(4/5 stars)
(I love LOVE this cover)
Wow, what a beautiful book! It's just absolutely beautiful, from the front cover to the words on the pages. Let's just start with the opener: Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well. Ugh, that's a great first line! It just flows so well and encompasses the romanticism of the book, that was enough to capture my attention.
What I liked: The writing! Oh the writing! Wow, Laini Taylor has a way with words and that made her story completely come alive. Segue way into the world building- I've never read a book about chimaera and I loved that mythology a lot. The mythology was so different from what I was used to, so it was nice to get a fresh idea. The characters were vivid and a mix of different animals, and their personalities were really well done. The romance was decent. Like, there were times when I felt like it was going too fast, but it made sense, especially towards the end when I started putting everything together. Most of all, I loved the setting. Prague. Yes. I'm ready to read anything set in Prague. Gimme more Prague books, please! The description was so well done and I could see Prague so well and boy, was it magical. Laini Taylor really put a lot of romanticism into the setting and the words, which I totally appreciated!
What I didn't like: Okay, to be honest, I could have done without the last hundred pages. Sure, I found all the backstory with Madrigal extremely interesting, but having all of that in the end really pulled away from the story. Like I think it would do awesome as a short story, or if it was the beginning of the book. I just kept flipping through, wanting to get back to the action and what was going on with Akiva and Karou/her reaction to finding out about everything. I'm also really over the word "perfect" as a descriptor for a person, even if he is an angel.
-Annie
Isn't the writing incredible?!?! The sequel is even better :3
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, her writing is phenomenal and I wish I could live in her words! If that even makes sense :P
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