Dreams of Gods & Monsters

This is such a creative story. I love the writing and dialogue between characters.

I was SOOOO close to giving this book five stars. But I just couldn't. It was a wee bit disappointing, if I'm to be honest, after Days of Blood and Starlight (I'm sorry, but I wasn't expecting it to be as good. That one was impeccable), but still wonderful overall. There was so much action (and humor!!!), and it really is just a great and memorable trilogy that I had the pleasure of reading. :)

Great YA series. Beautiful book. Sad that it's over but enjoyed it so much.

To be honest, I was disappointed. It's not that this book is bad, because while it drags on with vague scenes and alternating POVs, I still enjoyed the story... until about 85% into the book.

The first problem I've encountered with this book is Eliza. She appeared so suddenly, without any explanation about who she is and why we're switching to her perspective. I understand that her identity had to be revealed later on, but that also made it hard to care about her. It doesn't help that Eliza's scenes kind of overshadowed Karou's stolen moments with Akiva, especially when the story began shifting more towards her and her secret.

Speaking of Karou and Akiva, what happened with the war between seraphim and chimaera? It went well up to the part where they finally took care of Jael, but the... development? new plot? “bigger picture”? that comes after that makes this whole issue look so trivial. The previous 2 books were all about building this up. Akiva and the empire. Karou and the resurrections. It used to be about them, their story, and the war of their people... and yet I feel like this new issue completely thwarted it and threw it out the window.

Well, to be fair, there were some hints about this too. It's just they were so subtle, and the development came out so suddenly it left me all ? ? ? WHAT. That's also why the resolution feels more like deus ex machina than anything else, and it makes me sad because the plot was good until then. When the scope expanded with the Stelians and Faerers revealed, I feel that the story lost its focus and fell all over the place. It's like the important things don't really matter anymore, and trivial, unknown things suddenly become important. There are moments when Karou and Akiva got shoved to the background to make room for all these stuff.

I wasn't satisfied with the ending either. They called it a “happy middle” and not a happy ending, but I'm not sure if I'm happy with it. What about the dream shared by Karou, Akiva, and Brimstone? While they did accomplish the "beginning" they wanted to make, but it felt unfinished and small because of the issue with the beasts. It's very underwhelming, but guess I can take comfort in Karou and Akiva's happiness.

At first I considered rating this 2-2.5 stars because the twist near the end left a bitter aftertaste, but my favorite couple happened in this book (Ziri and Liraz) and they're super adorable, so I bumped it up to 3 stars.

Dreams of Gods and Monsters was quite a bit longer than the previous two installments, and it sure felt like it took longer to read. 613 pages packed with lots of action, plot twists, and characters old and new. Instead of wasting breath on a full summary of the story, here's a synopsis in a nutshell: Jael, emperor of the Seraphim, has taken select troops through a portal to Earth to seek weapons. All the world watches the arrival of this “heavenly host” while at the same time, the bodies of monsters are found near the Sahara desert. Angels and demons? Yep. On the other side of the portal in Eretz, Karou and Akiva make a fragile peace between their two small armies, and prepare to bring the fight to Jael. Add in some personal character struggles, Storm Chasers, fallen worlds, Faerers, Stelians, and a huge bruise in the sky called the Cataclysm, and voila, you've got this book.

The Good

New characters. The addition of new characters in this book was refreshing and gave me a chance to be frustrated (a good thing). Eliza was an enigma; I couldn't wait to figure out just what her terrifying dream encompassed and who the heck she was. And once I found out just who she was....whoah. I definitely wasn't expecting that! In addition to revealing Eliza's true character, the book also reveals Razgut's past. The reader finally gets to find out why he is a “fallen” angel.
A realistic struggle between two armies who were trained to hate one another. Chimaera and Seraphim must make a fragile peace in order to bring down a common enemy: Jael. I enjoyed the difficulties both armies faced as they shifted their worldviews and came together to fight.
Karou and Akiva. Together. Finally!!
A not so happy ending. Yes, Karou and Akiva finally get together. He finally reveals his true, beautiful smile, they kiss, and they make a home together, in heart and in life. But....there is still another fight coming. A fight against the real monsters that lurk on the other side of the Cataclysm. I love that while the main characters get their bit of happy, not all is necessarily right with the world. There is more to come.

The Bad

Honestly, there was really nothing bad about this book, but...it did feel a bit messy at times with all the plots going on at once and the shifting back and forth between Earth and Eretz. Minor though, compared to the overall awesomeness.

Overall Rating

5 out of 5 - I would love to have this book in my collection, and I would definitely read again. Would recommend to any fan of non-traditional YA fantasy.

Quotes

“It was a new idea for him, that happiness wasn't a mystical place to be reached or won – some bright terrain beyond the boundary of misery, a paradise waiting for them to find it – but something to carry doggedly with you through everything, as humble and ordinary as your gear and supplies. Food, weapons, happiness.” Akiva p.445

“Warm with wonderment, a smile so beautiful it ached. It crinkled his eyes, and shaped his beauty into another kind of astonishing, a better kind, because it was the astonishment of happiness, and that reshapes everything. It makes hearts whole and lives worth living. Karou felt it fill her, dizzy and delirious, and she fell a little deeper in love.” p.543

This review and others can be found on my blog: electricYAWP

You know that feeling, (You probably don't), when a limb has been torn from you. The first reaction is, obviously, pain both physical and emotional. But afterwards, after you are all bandaged and physically healed, you feel that emptiness and hollowness in you after a part of you has been torn off.
That's how finishing this book felt to me. And I hope I never feel the physical pain of a torn limb.
I even cried. Hands-over-mouth-tears-streaming-down-face kind of cry.
I will miss this series terribly emptiness
I will now go around life for the next couple of days, just staring at everyone, my face devoid of feelings. Complete apathy.

Love you, Laini!
And the imagination you have there, ughhh I Wanna kiss you! I am straight, but I will totally give you a full mouth lesbo kiss, just for you babe. wink wink.

BUUUUT, I think Laini had a hard time finishing this series because there are a lot of times where I figured she may be stalling. Some parts she just wrote TOOO MUCH , like too much feelings, too much description, and too much thought on the part of some characters, especially during conversations.

The kiss offer is still on. wink wink

lapses back to apathy mode

Yes? I think so, yes. The writing was beautiful, as always - this is a lovely series, but most of it comes from the delicious writing, rather than the story or characters themselves. This book is full of squishy feelings and YA-romance moments and I'm totally ok with that, but I'm also totally ok with leaving Karou, Akiva, Zuzana and Mik and not coming back. This isn't a series that will be on my re-read list anytime soon.

It was nice to not get a traditional happily ever after. But as the universe(s) expanded I really wanted to learn more about what happens after the End. Not to Karou, but maybe Scarab and Eliza and the nihilim. I really wanted to see Brimstone and his reaction to Karou post-wishbone, and see the 'family' reunited. But as it stands I am mostly satisfied.

I think that if I'd read this straight after Days of Blood and Starlight, I would have loved it. I've been out of this world for too long and was not really in the mood for it. I pushed myself to read it because I was so excited waiting for it.
I don't think adding the Stelian plotline really added much to the story and it disrupted the ‘natural' ending to the series which was the end of the war. In a way it was good to have that little bit after, especially as it mentioned economic realities for the Chimaera but as I was reading it I was feeling dissatisfied.
Still, I loved this series; will hopefully read again one day all together, might raise my rating of this one.

An incredibly satisfying and beautiful end to the series.