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3.5/5
Non-Fiction
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Rating: 5/5
Pages: 554
Started: 23 January 2023
Finished: 25 January 2023
Summary:
Brimstone is dead; Akiva murdered him. And while Karou was certain that she could forgive Akiva for anything, she can't forgive him for this. So, still burning with grief and horror and loss, Karou finds a way into Eretz and joins the Chimera's small rebellion as they try to combat the overwhelming power of the Angels. To them, Karou is redemption and key. She learned from Brimstone how to resurrect, and so she does, giving Chimera soldiers new bodies that might give them an advantage in battle. Yet as much as she wants the Angels to burn for their cruelty, Karou can't help but feel that she is another powerless pawn in a war leading only to death.
Akiva knows Karou must be dead. To find a way into Eretz in a human body is improbable on its own, and to survive the bloody chaos of the land is impossible. So he joins back with his siblings as their company continues to eradicate the dregs of the Chimera rebellion, murdering hordes of innocents in the process. But he can't stand the slaughter. So many lives ended, so much death and decay. He remembers his dream, Karou's dream, for a world where people chose life over death. But what can he do?
Thoughts:
This. Book.
This. Freaking. Book.
I.
I haven't felt this strongly about a book in months. I recognize that perhaps the book isn't an objective 5 stars, but can art ever be objective? All I know is that I read for an hour straight during my Photography final, and could barely keep the giant smile off my face. Karou being brilliant, Akiva being brilliant, Zuzana and Mik being adorable and incredible, and the gorgeous course sending them all crashing towards each other, made me feel giddy and gleeful. I don't know how to describe this book other than breathtaking, because it made me speechless and weightless and gloriously not myself for a few hours.
The writing is very quintessentially 2010s, with its early YA banter and cookie-cutter romance, but it was done so well. The humor was good, the romance had a magnetism that was truly impressive, and the scope of the plot and world-building were gorgeously done. The settings felt whimsical yet tangible, and the characters were easy to picture and easier to follow. They weren't perfect--the fallen angels and the villains were described in a revolting way that felt distinctly Frankenstein-esque, which I enjoyed very much despite my concern at the obsession with physical beauty. Simply put, this was an exciting book. There was lots of frustration with (perfectly executed, if agonizing) dramatic irony, lots of glee when things finally came to a head, and a sort of lyrical, fast-paced writing that made it nearly impossible to put the book down at the end of a chapter without saying, just one more.
Middle book syndrome was avoided--not once did a scene feel boring or unnecessary--but the plot arc was very weird. However, the entire series didn't really have a mappable plot arc, so I think Taylor just does a lot of her plotting by the seat of her pants, so it's not out of place.
I recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It's not a classic, not a work of art, but it's well done in so many ways, and it broke my reading slump so effectively, that I think people would be mistaken if they brushed it aside as just another series conforming to the 2010s YA Fantasy craze.
Words
Requiem (n) an act or token of remembrance
Jess (n) a short leather strap fastened around each leg of a hawk, usually also having a ring where a leash can be attached
Agora (n) a public open space used for assemblies and markets
Kasbah (n) the citadel of a North African city
Crenels (n) indentations in th ebattlements of a fort or castle, used for shooting or firing missiles through
Gonfalon (n) a banner or pendant, especially one with streamers, hung from a crossbar
Perpetuity (n) the state or quality of lasting forever
Shrive (v) hear the confession of, assign penance to, and absolve
Gibbet (v) hang up (a body) on a gibbet
Abattoir (n) a slaughterhouse
Scree (n) a mass of small loose stones that form or cover a slope of a mountain