Initial Impressions 5/20/14: What!? It's over!? It doesn't quite feel real... So epic and such an insane journey... But there you have it. 
 It's so hard to rate because it was such a... tumultuous read. It started off so strong and then I fell into a lull in the middle (*cough*Eliza*cough*) and then things got goooooood in the second half (which seems to actually happen a lot in Laini Taylor's books apparently. Lots of second-half action). 
 I may have been more inclined to a high rating but it didn't end with a bang - which I guess a series ender really should wrap things up gently, no? Anyway... It was a nice ending but I think I wanted a little bit more SOMETHING to round out that very end. 
 After alllllll of the Eliza chapters, I guess I was hoping for a little more spotlight on her in the end. I mean, she still did play a VERY significant part and yet it didn't seem to be a big focus. I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too because I wasn't incredibly in love with her character anyway. 
 SO. Feels great to finish this series and yet I'm sad to see the characters go! Definitely going to miss them (actually the secondary characters. Zuze, Mik, Ziri, Liraz.... Kind of my favs) but satisfied with finishing such a big trilogy! 
 Review originally posted HERE on The Book Addict's Guide, 7/5/14: This was by far the hardest book of this series for me to read -- that' snot necessarily a bad thing, although it may sound like one, but I really felt like I needed to give it my full attention and unfortunately as of lately, I just haven't had the time or mental clarity. If you're a fan of Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy, I'm sure you're aware how deep, how detailed, and how complex this series is. It's not one to be taken lightly and really does require the perfect mood and proper amount of time so when I tell you that it took me a month and a half to finish it, that's a good and a bad thing all at the same time. 
 I read the first two books no problem. I actually streamed pretty quickly through DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE and tried to take my time and really let myself soak in DAYS OF BLOOD AND STARLIGHT. But DREAMS OF GODS AND MONSTERS was a different story. Yes, I decided to really slow myself down and make sure I was really taking it all in, but there were actual weeks where I completely ignored it because I just didn't have the motivation to pick up such a daunting book. I was overwhelmed by the amount of pages and the time I knew I'd need to read it. Was that the book's fault? Well, no, but the sheer size of it really did factor in to my reading plans and with time being a pressing issue lately, it was a bit frustrating to me when things felt a little too drawn out. 
 Laini Taylor's writing has been beautiful from the start, but DREAMS OF GODS AND MONSTERS was the first book where I felt like the gorgeous, lyric-type prose was getting a bit too drawn out. I usually enjoy the way a plot point is revealed and then we back-track to see how it all evolved, but in some places it felt unnecessary and I was frustrated that I felt like I was reading a whole chapter here or there that didn't feel entirely necessary to the development of plot or characters. I could chalk that up to my personal impatience or just my experience with reading... I think it was actually a little bit of both. 
 The introduction of Eliza's character was not entirely unwelcomed but I wasn't a fan that she was thrown in as a new main character with POV chapters and everything. I really did like how she fit into the story and it was very exciting to see all of those pieces click together but... I didn't really enjoy her chapters much at all. The book kicks off with one of Eliza's chapters and that was actually a really exciting one. I was so excited to see the book start with a bang and I was anxious to get to know more about Eliza, but the more I got to know about her, the less I liked. I didn't hate her, but I think I would have liked to see her as more of a secondary character because I felt like I lost so much of the focus of Karou and Akiva as well as secondary characters from the previous books (Ziri, Liraz, Mik, Zuze) who were starting to grow into more of a main focus. I think it was too much for me to meet a brand-new character who had such a strong presence in the book, taking over chapters, and also having a strong personality. I wanted to spend so much more time with characters I already knew instead of a brand-new one who wasn't that important to me and who I wasn't connecting with. 
 I really did enjoy the book -- I always appreciate how beautiful the writing is and how the books really make me focus on what I'm reading. Everything is so wonderfully detailed, thoroughly thought out, and sort of paradoxically magically realistic. I'm so glad that things were pretty well wrapped up at the end of the book and it was sort of one big sigh of relief to see how everything ended. To be honest, I wasn't a huge fan of the ending and I felt like some things ended up being glossed over. For example, Eliza's entire part in the book is explained and then seemingly dropped to make room for Karou & Akiva, which usually I don't mind since I'm more excited for Karou/Akiva plot, but I felt like I was finally getting answers and then they happened but I didn't get any detail. 
 All in all, I did enjoy DREAMS OF GODS AND MONSTERS a lot, but it seemed like this was the book I had the most issues with out of the series. Some things had been weighing on me since the beginning but it was new love and not a big issue to me. Some things didn't really seem to appear until the last book and I was at a point where I wasn't in the mood for things to be drawn out. It was a stunning conclusion but I was left just a bit unsatisfied, to be perfectly frank. Maybe it's just that it still feels unreal that the series is over! Maybe I'm just hoping that Laini Taylor writes more in this universe... (oh please, oh please!!) but I don't think I was quite prepared for this series to end!