Dreams of Gods & Monsters (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #3) by, Laini Taylor

Summary:

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? (Via Goodreads.com)

Pages: 613

Release Date: April 8th, 2014

Review:

     Dreams of Gods & Monsters is the third and final book in the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy. It is one of my all time favorite trilogies and was also one of my most highly anticipated books of 2014. The Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy is high fantasy with some romance and is an action packed trilogy that I highly recommend reading. If you have started reading the trilogy you can check out my spoiler review on the second book in the trilogy, Days of Blood & Starlight, here: http://www.littleredsreviews.blogspot.com/2013/09/days-of-blood-starlight-daughter-of.html. Well, that is all of the non-spoiler section of my review for Dreams of Gods & Monsters so go check out the trilogy and then come back to see what I thought of it! 

Spoiler Section:

     Firstly, I have to talk about these covers. All the books in the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy are absolutely stunning. I only own Days of Blood & Starlight and Dreams of Gods & Monsters but I wish I owned Daughter of Smoke & Bone so I could line them all up and showcase them all off in their amazing beauty. 
     If there was an award for the most character development for one character in any YA book, it would have to go to Liraz. She has changed so much over the course of the three novels. She is compassionate, kinder, more accepting, and she actually shows emotion now. Plus, for crying out loud, she likes Ziri, a chimaera. She went from hating chimaeras to loving them. Just like the misbegotten army. Both the chimaera and the misbegottens were so weary of having the alliance to liking and leaning on one another for support. That really showcases how much a war can change people. Also, I was glad that Liraz finally got over Hazael's death. Hazael would have wanted Liraz to enjoy her life and not live to seek vengeance.  
     Speaking of Liraz and Ziri, I want to get into the romances of Dreams of Gods & Monsters. Before Ziri even saved Liraz, which sparked their interest in one an other, I thought Liraz and Ziri would make an adorable couple! I was so glad when they ended up liking each other. We did not get to see exactly how their romance turned out, but I hope they ended up getting married or something after they finished rebuilding Loramendi, even though that will take a long time. I just hope they ended up being happy together,  which is what every character deserved, besides a few like Jael. I wanted to scream a lot of the time at Karou and Akiva's romance though, they just never had time and it was getting on my fangirl self nerves. I wanted something to happen. We had a couple quick flashes towards the end, but they weren't enough for me. Not until the last scene, I am glad they finally got together after all the struggles. I was ecstatic to hear when they said Karou would stay till spring in Stelian with Akiva in their 'house'. I thought it was so cute that it ended with Karou and Akiva snapping a wishbone, the event that started their entire story, it was a nice touch Laini Taylor. Our last couple (certainly not the least favorite) is Mik and Zuzanna. I was so glad that they are now engaged, I wonder if they had a fairy tale wedding since Mik had to complete three 'fairy tale' tasks in order to be able to propose to Zuzanna. Since Daughter of Smoke & Bone I have loved their romance, it is probably one of the cutest romances I have ever read about. I loved their occasional moments, to break the tension of the story and had some romance since there is not too much with the other two main romances.  
     One of my favorite parts from the book was when Mik and Zuzanna tamed the stormhunter with MIk's music. It was a funny scene and it looked amazing pictured in my mind. Plus, taming a stormhunter is something Zuzanna would have figured out how to do eventually (its Zuzana we are talking about here).  
     When we first met Eliza, I was weary of her. I was not a huge fan of her character (plus I just wanted to get back to Karou and Akiva, can you really blame me?). But as we found out more about her, I started to like her. I felt sorry for her about what she had gone through and started to like her because of all the challenges she has faced and conquered. 
     I was glad the war was resolved and Earth was not destroyed in the process. Earth was not harmed physically but it had to have impacted a lot of humans because with "angels" (seraphim) being seen on Earth and pictures of the "beasts" (chimaera). I wonder what people of Earth thought after the seraphim's left Earth, not much was said about it in the book. I am glad the war is all over and they will be able to rebuild and essentially create a new world where the chimaeras and seraphims can live in harmony together. I am also glad Jael is taken care of and has Akiva's handprint burned into his skin so he can no longer cause havoc with his life in danger.  I would love to visit Loramendi once it is rebuilt. Maybe I could come with Mik and Zuzanna on a stormhunter!   
     I felt bad for Dreams of Gods & Monsters because I had to neglect reading it for two weeks since I had to reread The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (see my first review on The Book Thief: http://www.littleredsreviews.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-book-thief-by-markus-zusak.html) for my English class. But, once I was done with The Book Thief I dived right back in to Dreams of Gods & Monsters. I feel bad thought because I was not able to read the book as a whole so it was not as dynamic as it would have been if I read it all consecutively.
     When I started to read Dreams of Gods & Monsters again after I finished The Book Thief, I read quite a bit of it in class because we had state mandated testing going on so I had a lot of spare time to read after the tests. It was hard to read certain parts of the book during school. One such event is when Ziri is killed as Thiago. Ziri is one of my favorite characters in the trilogy so it was hard not to cry when he "died". It was especially hard when the book was describing that his soul was finally returning home, which was even harder to read without crying. But, thankfully I did not cry in class (I don't need more people to think I am weird by crying over fictionally characters. Even though they are the weird ones by not reading in the first place!). I was thrilled when we found out that Liraz stored Ziri's soul in her canteen. I was especially thrilled when Ziri was resurrected in another Kirin body without a hamsa and a body almost the same as his original body. 
     Dreams of Gods & Monsters was an amazing book. On Goodreads, I rated it  5 out of 5 stars, at some points in the book I had to put it down because of information overload and of disinterest, but that was a rarity. I still do not know which book was my favorite out of the three, it is so hard to chose! Overall, Dreams of Gods & Monsters was a fantastic book with amazing writing. It had a nice mix of romance, action, humor, and heart racing twists. I can easily say that the Daughter of Smoke & Bone is one of my all time favorite trilogies and I highly recommend to anyone. It is sad though to say goodbye to all these characters I fell in love with over the course of the trilogy. I am excited to see what Laini Taylor will write next. What did you guys think of Dreams of Gods & Monsters?
~Casey