Book: Dreams Of Gods And Monsters by Laini Taylor, Narrated by Khristine Hvam

Published April 2014 by Hachette Audio|Length: 18 hours, 8 minutes

Where I Got It: I own the audio book

Series: Daughter Of Smoke And Bone #3

Genre: YA Fantasy

In this thrilling conclusion to the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy, Karou is still not ready to forgive Akiva for killing the only family she’s ever known.

When a brutal angel army trespasses into the human world, Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat–and against larger dangers that loom on the horizon. They begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people. And, perhaps, for themselves–maybe even toward love.

From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera, and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy. 

I’m really glad to be finished this series!  I know people really love Laini Taylor, but I don’t know if I’ll be picking up any other books by her.  I started off really liking this series, and I liked this one, but it really fizzled out for me.

I really liked Eliza’s story, and I thought she was a nice inclusion to everything that was going on.  At the same time, though, I’m not sure why she was introduced now.  I wish we had seen more of her throughout the series, and it would have been interesting to have her balance out everything else that happened in the first two books.  We are building up to everything that happens in this book so maybe this is the best place to introduce her.

As usual, Khristine Hvam did an awesome job narrating.  I’m pretty sure I would have given up on the series a long time ago if I hadn’t switched to the audio books.  Even listening to the book, I struggled to get through it.  This is not a short book- it’s well over 14 hours, and there were quite a few times where I found myself not paying attention to the book.  I’d spend a couple of hours here and there listening to it, but I could only listen to it for so long before I had to listen to something else.  It’s not Hvam at all, because she’s why I switched to the audio.  I just wasn’t engaging with the story as much as I wanted to.

It was interesting to see what was going on with earth while Karou was trying to save the world, and I think that’s why Eliza is so important.  From the moment we met her, I knew she was going to be important, and I wondered what her connection to the chimera and the angels were.  I wasn’t expecting the story we got, but I really liked it.  It was unexpected but in a good way.

The world is such a unique one, and there are a lot of memorable characters.  I liked Karou, Zuzanna and Mik, though I could have cared less about Akiva.  Ziri was pretty cool, and I really liked him and everything he was trying to do.

3 stars.  I loved the narration, and I loved the addition of Eliza.  I had a hard time getting through the book, but the world and the idea are pretty unique.