These are the Days of Blood & Starlight. 
 Oh, Ellai, my hands will never be clean again. 
 4.5 stars. I want to crawl inside of Laini Taylor's head and live there for a little while. For every creative idea I've ever had, it feels like a penny compared to a hundred dollar bill. Laini falls on the idea-rich side. 
 In the past, you might have seen my enthusiastic gushing about book 1 and how I likened it to word porn. Because, you know, that's what it was - porn for the brain that wants to live in a realm of lush visuals and beautiful prose. 
 Book 2 was no different, yet it somehow was. I completely understand why so many people love book 2 even better than the first, but I'm going to come clean here : I struggled to get through the first half. The PoV's were jumping all over the place, the scenery was going back and forth, and I really just wanted to see a certain two individuals come face-to-face again. 
 But then I hit the 50% mark. And it was like brain orgasms all over the place. Because, you know, (yes...I'm wearing this phrase out) - MOTHEREFFING WORD PORN. 
 All of a sudden, I could see the pretty colors. All of a sudden, my chest started aching with longing for certain things to happen. All of sudden, I wanted to retrieve every single thing which had been lost. 
 I lost my soul. I lost our dream. Vengeance eclipsed everything. 
 How does this woman/author/creative goddess do it? I want to bottle her secret. I want to see each and every single chimera and angel in my head but can't wrap my mind around it. I need to have these visuals brought to the big screen because my tiny little brain can't fathom how awesome all of these creatures must look. 
 And Karou...Akiva...the emotions...all over the place, just as my jumbled review thoughts must be. How do I explain the large scope of issues that are Karou and Akiva? How can I even begin to explain the feels these two put me through? And Ziri - oh how I wanted to hug Ziri. 
 Her name means hope. But not in their language, and not for them. 
 If you haven't started this series yet and desire to want to live in a place where fantasy meets reality, in a moment of time when two worlds collide, get ready for something like you haven't seen before and might never see again. 
 BUT...don't do what I did and read books 1 and 2 so far apart. I think I might have given this book 5 stars if I'd read it right after book 1. It's a shame that I struggled so much to get my love back. I knew it would happen, but it took much longer the second time around.