Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor

The third and final book in the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy, is finally here. I will say this now and I will say it again in the end, if you haven't read this trilogy you should. I highly recommend it no, I more than recommend it. I would love to know if you have read these books and how you feel about them as well! I do have a review up of the second book Days of Blood & Starlight along with the first book, which is linked in the second book review.

In this final installment, two world are very close to war. Karou has commandeered the chimaera's rebellion, through some crafty deception. She is intending on steering their course away from an all consuming vengeance, and the future rests with her. Though reunited, Karou and Avika are not yet to their peaceful ending. Jael has brought his army to the human world and they have to form an alliance against Jael. Who is the enemy, the common ground between chimaera and Misbegotten. Hoping for a semi-good version of their long-ago dream, they try to forge a way forward for both of their people. Hopefully for themselves as well. With even bigger threats on the horizon, are Karou and Avika strong enough to stand among the gods and the monsters?

Remember those feelings you get when you finished a book or even a series? That sense of bittersweetness, you have reached the end but it's an ending you wanted to go on forever just because of how good it was? Yeah, I'm there right now. I am going through withdrawals already, and I don't like it one bit. This book was long awaited for many readers, and I feel that the wait was worth it. I love Zuze even more and Mik has grown considerably on me since the last book. I completely ship Karou and Avika, I think Karou is a beautiful character and I think she would be a great friend to have. She as a character has come a long way, and she has really grown and developed through it all in the end. Avika balances her, as Karou does him, and for them to finally be able to really connect with each other in this book is very satisfying as a reader. The tension between the two was unbearable on paper and even more so in my head, and it was great to get away from the sexual tension in most other books. Their tension was just wanting to be able to be together without too much worry of the outside world and the possible impending doom. It was just a longing that was so vast, because they have tried and tried and tried again. I also loved how a bigger background story was brought into play and wrapped up in a way. Along with this back story we got introduced to a beautiful woman Eliza. We are given some information about her some, very big and other info that isn't too big but nonetheless important. We also get to know-very little thankfully- about a Morgan Toth. And boy do I love to hate him. As far as endings go, I was very pleased with this one. There was one little item that kept getting mentioned, if you caught it early you may have recognized the significance of it in the end. There is so much more to this book compared to what I have typed here. Really if you haven't read this trilogy you should.

I was only disappointed in a couple of things. One being how little action there was in it, and I know I am not alone in this. I understand the need for peace and wanting as few beings to get hurt as possible. Especially with as much unnecessary slaughter that has taken place in the recent past and further back. I will take the battles that did happen, because the loses (though significant in their own way) weren't that detrimental to me and others. But to be quite honest I don't really think that things would have went as "smoothly" as they did. I am still very sadden that Brimstone is not around and hasn't been, but I get a feeling that if he were Karou wouldn't have been able to develop as she had. Though I will say I am very happy with the ultimate demise with one character in particular, and who dealt the beating as well 'cause she deserved to do it. The other thing I take issue with is the sheer fact that this trilogy has come to an end. I only own the second book! I sincerely hope that Mrs. Taylor writes a novella or carries on more with Zuze and Mik because I know that Karou and Avika will still be around. Maybe even other Misbegotten or chimaera pairs.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. That also includes this trilogy, thankfully there is the option to reread books which is what I will be doing. I recommend this book to young readers, "old" readers, everyone in between, basically everyone. I know everyone won't like it but I still think it should be given a chance. I didn't think I would like it in the beginning either, but here I am getting the finished book blues over it, which does not happen often. It's a different type of angel story. As I said before I do own the second book but I cannot wait until I have the other two in my possession. It's not often that I find a book series, or in this case a trilogy, that I feel I can read over and over without getting tired of.

Rating: 4.8 out of 5.
Just in case it needs clarification, the only thing stopping me in giving Dreams of Gods & Monsters a perfect 5, is how little fighting there was.

Page Count: 613 pages (hardcover), this book is a monster but a good one!

Price: $19

Next Book: Command Me by Geneva Lee

Thanks for reading!
~Jade

Zom-B Misson by Darren Shan

This is the seventh book in the Zom-B series. I have all the other books reviewed already, and if you want to you can see the review for the previous book Zom-B Gladiator, and from there if you follow the links along the way you will find the rest of the books in the series. I wish there were a function where I could group series of books together and just link that instead but alas, that function is not around *deep sigh*. I hope you enjoy!

B and the other Angels finally have their first mission, it is to safely escort a group of human survivors to New Kirkham and off the zombie ridden streets of London. Upon arrival B figures out that the people of New Kirkham are not the best representatives of humanity. Evil influences of B's past make their way into the barricaded safe haven, and the people have to make a decision of being honorable or being safe.

I'm very conflicted with this book. Part of me loves it, the other part of me feels like it is almost another filler book. There was action, drama, remorse, there was lots of feelings throughout the book as I read and I loved that. Though with those feelings they were pretty much there and gone within just a couple of pages, or even a few paragraphs. I liked that there was finally some action going on the for group and not all of it is completely outside of the compound. *SEMI-SPOILER ALERT* I did feel bad along with B when someone closer to her-than the rest of everyone in Dr. Oystein's compound-got significantly hurt.*SEMI-SPOILER-ENDED* And he's not the last casualty of the book either. Those and the beginning huge fight toward the end saved Mr. Shan's book from getting a lower rating from me. I feel like I'm the oddball out because, when looking at others reviews, they loved it. I don't mind being the oddball though, it isn't the first time and I am sure it won't be the last time.

As for things that I wasn't too happy about, the ending. Things got nice and heated between the Angels and Owl Man (and even his now creepy dog), and then it cuts off. If you guys don't know me by now, cliff hangers drive me absolutely bonkers but I love them at the same time. It is something to look forward to in the next book. That would also be another con for me. Things didn't really get going till the tail end of the book. Yes, I understand that this is a slimmer book and to get more dialogue in and to drop hints, the action needs to take a back burner. That's why I am not going to complain too much about it, but I will cross my fingers that the next book will have a good deal of action in it.

For a young adult book, and series I would say that it is great. For a new adult to "adult" book or series it lacks some action. Depending on what you are looking for and depending on how quick of a read you want this series may or may not be for you. As a huge fan of Shan's I do still really like his books, and Mission doesn't put a damper on that at all. I'm still very much neutral on this book. I loved the descriptions and the imagery, and of course the pictures occasionally placed throughout. I'm just waiting for that big action that is being built up to to happen. There are eleven books rumored to come out, and we are only on the seventh book. I still recommend this to anyone who wants to read, and I would say that it is a great series for middle school kids.

Rating: 3 out of 5. (That's a heavy 3 at that!)

Page Count: 175 pages (hardcover)

Price: $15

Next Book: Either Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor or Command Me by Geneva Lee.

Before I end this review, I would like to say a huge congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Shan on their beautiful baby boy Dante who was born in September. I wanted to wait until I reviewed one of Shan's books before congratulating him. If you guys haven't seen the handsome little guy go check out Darren Shan's Facebook page and scroll through the feed to see some of the pictures.

Thank you so much for reading (and for dealing with my absence)!
~Jade