Dreams of Gods and Monsters Plot Summary

An army of angels descends upon the human world. Karou and Akiva have to find a way to bring their forces together, or face annihilation by a mutual enemy. One who, if he succeeds, will soon return to Eretz with weapons beyond the imagination of even that war-ravaged world. There is an ever-growing list of impossibilities standing in the way of the peaceful life Karou and Akiva have dreamed of for so long, and there are even greater threats at work than they know. Loyalties will be tested and sacrifices made, across two worlds and myriad species, in the pursuit of something better.

My Thoughts

Dreams of Gods and Monsters is the third and final book in Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. Threads from the previous stories are drawn together, creating an exercise in hope maintained through every possible permutation of disaster. The result is something truly special.

Check out my reviews of book one (Daughter of Smoke and Bone) and two (Days of Blood and Starlight) if you haven’t already!

Book three opens on a brand-new character, which I typically don’t love as a beginning. I’ll admit I greeted Eliza with considerable suspicion at first. I was glad to see a quick tour of reactions from characters we knew in chapter two. Then, by chapters three and four, we were firmly back with Karou and Akiva, seeing their attempt to unite two vehemently opposing armies. It typically takes a lot to win me over to new plot-lines, and the characters participating in them. That said, it actually didn’t take long for me to get invested in Eliza Jones’ chapters. By the time her story intersected with the ‘main’ plot, I was excited to see that play out.

There were some things that, even after several trips through this book, give me pause. The wishes make a comeback (yay!) but it did re-raise the question for me of why only Brimstone could make them. Was it a magic unique to his particular breed of chimaera? A magic of his own design that he never shared, even when reluctantly teaching Karou the secrets of resurrection? It doesn’t matter enormously, but it does bug me a little every time I read the series. I also have to acknowledge a complaint that I’ve seen a lot about this trilogy. That Karou and Akiva actually barely know each other. From this perspective, considering the month or two they’ve actually spent together, their relationship could be seen as bizarrely intense. That’s even considering both of Karou’s lives combined.

I’m personally happy to buy into it. For one thing, they met and fell in love under particularly intense circumstances. They have a shared goal that many others of their kind would see as literally unthinkable. Plus, they’ve made choices and taken actions that, by this point, have given them good reason to trust and admire each other. Also, they’re both beautiful, as we’re frequently reminded. That can’t hurt. So, like I said, I get it. More seriously, I think Taylor sells their relationship convincingly, and their investment in creating a better life for their people. I understand why some people find it a tenuous foundation for the rest of the plot, I just don’t agree.

I say all that mostly to clarify that I’m not saying this book is perfect. Yes, it has flaws, I just think those flaws are pretty minor. And they pale into insignificance next to this: Dreams of Gods and Monsters has some of the most phenomenal payoff to character development that I have ever encountered.

Zuzana, Karou’s human friend, returns to Eretz with the chimaera when Jael invades Earth. She and her boyfriend are swept up in the magic and the adventure of it all, but when they come face to face with the realities of war it has a dramatic sobering effect on them. Seeing the normally irrepressible Zuzana left reeling—lost and fragile after witnessing battle up close and all too personal—does more to drive home the horror of the fighting than anything else. Karou notes that she’s never seen her friend like this before, but having spent two and a half books with her we don’t really need that help to understand the seriousness of the situation. You feel the loss of something in Zuzana’s new perspective, even as she folds it into her understanding of the world and reaches a new equilibrium.

Here’s another example of the character work that makes this book one of my absolute favourites. Hazael’s death at Jael’s hand in the previous book has a range of subtle but echoing consequences, not least in Liraz and Akiva reforming themselves around the space where their brother Hazael used to stand, and the subtle ways in which they look for or start to emulate his qualities in themselves. Also, Liraz has several moments towards the end of the book that break my heart on Every. Single. Readthrough. No spoilers, no specifics, but while the moments themselves would, I’m sure, be emotional on their own account, it is seeing the effect on Liraz and the way her experiences have shaped her that hammers home their significance and turns me into a sobbing mess.

Dreams of Gods and Monsters can feel a little complicated at points. There are a number of intersecting and competing interests at play—not to mention the various deceptions going on. But it never descends too far into chaos. It keeps the main characters’ objectives at the forefront, no matter what else is going on. Taylor’s writing is beautiful, lyrical and fluid, and the flashes of humour are welcome respite from the barrage of disasters.

Laini Taylor makes sure that even the smallest victory is hard-won, and usually accompanied by sacrifice or loss. But the way the characters respond to this combination of minor wins and epic set-backs grows and changes throughout the course of the story in an incredibly rewarding way. This must be at least the fourth time I’ve read the whole trilogy through, and it won’t be the last. When you turn the final page of the book I’m sure you’ll feel the same pull I do—to return to Eretz, however you can.

This is my Review of the Month for the review collection on LovelyAudiobooks.info