a regular, mundane *shudders* blog for you guys to read along with! I find it easier to express myself through writing rather than talking. I originally wanted to do this as a sort of book-diary thingie, but I suppose there might come a few reviews and other goodies.

You wanna know who I am, you say? Well, uh, my name is Maria and I love books. Which, if you hadn't guessed, is the very reason I'm doing this. I can't very well write a blog about how much I hate books, can I?

Anyway, I'm from a teeny tiny country called Denmark  and I'm 16 years old at the moment, just about to begin my three gymnasium years (woo! --')


So yeah, I'd be happy if you'd follow me on my many book adventures!



xoxo, Maria