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carlisajc's review against another edition
4.0
I FINISHED THIS TRILOGY. In three weeks, I might add. And it’s a monster. The second was the longest of the year so far at 518, and then the third (this one) was even longer at 613. BUT I did it, all in June (in compliance with my Summer of Series goal). But, yes, I did. And I’m proud. And I loved this series. So much. I hold this characters is my heart.
But let’s talk about the third one specifically: Dreams of Gods and Monsters. I really enjoyed it. Like basically everything good I’ve said in the first two books (here and here) are true here too–great pacing (not as good in this one as the others), character development, humor, things I don’t see coming. All great. But in this one, I was a little let down by the ending. Not a lot…just enough to bring it from 5 stars to 4. Let’s talk about it. Also gifs.
THE GOOD
There is so much good in this novels and this one specifically. First I just have to talk about Zuzana. In the first review, the only bad thing I had to say was I missed the secondary characters (mostly Zuzana) in the second half of the book. So I was so excited to see that in the second book, Laini Taylor had retroactively knew what I wanted and brought Zuzana in abundance. And then in third book, she was present even more. And I decided that’s she’s my favorite character. Sorry, Karou, you’re at a close second but I love Zuzana more. She’s the ultimate best friend and just hilarious. Look at this quote: “Laugh achieved. Maybe she couldn’t make Karou’s life–or love–less complicated, and maybe she didn’t have any helpful hints when it came it, oh, angel invasions or dangerous deceptions or armies that clearly just wanted to start killing each other, but she could do this at least. She could make her friend laugh.” Oh my gosh, I just love her so much. Also she has what Taylor calls a “eyebrow master class,” where some lady raises a judging eyebrow at her and Zuzana demonstrates how an eyebrow raise is truly done. I tweeted about it and got retweeted by Laini Taylor herself, no big deal or anything (GUYS, I’M JOKING. THAT’S A VERY BIG DEAL).
So, yes. Zuzana. My favorite character and the ultimate best friend. She’s just so well-developed despite the fact that she’s just a secondary character. Also she and Mik are the cutest.
Second, the writing is just so beautiful. Beautiful writing = beautiful imagery. And imagery is very important in this book as the characters are so unique and everything is so visual. It’d be interesting to see this as a movie, I think. But literally her writing had me in tears at two points. I was at work both times, so when I say “in tears,” I mean my eyes welled up and I sniffled a little. If I had been home it would have been way more extreme.
Okay, moving on. There’s more good I could talk about, but I feel as if I’d just be reiterating what I already said in my first two reviews…so go read those.
THE ALRIGHT
There wasn’t anything bad to me in this novel, but there were a few things that I just thought were alright. Like: the pacing and the ending.
I noticed the pacing in the first two novels and I thought it was awesome. Each chapter end, part end, perspective switch seemed so deliberate and it made me just want to keep reading and reading. In this third one, I didn’t notice that as much. The first 300 pages took me four days to read (which is a long time for me)…so I just felt like it was slow-going. The second half it definitely picked up, though, and I read the last 300 pages all yesterday. So it wasn’t bad, just not as fast-paced as the first two.
And then the ending. Again, in no way was the ending bad. I closed the book with a very satisfied, happy feeling. It just seemed like Taylor built up, up, UP for a certain ending and then that ending didn’t happen. So kind of anticlimactic. But, everything worked out well and there were no holes or quick fixes to tie up the plot. It just wasn’t what I was expecting, what I felt like the first 450 pages were leading up to.
But, please, if you like fantasy at all read this series. It’s a beautiful mix of normal and fantasy, humor and tragedy, love and betrayal. It’s just so good and I need to buy it so it’s on my shelves, like, now.
THE QUOTES
“The two of them were stoic and stone-faced and ten feet apart, currently not even looking at each other, but Zuzana had the impression of a pair of magnets pretending not to be magnets. Which, you know, only works until it doesn’t.”
“There is the past and there is the future. The present is never more than the single second dividing one from the other.”
“It’s all I want, to be beside you, helping you. If it takes forever, all the better, if it’s forever with you.” OH MY GOSH CUTEST MOMENT AWARD.
Click here to see the full review and my gif reactions of reading the series (you won't be disappointed).
But let’s talk about the third one specifically: Dreams of Gods and Monsters. I really enjoyed it. Like basically everything good I’ve said in the first two books (here and here) are true here too–great pacing (not as good in this one as the others), character development, humor, things I don’t see coming. All great. But in this one, I was a little let down by the ending. Not a lot…just enough to bring it from 5 stars to 4. Let’s talk about it. Also gifs.
THE GOOD
There is so much good in this novels and this one specifically. First I just have to talk about Zuzana. In the first review, the only bad thing I had to say was I missed the secondary characters (mostly Zuzana) in the second half of the book. So I was so excited to see that in the second book, Laini Taylor had retroactively knew what I wanted and brought Zuzana in abundance. And then in third book, she was present even more. And I decided that’s she’s my favorite character. Sorry, Karou, you’re at a close second but I love Zuzana more. She’s the ultimate best friend and just hilarious. Look at this quote: “Laugh achieved. Maybe she couldn’t make Karou’s life–or love–less complicated, and maybe she didn’t have any helpful hints when it came it, oh, angel invasions or dangerous deceptions or armies that clearly just wanted to start killing each other, but she could do this at least. She could make her friend laugh.” Oh my gosh, I just love her so much. Also she has what Taylor calls a “eyebrow master class,” where some lady raises a judging eyebrow at her and Zuzana demonstrates how an eyebrow raise is truly done. I tweeted about it and got retweeted by Laini Taylor herself, no big deal or anything (GUYS, I’M JOKING. THAT’S A VERY BIG DEAL).
So, yes. Zuzana. My favorite character and the ultimate best friend. She’s just so well-developed despite the fact that she’s just a secondary character. Also she and Mik are the cutest.
Second, the writing is just so beautiful. Beautiful writing = beautiful imagery. And imagery is very important in this book as the characters are so unique and everything is so visual. It’d be interesting to see this as a movie, I think. But literally her writing had me in tears at two points. I was at work both times, so when I say “in tears,” I mean my eyes welled up and I sniffled a little. If I had been home it would have been way more extreme.
Okay, moving on. There’s more good I could talk about, but I feel as if I’d just be reiterating what I already said in my first two reviews…so go read those.
THE ALRIGHT
There wasn’t anything bad to me in this novel, but there were a few things that I just thought were alright. Like: the pacing and the ending.
I noticed the pacing in the first two novels and I thought it was awesome. Each chapter end, part end, perspective switch seemed so deliberate and it made me just want to keep reading and reading. In this third one, I didn’t notice that as much. The first 300 pages took me four days to read (which is a long time for me)…so I just felt like it was slow-going. The second half it definitely picked up, though, and I read the last 300 pages all yesterday. So it wasn’t bad, just not as fast-paced as the first two.
And then the ending. Again, in no way was the ending bad. I closed the book with a very satisfied, happy feeling. It just seemed like Taylor built up, up, UP for a certain ending and then that ending didn’t happen.
Spoiler
AKA I expected a huge battle and we didn’t really get one.But, please, if you like fantasy at all read this series. It’s a beautiful mix of normal and fantasy, humor and tragedy, love and betrayal. It’s just so good and I need to buy it so it’s on my shelves, like, now.
THE QUOTES
“The two of them were stoic and stone-faced and ten feet apart, currently not even looking at each other, but Zuzana had the impression of a pair of magnets pretending not to be magnets. Which, you know, only works until it doesn’t.”
“There is the past and there is the future. The present is never more than the single second dividing one from the other.”
“It’s all I want, to be beside you, helping you. If it takes forever, all the better, if it’s forever with you.” OH MY GOSH CUTEST MOMENT AWARD.
Click here to see the full review and my gif reactions of reading the series (you won't be disappointed).
robynnehood's review against another edition
4.0
The crowning piece of a trilogy that had a rocky start. Now that they’ve faced trials and tribulations, the romance starts to feel earned instead of forced. The worldbuilding comes to a great crescendo, but unfortunately ends in somewhat of a whimper - that there was never a followup to tie up that last thread of story is a true shame.
inessova's review against another edition
5.0
I've finished reading this series yesterday, and I feel a void in my heart. I got attached to these people/characters. They are so genuine, so real. I couldn't get enough of them, and now I'm sad the journey is over.
bbkate's review against another edition
3.5
Still one of the coolest premises I have read about. She writes beautifully. Good trilogy!!
lyakimov's review against another edition
4.0
It took me so damn long to finish this book, but finally, FINALLY I have finished this series. After two years (whoops). I absolutely loved the first and second books; the world building and all the characters and twists were so interesting to read about, but I just stalled super hard on reading the final book.
I didn't like this one as much, there was weird stuff at the end and kind of info dumping and I think that it would have been fine without the whole entire Eliza storyline. I also felt it anticlimactic at the end where it's like 'we got the Angels to go back to eretz by saying "go back to eretz!" and it worked yaaaaaayyyy' like ok I thought there would be a big battle at the end (I am not calling that one battle a battle because like no one died and we BARELY EVEN SAW RHE BATTLE WHAT THE HELL. And also that ending??? She left it open for more books when I feel like it should have been wrapped up and be fine.
*sigh* I feel like the weird explanation of the magic and the Stelians was weird... I just wish that entire plotline was not in the book, like with the veil and the tear in the sky...like okay? this is relevant?
But I actually really enjoyed reading this, even though it took me like a month to finish it. However, it is my least favorite in the series and felt it made things even more complicated and it didn't need to be? I liked that amount of complicated we had before but now it's super weird with that sort of opening for a new series with the same characters(??). But it was enjoyable, and I'm being generous because the first two were so good and I'm giving this one 4 stars (3.5 specifically).
I didn't like this one as much, there was weird stuff at the end and kind of info dumping and I think that it would have been fine without the whole entire Eliza storyline. I also felt it anticlimactic at the end where it's like 'we got the Angels to go back to eretz by saying "go back to eretz!" and it worked yaaaaaayyyy' like ok I thought there would be a big battle at the end (I am not calling that one battle a battle because like no one died and we BARELY EVEN SAW RHE BATTLE WHAT THE HELL. And also that ending??? She left it open for more books when I feel like it should have been wrapped up and be fine.
*sigh* I feel like the weird explanation of the magic and the Stelians was weird... I just wish that entire plotline was not in the book, like with the veil and the tear in the sky...like okay? this is relevant?
But I actually really enjoyed reading this, even though it took me like a month to finish it. However, it is my least favorite in the series and felt it made things even more complicated and it didn't need to be? I liked that amount of complicated we had before but now it's super weird with that sort of opening for a new series with the same characters(??). But it was enjoyable, and I'm being generous because the first two were so good and I'm giving this one 4 stars (3.5 specifically).
nora_meeker's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
such. a. good. book. i love everything about this series. the only thing i don’t love is that it’s over and i can’t read anymore of their story.
tammytxt's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
arogers159's review against another edition
5.0
I....I don't even know what do now that it's over. Laini Taylor is such an amazing writer, the world she created is vivid and amazing. The characters are some of the best I've read. Her writing style leaves you always wanting more. I would read anything from Laini Taylor right now. For sure my favorite trilogy.