Nataliya's Reviews > Dreams of Gods & Monsters

"It was not a happy ending, but a happy middle - at last, after so many fraught beginnings."

And so the last page is turned, and I'm feeling content. I was afraid of disappointment, but it never came.

This story started strong, soared in the middle and came a conclusion that made me happy - with a slight open-endedness that is there as a gentle reminder that beyond the conclusion for the Chimaera and the Seraphim, Karou and Akiva there's more. Because no good story is truly complete just with a happy ending alone. There are no endings in life. But there are happy middles. And they make me strangely content.

"There is no acceptable level of collateral damage."

Two books ago we started with a blue-haired young woman, an art student in Prague by day and by night the collector of teeth for unknown magic done by the mysterious Chimaera creatures who raised her. And then her strange but comfortable world shattered as she found herself in the middle of apparent annihilation of the entire species who have not only raised her but to which she used to belong - long ago, in another life, in another body, having dared to dream a brave dream of peace with an eternal enemy - the enemy who, having barely become her lover, has also become the weapon of destruction for her entire race.

We saw the devastation of the brutal war, the genocide, and the fight back of which Karou - shattered and broken and suffering from despair and guilt - has become an integral part; a fight back that promised as much brutality and destruction as the force that started it. We saw a former murderer look into the bleakness of what he's done, see the abyss staring back at him, and in horror and disgust with what he saw he tried to put things right, clinging to the memory of that wild dream conceived years ago.

And now that dream is still alive, despite all odds, despite the blood and death and revenge and grief and despair. Despite centuries of hatred and prejudice and violence.

The dream of peace and the longing for dull days beautiful in their calmness.

"History conditioned you for epic-scale calamity. Once, when she was studying the death toll of battles in World War I, she's caught herself thinking, Only eight thousand men died here. Well, that's not many. Because next to, say, the million who died at the Somme, it wasn't. The stupendous numbers deadened you to the merely tragic, and history didn't average in the tame days for balance. On this day, no one in the world was murdered. A lion gave birth. Ladybugs lunched on aphids. A girl in love daydreamed all morning, neglecting her chores, and wasn't even scolded.

What was more fantastical than a dull day?"

The dream of Karou and Akiva is simple - the future in which the former enemies can live in peace. Beating swords into plowshares. The dream as old as the world itself, and yet in its simplicity strangely unattainable. Because to attain it you need to let go of the past filled with blood and losses and grief. Because you need to see your enemy as a person, and be able to let go, to forgive, to accept. Because you need to let the dead rest in peace.

'The dead,' she said. 'And we have plenty of dead between us, but the way we act, you'd think they were corpses hanging on to our ankles, rather than souls freed to the elements. [...] They're gone, they can't be hurt anymore, but we drag their memory around with us, doing our worst in their name, like it's what they'd want, for us to avenge them? I can't speak for all the dead, but I know it's not what I wanted for you, when I died. And I know it's not what Brimstone wanted for me, or for Eretz.'

This book continues to expand the scope of events just as its beloved-by-me predecessor did, and opens new threads instead of (or, should I say, in addition to) marching along to wrap up the story. And that's what can - and I'm sure already did - leave so many readers unsettled. Because doing that in the conclusion of beloved series is wrought with trouble.

The ever-expanding scope of the story? So much can go wrong with that. 'The Song of Ice and Fire' be the prime example of the peril that expansion of the storyline can bring, to the point where focus shifts so much that you are not sure whether it's just fuzziness now. Normally I'd be the first to grudgingly point it out. But yet for me it worked here, unexpectedly and so neatly that it caught me by surprise.

The introduction of a larger theme than the courageous dream of two lovers leading to reshaping of their world did not erase the significance of the 'smaller' goal. Not at all. No, instead it helped create the sense of the world bigger than just their dream, with their story - as far-reaching as it's consequences may be - becoming just a chapter in the history of their world, and not even a crown jewel of it. It helped create a feeling that there's is more to the scope of this world than Karou and Akiva alone - neatly subverting the Chosen Ones trope at the same time - and creating a 'happy middle' in place of a happy ending. The significance of 'our' story is not diminished - but it is also not a final culmination, and I thought it was awesome.

Laini Taylor's lovely prose and juuuust the right amount of humor - not only for comedic relief but also by contrast to underscore the grimness of the situation - are just as enjoyable as in the first two books. She knows how to create beautiful and yet simple passages that flow so organically and pull you into the story completely. Her array of interesting, fully-fleshed secondary characters who actually make you care is impressive (Zuzana, Mik, Ziri, Liraz, Issa, Eliza - just to name a few). Her pacing, even though just a tad off in places, is overall decent. Her descriptions are vivid but not overpowering.

And - thanks to all the literary gods for hearing my fervent prayers - she sticks with the third person narration that seems to become more and more rare in the present day landscape of literature for young people. And manages to avoid the omnipresent suggestion of vomit-inducing love triangles. And manages to create so many instances of not only strong female heroines but also a genuine friendship between young women without the omnipresent underscores of competitive bitchery to each other (and that is, sadly, rare in books of our time). Zuzana in particular, I love you and your fierce awesomeness and loyalty.

"Maybe she couldn't make Karou's life - or love - less complicated, and maybe she didn't have any helpful hints when it came to, oh, angel invasions or dangerous deceptions or armies that clearly just wanted to start killing each other, but she could do this at least. She could make her friend laugh."

All in all, I thought it was a strong and lovely conclusion to a strong and lovely story. It is not without its flaws - but, of course, perfection without flaws would run a danger of becoming boring. Even Mona Lisa lacks perfection in her eyebrow-less stare. (Tongue-in-cheek here, oh you serious art critics!)

4.5 stars. Or godstars. Or teeth. Or monsters. Or wishbones. Whatever. It's good, that's the point.

"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.
With hope that the weapons could in time vanish from the picture.
A new way of living."

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My review of 'Daughter of Smoke and Bone'.
My review of 'Days of Blood and Starlight'.