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Author: Laini Taylor
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD
Synopsis: Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.
Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.
When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.
Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.
When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?
"Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there's no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic."
Wow. I have read a lot of really good reviews for a year about this book and I'm so glad that I finally understood why. The only reason I added this to my tbr-pile in 2011 was because of Karou's blue hair. Seriously, who doesn't love a blue hair that grows out of your head? But I never really pursued this book that much, until I got it from Renae's birthday giveaway.
I already felt the eerie and mysterious feeling when I started reading the book. Karou and Prague are both wrapped around that strange feeling that I can't put a finger on. Maybe it's just me, or maybe because of how it was written and presented with Laini's choices of words but it was brilliant. It was like being sucked into another world and watching what's happening. Remember that feeling/look when Harry was watching a memory in the pensieve? Yep, that's it.
I am very much entranced with all the characters. The shifting between the POV was a bit confusing at first, but was not bad at all. I like how the writing seem to shift with the characters. You can really distinguish which character is this about after some time.
The build up since the first page was amazing. It kept me on edge but when seems to cut it after a chapter. I used to hate continuous chapters because it would lack suspense but this had me wishing for it to be written that way because of the anticipation. But that technique (quite evil, actually) worked when the climax happened and some things were revealed. The part where they finally broke the wishbone was one of the heart-stopping moments that I've been waiting for since the first mention of it.
The instant attraction between Akiva and Karou was definitely understandable. There are some things that your heart can recognize even if you can't. But I like how it was first with Akiva before Karou admitted it to herself.
One of the best, and I mean the best, star-crossed love story ever! I can't wait to pick up the Days of Blood & Starlight.
