Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #2) by Laini Taylor

All of her life Karou wanted to know why Brimstone made her collect teeth and as with many things in life, the answer is so much more than she is prepared for.  Facing the genocide of her people, the Chimera, Karou is racked with guilt for having not only dared to love an angel but to dream of a new world.  She must now reconcile what her people think of as her betrayal, her guilt and the love she cannot stop feeling for Akiva.

Akiva knows what he has done cannot be undone and yet he dares to hope that Karou/ Madrigal's existence will mean that somehow their naive dream will bear beautiful fruit.  To the seraphim, Akiva is not simply the weapon of his father and uncle's blood lust for war and power.  The lines on his hands indicate each kill in battle and the toll ways heavily on him.  Somehow, he must make a difference, somehow he must atone.

Karou and Akiva aren't united in their struggle thanks to all that has passed between them but they cannot help but love each other from afar and dream that one day their people will find peace, even if it doesn't end in happiness for them.

Days of Blood & Starlight has a very different tone than the first book in the series, Daughter of Smoke & Bone. Where Daughter of Smoke and Bone has moments of lightness, very little of that feeling finds its way into the pages of Days of Blood & Starlight.  It seeks to ask harder questions like what survival looks like. Is there a true objective to war, or is it simply the amassing of power? Is there a point where vengeance becomes futile? Are the children of our enemies deserving of death simply for the potential that they might one day grow and wield a sword?  Interspersed with these larger questions, the tragic romance between Akiva and Karou/Madrigal plays in the background.

Both Akiva and Karou/Madrigal feel the weight of the war between them.  No matter the torture Akiva suffered at the hands of the Chimera, participating in genocide is never acceptable.  At this point, I don't really see how these two can have a happy ending. Yes, Karou/Madrigal still loves Akiva but how can she possibly have a HEA with the person who is directly responsible for the slaughter and near extermination of her people?  I am not even sure I can accept that Karou/Madrigal is still drawn to Akivia and the determination on Taylor's part to seemingly paint him as good particularly when juxtaposed to Thiago. 

Review of Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs Book One in the Tempest Series

Tempest has a boyfriend who really adores her, a family that supports and loves and her and has the ability to spend her free time doing what she loves most - surfing.  At almost 17 years of age the world should be filled with adventure for her but instead her seventeenth birthday represents a date with destiny that she would dearly love to avoid. On her 17th birthday Tempest will have the choice of becoming a mermaid and following in the footsteps of her mother, who abandoned her family six years ago, or stay on land and live out her life.

Though her father has told her repeatedly that there were complicated reasons why her mother left and that he bears her no ill will, Tempest is filled with feelings of extreme anger. She does not see becoming a mermaid as an incredible gift but an excuse to abandon one's family.  No matter her desire to stay human, the sea constantly calls her and there are times when she is sure that the intent is nefarious.  In the sea a selkie named Kona waits for her filled with nothing but love for her and on land there is the steady and every so human Mark.  So not only is Tempest drawn between land and sea but to men who care for her.

Tempest Rising in not an inclusive story whatsoever or even remotely progressive.  Tempest worries about how her brothers will be treated when the come of age as mermen because the mer society is matriarchal and apparently males of other species give mermen a hard time over that.  The women are supposedly revered but from the conversation between Kony as his brothers it appears that their appeal is not their power or skill but the fact that they are attractive.  The characters largely read as decidedly White with exception of Kona who could potentially be a of pacific Asian descent but this is a guess based loosely on his description. There are no GLBT characters and no disabled people.  It always amazes me when authors prove they're imaginative enough to create a world different from our own, but somehow cannot take the leap far enough to make their stories inclusive.

Review Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson: Book One of the Lila Series

 

In fairness to Sarah Alderson, I feel that it is necessary to say that this book falls under the category of paranormal YA, a genre which I am not particularly fond of.

Lily is a 17 year old girl who is haunted by the death of her mother.  If that were not enough to deal with, she has telekinesis, and the man that she has loved all of her life (yes, I rolled my eyes) Alex, lives an ocean away from her. Unable to deal with the death of his wife, Lily's father moved her back to his native England.  He had intended to move their entire family, but her brother Jack, refused to move and instead moved in with his best friends family. 

In an incident in which she is being mugged Lila uses her power and in the process nearly cuts out her attackers eye. This sets her on edge and she steals her fathers credit card and travels to California to stay with her brother Jack,  filled with the hope that she will also get to see his best friend Alex.  As an impetus to flee, I found this absolutely ridiculous.  Was she supposed to throw a party for the men that were intent on mugging her?  It was a clear case of self defense and how Lily understood the incident really felt like an excuse for Alderson to shift the location of her story.

Once in California, Jack and Alex make it clear that her visit places her in danger, because they work for a special Black ops section of the military. Lily tries to pry for information but they steadfastly refuse to share.  After Suki, one of the people that they are searching for makes contact with Lily and learns of Lily's relationship to Jack, Alex realises that for her own protection, she must be told exactly what she is up against.  It seems that unit is involved in an investigation into a group of terrorists that are guilty of terrible crimes and the ring leader Demos, is the man responsible for murdering Lily's mother.  As much as Lily wants justice, she worries that Alex and Jack are placing themselves needlessly in danger. Okay, have to pause to point out the ridiculousness of this worry.  Jack and Alex spent three years being trained by the military in special operations.  These men aren't just skilled, they are highly skilled.