Night of Cake & Puppets by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke & Bone Series

Daughter of Smoke & Bone * Days of Blood & Starlight * Night of Cake & Puppets *

Dreams of Gods & Monsters

Publish Date: November 26th, 2013
Publisher: Hachette Audio, Audible Audio | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Format Reviewed: Audiobook
Series: Daughter of Smoke & Bone
Author: Laini Taylor
Narrated By: Khristine Hvam & Kevin T. Collins
Author’s Goodreads
Author's Website
My Review on Goodreads

Introduction

This novella details Zuzana courting Mik and their first date. This is alluded to in the main series, but this small book delves into how she was able to make a map that led to herself as the prize (hint: magic). It starts with a story about Zuzana bringing Karou to her family's workshop, and we get to hear more about her family life. In the audiobook, Mik is voiced by a male when the chapters are in his POV.

Final Verdict

This is very quirky and sweet, devoid of the seriousness of the series. does have some magical elements and some comedy. If you have read up to the second book in this series, you already know the basis of what happened. The writing is still fantastic, so if you like Taylor's writing style, it does not disappoint. According to the author's website, the ebook and physical copy has illustrations inside, some of which are on her website. If you don't like romance or overly sweet scenarios, this may not be for you, as it is a departure from the tone of the rest of the series. However, it is only 2 hours and 46 minutes long, so it's not a huge commitment.

Fun fact: Marionettes creep me out.

Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke & Bone Series

Daughter of Smoke & Bone * Days of Blood & Starlight * Night of Cake & Puppets *
Dreams of Gods & Monsters

Publish Date: November 06th, 2012

Publisher: Hachette Audio, Audible Audio | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Format Reviewed: Audiobook
Series: Daughter of Smoke & Bone
Author: Laini Taylor
Narrated By: Khristine Hvam
Author’s Goodreads
Author's Website
My Review on Goodreads

Introduction

Now that Karou knows who she is, she joins the chimaera fight against the angels, just as she had in her previous life. As their resurrectionist, she follows in Brimstone's footsteps and fights for peace. However, as hard as she works and as valuable as her services are, not all the chimaera are to be trusted. Not all the chimaera have forgiven Madgril for falling in love with an angel. Akiva, meanwhile, is with the angels again, but not completely. He too is fighting for a way to end the war without more bloodshed. 

Trigger Warning (Sexual Assault)

Before I go further, there is a long scene of (attempted) sexual assault. If this isn't for you, you might want to skip this book, or skip the pages/times spans of it. While this event does influence the story directly after it, I didn't like that it was so detailed and it went on forever. Personally, I would have liked it to have been written so that the reader knows what's happening without all the details.

But, there was an awful lot of implied rape in other parts of the book. So if this is something that truly bothers a reader, this might be hard to read.

Love

The love here was...complicated. With good reason. I personally like revenge more, but that wouldn't make an intriguing book because Karou can't just kill Akiva. Did her sad internal monologue go on too long? Yes. Did the other potential love interest replace him? No. It was awkward and I didn't want to hear about how much he liked her as a young boy. But this other love interest did some amazing things otherwise and is an awesome character.   

Ressurection/Magic

This book gives you some more information on how resurrection and their magic works. I still have way too many questions about how resurrection works (making a body for a soul, and then the body isn't right anyway and the original form takes over anyway?). At least we can learn what teeth are for. Although, again, Karou's inner monologue about the monstrosities she is creating got very old.

I know, it's weird, Karou, but he's battle-ready.

Final Verdict  

With the exception of the trigger warning, I did enjoy this book. It is just as beautifully written as the first book. I feel that it is needlessly padded with repeated thoughts of uncertainty regarding Akiva, how war is bad, etc. There are also some more characters that are introduced and some of them (the ones introduced in the beginning) just don't really go anywhere. Once they run away to safety, that's it. It bogs down the story quite a bit. However, the core story is still great. The ending is absolutely crazy and I can't wait to listen to the next book.

Tangled Webs by Lee Bross

Publish Date: June 23, 2015
Format Reviewed: Hardback
Series: Tangled Webs
Author: Lee Bross
Author’s Goodreads
My Review on Goodreads

Introduction

In 1725 London, secrets are currency, and everyone who is anyone has some secrets they don't want to lose. Enter Lady A, the 16-year-old-girl who collects and exchanges secrets from clients for her nefarious boss, Bones. To keep her safe is Nic, standing nearby, while she threatens surly men in ballrooms. It's all pretense, because when they go home to their dilapidated rooms, they are orphans, starving and hungry. Arista - the girl behind the mask of Lady A - has bigger dreams of escaping, maybe, even to India. If Bones discovers her traitorous thoughts, he'd end her, but she has learned a thing or two about secrets and shady deals, and she may stand a chance. 

Setting

You don't see 1725 London very often in YA books. This has just enough details in setting to get by, but not enough to write an essay about it. Also, balls are pretty, outside is gross because it is full of the...not rich people. 

Also, who's teaching these street kids how to read? Just wondering.

Hey, a real person from history is in this book too. The video below is a bit of a spoiler, but this person did exist in real life, so readers may already know the real-life counterpart. 

Main Character

I see the main criticism in this book is Arista. She's apparently the best extorter of secrets London has ever seen, and she makes stupid decisions. Yes. She's 16. It's a rite of passage to think with your heart rather than your head. You also think you have everything under control when everything is actually on fire. And...Bones was the one pulling the strings and feeding the rumours of how dangerous she was. It's pretense and a show, and it's the life she has lived for quite some time. 

Instalove 

Yes, it does happen here. However, this is a (in no particular order) historical fiction YA romance. I admit, I was intrigued, as there is also a love triangle (which I also don't usually like). But Grae is a saint with all his patience, which makes it incredibly unbelievable. No one is that good. 

Book Aesthetic 

Thought I'd mention that this book does have these lovely lace decal pages. I thought it was a nice touch on the aesthetics of the book, especially with the bold use of black pages. So it's more than just plain text on pages, which was nice. 

Final Verdict

I found this to be an entertaining romp of 18th-century London. I didn't care for the beginning because of the irritating dumps of her history that should have been written in better. It was a fast read, so that's a bonus for some readers. Goodreads says this is a series, but this was published in 2015 and I don't see the sequel. Either way, this book wraps up nicely as a stand-alone. I recommend this to teens who want a historical fiction YA with lots of romance, with a bit of thriller elements (but not too much).