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A review by rubeusbeaky
Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor
1.0
This book is a monstrous betrayal of its fanbase, its characters, and the rules of writing themselves. Let me spare you the anguish and boredom I just endured: The tagline is a lie, there is no apocalyptic event in this book. There is no war in this book, there are practically no battles of any kind in this book. There is very little in this book at all, Taylor opting to delay the story with fluffy metaphors and vague hints at a big reveal to come, bloating the book instead with:
- WAY too many bath scenes!
- People daydreaming about sex, and instantly finding their soulmate with a single, smoldering look.
- Redundancies, repeating passages from the previous book, or repeating whole paragraphs about how characters feel or appear.
- People waiting. And eating. And eating while waiting. And BATHING while waiting! Did I mention there are TOO MANY BATH SCENES?!
- Scientology propaganda, so it seems?
- The words "things" or "Oh!" in place of actual nouns or descriptors, so that the audience has to imagine what is happening and how to feel about it... "There were things and they did OH so much stuff!" is not a story! It's barely an outline! It's certainly not evocative of anything. I can't picture it, I don't feel for it, and therefore, this book is failing at the single greatest point of a book: To convey SOMETHING to me, the reader! Information, emotion, something!
I'm sorry I keep mashing the exclamation point. Let me break my thoughts down. Spoiler territory ahead:
1) Character Arcs and Conflicts - A story needs a number of components to be considered just that. Characters need to have some sort of conflict. A physical altercation, a moral dilemma, doesn't matter what form a conflict takes, there has to be /something/ a character cares about achieving, and something in the way of that achievement. Either a character grows and surmounts the odds to achieve their goal, or tragedy strikes and the conflict is too great to overcome; either way, Character plus Conflict is how a story is built.
In the previous books, the conflict was established as, "Races from multiple dimensions are at war; heroes desire peace." This entire finale should have been about how to attain peace: Can a cycle of violence be stopped? Can people be convinced to respect different cultures and unite beyond racial barriers? And how do people find inner peace though the trauma of war and abuse cling to them? A tall order!!! A three-prong, real world dilemma that most readers could sympathize with in some way. A true test of the characters' maturity.
INSTEAD, in this book, the races are told not to fight... so they don't.
...
And without any further racial tension, war effort, or PTSD, to propel these characters forward, the story tries to make its NEW central conflict, "Can we have sex now?" and barring that, "Can I help my friend have sex right now?" The characters' "struggles" are selfish and small, they themselves acknowledging repeatedly IN UNIVERSE that their fixation on sex is insulting and crude given the situation they're in...but the realization doesn't curb the behavior.
Moral of the story: Race wars are easy, everybody get busy!
Yeah no. Big NO. Biiiig insult to the audience -______-;.
Letter to the Editor: Writing is easy, what conflict, everybody take a bath!
Again.... no.
2) Sympathetic Characters - A character needs multiple dimensions, something an audience can relate to. The author should WANT me to sympathize with, or at least respect the complexities of, the character they design, because I WILL read about something I relate to. (And I WON'T read if I don't care.) The surface details of a character - appearance, career, relationship status, etc. - are not what give them dimension; how they act and react to conflict /is/. A character doesn't have to be pleasant, or live a life exactly like mine, for me to sympathize with them; they just have to genuinely face choices.
In the previous book: Akiva committed genocide and attempted to atone for his misguided self-righteous fury by aiding refugees. Right there, I've never experienced what Akiva has, but I understand him as a character. He faced a moral conflict, felt remorse, and changed his behavior.
Karou barely survived a sexual assault from a superior military officer, and killed her assailant. She roped a childhood friend into disposing of the body, then masqueraded her friend /as/ her attacker, so that the soldiers under his command wouldn't devolve into bloodlust and anarchy. Again, I have thankfully never been in Karou's position, but I understand her, how tenacious, audacious and resourceful she is when she needs to be.
In this book: Akiva... tells Jael not to buy weapons from Earth, and not to mobilize angels into a civil war... And that's it. Jael turns around and goes home. Akiva does not have to reckon with his own part in the war effort. He is not punished for contributing to the hostilities, nor is he burdened with training a bunch of refugees how to defend themselves or survive in a new land. He does not have to struggle with leadership decisions, like how to find enough resources for both sides to thrive and make peace now that they've devastated their home world. He doesn't have to forge a treaty or ambassador program or any kind of peace-keeping with the neighboring dimension, to make sure an arms race between races will never happen again... Nothing happens. Akiva has no choices to make, no growth to pursue...
Karou's story is the same as Akiva's, except she doesn't get to even deliver the ultimatum to Jael. She is essentially a prop, to show that humanity is united behind Akiva's terms for peace. Everything that was Karou, her anguish, her paranoia, her cunning, her capacity for empathy... Gone. She doesn't face any consequences for killing her military's leader, she isn't punished or doubted, she never has to rise above the prejudices against her to prove her mettle as a worthier leader.
But hey, you know what DOES happen... Akiva and Karou stare longingly across a room at each other. Over. And over. And over again. I can tell you a lot about the sunny glow of Akiva's smile, the fire in his eyes... I can tell you about Karou's alarming, penetrating black eyes, and the way her blue hair cascades... But I can't tell you who these two are as leaders, as survivors, as mentors... Nothing. They grew into a whole lot of nothing.
Sexual tension is not a character arc.
3) Telling vs. Showing - We've heard this phrase, yes? Instead of saying, "An angel kissed a demon, and then they initiated the apocalypse" or "The sky was devoured by monsters, but the godstars pierced the darkness" or "She would be the stuff of history books, many many volumes, none of which were boring" - instead of SAYING all of that, you have to.... you know... show us. Describe the battle being waged between angels, chimaera and humanity. Or alien angels and sky monsters. Or... anything. This book promises that mind-blowing action is happening... somewhere... Just not on the page. You don't have a book if the story is in promises, not pages.
4) Prophecies - Call it what you want, prophecy, destiny, fate, etc. But once an event is pre-ordained, it takes all the agency away from the characters. It's a hackneyed writing tool, and should be retired. But in the case of this book, taking agency away from our heroes /inadvertently/ glorifies rape. What, it's okay that Akiva's mother was raped by Joram, or that Karou was assaulted, because in the end those events brought these two lovebirds together, and that's their destiny?!?! No. Just, no.
5) Sex Positivity vs Gratuitous Detail - I am all for honest sexual encounters being discussed in YA Fantasy. It's a sensitive, tricky subject - moments of self-discovery and raw emotions all braided together - and a fantasy book can provide a safe space for a reader. But not EVERY character motivation should boil down to sexual activity.
Akiva and Karou, and Zuzana and Mik are OTP... because they are teenagers who are really really pretty and want to have sex in a tub?
Jael, Joram and Thiago are evil... because they're all rapists.
The seraphim were once space colonizers... who felt it was their duty to fly to multiple dimensions, get busy with the locals, and make lots of babies to carry on their legacy...
Did you know that Queen Scarab and her fellow Stelarian used to bang? Not sure why that's relevant to the whole Queen Scarab can Thanos everyone with a SNAP plot. But the author sure wants us to know that Queen Scarab got it on once.
Eliza is a virgin. Not sure why the sexual activity of the scientist-turned-prophet matters. She's here to tells us about space invaders, not her kooch, but okay. Good thing the author told us that Eliza looked at Queen Scarab once and instantly knew theirs was a queer romance for the ages. Not part of the space war prophecy, just a fun fact, Scarab and Eliza are totally going to do it, and that makes them kick@$$ representation now, right folks?! (No.)
Hazael got it on MANY times before he died! So glad we cleared up that mystery. Wouldn't want him to have been a cliche virgin sacrifice.
Remember Kaz? No? Understandable, he didn't effect the plot AT ALL! But you probably remember that he boned two girls, right? No? You forgot all about him? Man. I wish I could.
Sorry for the sassy pants, but bottom line: Sexual activity is not a worthy detail on its own. A character's sexual orientation or level of activity doesn't denote their moral compass, doesn't define their personality, and doesn't highlight who these characters are when faced with conflict (see point number 1 about WHAT MAKES A STORY, EVEN!). Now, a /sex scene/ can be used to great effect to help a character grow. What someone does in an intimate setting is a great question! But the info dump that a character HAS been intimate or desires TO BE intimate doesn't show me who that character is as a person (see point 3 about Telling vs. Showing).
Here's a non-sexy example: "I went to the store. I want to go to the store, again, tomorrow."
... Any personality there? Do you know who I am?
"At the store, I pinched a browning avocado; perfect for toast tomorrow. But no fresh pumpernickel in the bakery meant I would have to make do with a bag of wheat bread. I scowled at the substitution."
Did you glean anything that time? Health conscious, quirky, go-getter? Condescending perfectionist? A monster who willingly eats overripe avocado??? No matter, a PERSON went to the store. It wasn't just an info dump of person + store + avocado. It was a tiny story of someone with choices to make, and feelings about said choices.
Circling back, if you're going to include information about a character's sex life, it better be relevant to what you want to relate to the audience: The character's personality, feelings, motivations and conflicts. An info-dump is unnecessary, disrespectful, and disruptive to the story.
6) Mystical Black Person Trope - Noooo... I think I literally said that, then held my face in my hands, when I realized that Eliza was a beautiful, "exotic", "ebony" psychic. Please, listen to the black community. They deserve positive representation in fiction of any media. They are tired of being misrepresented as over-sexualized mystics from a foreign land. Don't do this.
Also, Eliza's arc was handled all wrong... An independent, successful, black scientist discovers that her purpose in life... is to be a repository for some colonist's diary, and lead a bunch of white folks and animals back to the promised land in the sky?!?!!... No. No. NO! Do not glorify colonialism as some divine calling. Do not dismiss science in favor of cultist religion! Do not sidestep a conversation about systemic racism or slavery by putting a black person in charge of the newly-liberated slaves, as if to say, "See, it's fine now! We have a black president!" NO!
There is more, so much more, to pick apart. I could write a whole essay on how this book betrayed the purpose of literature. But I think I have made my base point clear: The words of a book should matter. They should convey meaning or feeling. They should carry a character, or situation, from one state to another. They can even address difficult topics in a safe way, so that the audience can see themselves in the work, maybe grow a little or feel something, too.
This is not a book. It is a paperweight. Do. Not. Bother.
- WAY too many bath scenes!
- People daydreaming about sex, and instantly finding their soulmate with a single, smoldering look.
- Redundancies, repeating passages from the previous book, or repeating whole paragraphs about how characters feel or appear.
- People waiting. And eating. And eating while waiting. And BATHING while waiting! Did I mention there are TOO MANY BATH SCENES?!
- Scientology propaganda, so it seems?
- The words "things" or "Oh!" in place of actual nouns or descriptors, so that the audience has to imagine what is happening and how to feel about it... "There were things and they did OH so much stuff!" is not a story! It's barely an outline! It's certainly not evocative of anything. I can't picture it, I don't feel for it, and therefore, this book is failing at the single greatest point of a book: To convey SOMETHING to me, the reader! Information, emotion, something!
I'm sorry I keep mashing the exclamation point. Let me break my thoughts down. Spoiler territory ahead:
1) Character Arcs and Conflicts - A story needs a number of components to be considered just that. Characters need to have some sort of conflict. A physical altercation, a moral dilemma, doesn't matter what form a conflict takes, there has to be /something/ a character cares about achieving, and something in the way of that achievement. Either a character grows and surmounts the odds to achieve their goal, or tragedy strikes and the conflict is too great to overcome; either way, Character plus Conflict is how a story is built.
In the previous books, the conflict was established as, "Races from multiple dimensions are at war; heroes desire peace." This entire finale should have been about how to attain peace: Can a cycle of violence be stopped? Can people be convinced to respect different cultures and unite beyond racial barriers? And how do people find inner peace though the trauma of war and abuse cling to them? A tall order!!! A three-prong, real world dilemma that most readers could sympathize with in some way. A true test of the characters' maturity.
INSTEAD, in this book, the races are told not to fight... so they don't.
...
And without any further racial tension, war effort, or PTSD, to propel these characters forward, the story tries to make its NEW central conflict, "Can we have sex now?" and barring that, "Can I help my friend have sex right now?" The characters' "struggles" are selfish and small, they themselves acknowledging repeatedly IN UNIVERSE that their fixation on sex is insulting and crude given the situation they're in...but the realization doesn't curb the behavior.
Moral of the story: Race wars are easy, everybody get busy!
Yeah no. Big NO. Biiiig insult to the audience -______-;.
Letter to the Editor: Writing is easy, what conflict, everybody take a bath!
Again.... no.
2) Sympathetic Characters - A character needs multiple dimensions, something an audience can relate to. The author should WANT me to sympathize with, or at least respect the complexities of, the character they design, because I WILL read about something I relate to. (And I WON'T read if I don't care.) The surface details of a character - appearance, career, relationship status, etc. - are not what give them dimension; how they act and react to conflict /is/. A character doesn't have to be pleasant, or live a life exactly like mine, for me to sympathize with them; they just have to genuinely face choices.
In the previous book: Akiva committed genocide and attempted to atone for his misguided self-righteous fury by aiding refugees. Right there, I've never experienced what Akiva has, but I understand him as a character. He faced a moral conflict, felt remorse, and changed his behavior.
Karou barely survived a sexual assault from a superior military officer, and killed her assailant. She roped a childhood friend into disposing of the body, then masqueraded her friend /as/ her attacker, so that the soldiers under his command wouldn't devolve into bloodlust and anarchy. Again, I have thankfully never been in Karou's position, but I understand her, how tenacious, audacious and resourceful she is when she needs to be.
In this book: Akiva... tells Jael not to buy weapons from Earth, and not to mobilize angels into a civil war... And that's it. Jael turns around and goes home. Akiva does not have to reckon with his own part in the war effort. He is not punished for contributing to the hostilities, nor is he burdened with training a bunch of refugees how to defend themselves or survive in a new land. He does not have to struggle with leadership decisions, like how to find enough resources for both sides to thrive and make peace now that they've devastated their home world. He doesn't have to forge a treaty or ambassador program or any kind of peace-keeping with the neighboring dimension, to make sure an arms race between races will never happen again... Nothing happens. Akiva has no choices to make, no growth to pursue...
Karou's story is the same as Akiva's, except she doesn't get to even deliver the ultimatum to Jael. She is essentially a prop, to show that humanity is united behind Akiva's terms for peace. Everything that was Karou, her anguish, her paranoia, her cunning, her capacity for empathy... Gone. She doesn't face any consequences for killing her military's leader, she isn't punished or doubted, she never has to rise above the prejudices against her to prove her mettle as a worthier leader.
But hey, you know what DOES happen... Akiva and Karou stare longingly across a room at each other. Over. And over. And over again. I can tell you a lot about the sunny glow of Akiva's smile, the fire in his eyes... I can tell you about Karou's alarming, penetrating black eyes, and the way her blue hair cascades... But I can't tell you who these two are as leaders, as survivors, as mentors... Nothing. They grew into a whole lot of nothing.
Sexual tension is not a character arc.
3) Telling vs. Showing - We've heard this phrase, yes? Instead of saying, "An angel kissed a demon, and then they initiated the apocalypse" or "The sky was devoured by monsters, but the godstars pierced the darkness" or "She would be the stuff of history books, many many volumes, none of which were boring" - instead of SAYING all of that, you have to.... you know... show us. Describe the battle being waged between angels, chimaera and humanity. Or alien angels and sky monsters. Or... anything. This book promises that mind-blowing action is happening... somewhere... Just not on the page. You don't have a book if the story is in promises, not pages.
4) Prophecies - Call it what you want, prophecy, destiny, fate, etc. But once an event is pre-ordained, it takes all the agency away from the characters. It's a hackneyed writing tool, and should be retired. But in the case of this book, taking agency away from our heroes /inadvertently/ glorifies rape. What, it's okay that Akiva's mother was raped by Joram, or that Karou was assaulted, because in the end those events brought these two lovebirds together, and that's their destiny?!?! No. Just, no.
5) Sex Positivity vs Gratuitous Detail - I am all for honest sexual encounters being discussed in YA Fantasy. It's a sensitive, tricky subject - moments of self-discovery and raw emotions all braided together - and a fantasy book can provide a safe space for a reader. But not EVERY character motivation should boil down to sexual activity.
Akiva and Karou, and Zuzana and Mik are OTP... because they are teenagers who are really really pretty and want to have sex in a tub?
Jael, Joram and Thiago are evil... because they're all rapists.
The seraphim were once space colonizers... who felt it was their duty to fly to multiple dimensions, get busy with the locals, and make lots of babies to carry on their legacy...
Did you know that Queen Scarab and her fellow Stelarian used to bang? Not sure why that's relevant to the whole Queen Scarab can Thanos everyone with a SNAP plot. But the author sure wants us to know that Queen Scarab got it on once.
Eliza is a virgin. Not sure why the sexual activity of the scientist-turned-prophet matters. She's here to tells us about space invaders, not her kooch, but okay. Good thing the author told us that Eliza looked at Queen Scarab once and instantly knew theirs was a queer romance for the ages. Not part of the space war prophecy, just a fun fact, Scarab and Eliza are totally going to do it, and that makes them kick@$$ representation now, right folks?! (No.)
Hazael got it on MANY times before he died! So glad we cleared up that mystery. Wouldn't want him to have been a cliche virgin sacrifice.
Remember Kaz? No? Understandable, he didn't effect the plot AT ALL! But you probably remember that he boned two girls, right? No? You forgot all about him? Man. I wish I could.
Sorry for the sassy pants, but bottom line: Sexual activity is not a worthy detail on its own. A character's sexual orientation or level of activity doesn't denote their moral compass, doesn't define their personality, and doesn't highlight who these characters are when faced with conflict (see point number 1 about WHAT MAKES A STORY, EVEN!). Now, a /sex scene/ can be used to great effect to help a character grow. What someone does in an intimate setting is a great question! But the info dump that a character HAS been intimate or desires TO BE intimate doesn't show me who that character is as a person (see point 3 about Telling vs. Showing).
Here's a non-sexy example: "I went to the store. I want to go to the store, again, tomorrow."
... Any personality there? Do you know who I am?
"At the store, I pinched a browning avocado; perfect for toast tomorrow. But no fresh pumpernickel in the bakery meant I would have to make do with a bag of wheat bread. I scowled at the substitution."
Did you glean anything that time? Health conscious, quirky, go-getter? Condescending perfectionist? A monster who willingly eats overripe avocado??? No matter, a PERSON went to the store. It wasn't just an info dump of person + store + avocado. It was a tiny story of someone with choices to make, and feelings about said choices.
Circling back, if you're going to include information about a character's sex life, it better be relevant to what you want to relate to the audience: The character's personality, feelings, motivations and conflicts. An info-dump is unnecessary, disrespectful, and disruptive to the story.
6) Mystical Black Person Trope - Noooo... I think I literally said that, then held my face in my hands, when I realized that Eliza was a beautiful, "exotic", "ebony" psychic. Please, listen to the black community. They deserve positive representation in fiction of any media. They are tired of being misrepresented as over-sexualized mystics from a foreign land. Don't do this.
Also, Eliza's arc was handled all wrong... An independent, successful, black scientist discovers that her purpose in life... is to be a repository for some colonist's diary, and lead a bunch of white folks and animals back to the promised land in the sky?!?!!... No. No. NO! Do not glorify colonialism as some divine calling. Do not dismiss science in favor of cultist religion! Do not sidestep a conversation about systemic racism or slavery by putting a black person in charge of the newly-liberated slaves, as if to say, "See, it's fine now! We have a black president!" NO!
There is more, so much more, to pick apart. I could write a whole essay on how this book betrayed the purpose of literature. But I think I have made my base point clear: The words of a book should matter. They should convey meaning or feeling. They should carry a character, or situation, from one state to another. They can even address difficult topics in a safe way, so that the audience can see themselves in the work, maybe grow a little or feel something, too.
This is not a book. It is a paperweight. Do. Not. Bother.