Author: Laini Taylor
Publication Date: 11/06//2012
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 294
Source: Purchased

Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.

In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.

While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.

But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to 

imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.

This is not that world. 

One of my favorite things about DAYS OF BLOOD AND STARLIGHT is its pacing; if you've read DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE then you know what happens to Karou at the end. In many books the division between characters* would have been navigated inexpertly and some sort of unsatisfying reunion would take place. Laini Taylor deftly avoids that in her writing by her incredibly talented narrative pacing throughout the arc of the series, leaving this installment to explore Karou and what needs to happen in order for her to grow and accept the possibility the future brings. While I would classify this book ultimately as one that focuses on Karou, the Akiva (and other) moments were perfectly tuned to the overall octave of the story. It is a beautiful and compelling read.

If you have not begun this series I highly, highly recommend it for its beautiful creativity and writing. If you read book one at some crazy point in 2011, don't worry, this installment will catch up up with all of the pertinent points and then some to fill in all of the gaps.

Also, as I'm sure you've by now noticed, the titles of both books contain the same amounts of the same letters. The acronym for book one is DOBAS and book two's is DOSAB. I'm rather curious to see if book three will follow in the same footsteps.

*I'm being deliberately vague here to avoid large spoilers for both books.

Author: Sophie Flack
Publication Date: 10/10/2011
Publisher: Poppy
Pages: 294
Source: Purchased (Thanks to the Stages on Pages tour, it's signed!)

"My name is Hannah Ward. Don't call me a ballerina."

Hannah, a senior member of the corps de ballet of the Manhattan Ballet, vaguely remembers a time before she started dancing. Those were the times she could watch movies with her parents on the couch eating popcorn and those times were years ago. Now Hannah spends the majority of her life at the studio practicing and performing, hoping that she'll be made a soloist. That's what she wants - isn't it?

That Hannah doesn't get to do normal things can be summed up in the fact that she's been trying to get through Frankenstein for over a year. She reconciles this with the knowledge that she is a dancer, and dancers have to make sacrifices. This can't be any more apparent when she meets Jacob, a normal college student, and they begin the first friendship Hannah's had outside of her peers. What I liked most about her interactions with Jacob is that they highlight how she is socially unsure of herself and of what to do in everyday situations. This meeting starts a chain of awareness within herself, forcing Hannah to evaluate her life. Sophie really did a fantastic job of getting across how tough the life of a dancer is and how far removed they can be from what you might consider an average life. While I don't know any ballet terms except for perhaps plié, the terminology blended nicely into the flow of the action and I never once questioned what was going on. If you're aware of the lingo then you might better appreciate just how hard they're being pushed, but if you don't I wouldn't worry about it too much, as you can get the feel of it by the scene.

Bunheads is a fast-paced, realistic story about choice and dedication and how they interrelate. Whether or not you like dance, this is a book full of rich characterisations and situations that almost anyone can relate to on some level.