Release Date: April 8th 2014 (AUS and US), April 17th 2014 (UK)
Published By: Hachette (AUS), Little, Brown & Company (US), Hodder & Stoughton (UK)
Pages: 613
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Rating: 5 out of 5

Synopsis: By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her, if there can even be a future for the chimaera in war-ravaged Eretz.

Common enemy, common cause.

When Jael’s brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.

And, perhaps, for themselves. Toward a new way of living, and maybe even love.

But there are bigger threats than Jael in the offing. A vicious queen is hunting Akiva, and, in the skies of Eretz … something is happening. Massive stains are spreading like bruises from horizon to horizon; the great winged stormhunters are gathering as if summoned, ceaselessly circling, and a deep sense of wrong pervades the world.

What power can bruise the sky?

From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy.

At the very barriers of space and time, what do gods and monsters dream of? And does anything else matter?

Review: This review contains spoilers for the first 2 books in the series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Days of Blood and Starlight

Dreams of Gods and Monsters - oh how desperately I have wanted this book for so long! But at the same time, I was ridiculously afraid of it too. I adore Laini Taylor, and I do not doubt her writing ability for one second, but, but, what if??? I know that my expectations for this were ridiculously high - after all, I have put so much want into this book - how could Laini possibly meet them??? What if the conclusion of my favourite series let me down??? What if that ONE thing that I really wanted doesn’t happen? What if … AAGGHHHHH… the excitement, the dread, the heart pounding anxiousness that is flipping from one page to another!

Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I adore Laini Taylor and the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series. And this may have also led people to believe that I will be biased about Dreams of Gods and Monsters - because naturally if I love the author, and this series, so much, of course I am going to love the last book in this trilogy - right? Wrong! My love is actually the exact reason why I would not just instantly love this book. It is true, I adore this series, and Laini is my favourite author - and I have been waiting for this book for soooo long… but in that time, my expectations have built up, and actuallywould have made it harder for me to be satisfied with the conclusion. But, even though my crazy unrealistic expectations over a series would actually make other authors fail, Laini once again stepped up to the challenge, and she absolutely smashed it! Like its predecessors, the writing in Dreams of Gods and Monsters is astonishing - lyrical, magical, gorgeous, captivating, torturous, beautiful. The storyline is intricate and stunning and Laini will encapsulate you with her words - she is not just a writer, she is an artist who will make you see this world, feel this world and fall in love with it and its characters.

Oh, there are soooo many things I want to say… but I can’t! I just want to yell spoilers from the rooftop. I want to say “Oh my god, Laini is a mastermind for doing X” or “I can’t believe that Y happened” or “OMG!!!! How could Z happen???”

In Dreams of Gods and Monsters, the story is once again told from multiple perspectives, with Laini’s amazing ability to completely suck you in to every characters viewpoint. We welcome back some of our favourite characters, including our star-crossed lovers Karou and Akiva, everyone’s favourite rabid fairy Zuzana and the lovely Kirin, Ziri. We get to learn more about some of the Chimera, as well as their firey winged enemies. We get to meet some completely new characters, and we get to see more of those we love to hate: Razgut and Jael. Some characters I fell in love with, some made me despise them, and some remained my favourites. And as enemies become friends, friends become enemies, or friends and enemies remain, they take you a journey filled with intrigue, mistrust, confusion, friendship, vengeance, love, loss and hope.

So many characters have grown throughout this series, but none more so than Liraz. We get to learn a lot about this tough, beautiful, murderous angel in Dreams of Gods and Monsters, and I have to admit that she became one of my favourite characters. While I adore Hazael, and I truly and honestly do, (what happened in Days of Blood and Starlight ripped my heart out), I think that only this happening to Hazael could have made the untouchable and unfeeling Liraz look honestly at the world, and herself, and start to become her own person rather than what she was raised to be.

The tension between the Chimera and Misbegotten is palpable as these enemies are brought together against a common enemy. And the desire for vengeance and blood is so inbuilt that sometimes this overshadows better actions. However, even though tension does run high, some friendships do develop - although some are somewhat reluctant. The way these new friendships were written were realistic, but yet tender and sweet.

Filled with amazingly detailed and mesmerising visualisation, you are once again transported into this war-torn world that makes you see, feel and crave. You will ache, you will laugh, you will gasp and you will cry for your favourite characters and for their desire. I just cannot explain the feels in this book without giving anything away - but believe me - you will feel!

In this exciting and dramatic conclusion, you will finally get answers, and you will find out what gods and monsters dream of, but the storyline is left open just enough to know that you want more. You may need tissues throughout the heartwrenching moments, but one thing is for sure, you will need cake! Preferably chocolate cake.

Laini Taylor is some kind of evil genius, I am sure of it! She crushes your heart and gives you hope all at the same time… it is an amazing skill to leave your readers filled with despair and hope. Throughout Dreams of Gods and Monsters, Laini left us little crumbs, just enough to taste and tease at certain possibilities that are left unanswered or unconfirmed. She shows us a menu of possibilities, and I want to order everything from it (even the missing page) - but we are kept from ordering with those final words “The End”. I am still in denial about those terrible words “The End”. I will always want more from this wonderful series. It would not have mattered if everything was wrapped up perfectly with a nice little bow, I would always want more about the “angels” and “devils” of Eretz.

So I continue to live in denial that this series is over - as my heart just cannot admit it. But what I love about the amazing conclusion to this superb and delectable series is that I while I did get those horrible words “The End”, I was also left with hope… hope that one day there will be more about the dreams that devils and angels dared to dream. I am left with the hope of some, and then more… after all, hope makes its own magic.

Quotes:

“A flicker of a second, and everything changed…There would be blood.”

“She’d tried to believe it: that her heart didn’t matter, that she and Akiva didn’t matter, that there were worlds at stake and that was what mattered. ”

“Feelings. Were. Stupid.”

“Some, and then more. And here in this cavern were the some. Here were the beginnings of more.”

“Ooh, what? Please tell me it’s a cave where cupcakes grow like mushrooms”

“This wasn’t a time for falling in love.”

“Fires go out, and the world grows dim.”

“The urn is full, my brother,”

“Ice and ending. The instant froze, impossible. Unthinkable. True.”