Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

I finally made it to the last book in this trilogy! Although the end of it all makes it seem like there might be more. I'd have to decide, were that the case, whether I'd continue on. I wouldn't object to it per se, but have I spent enough time with these character? I know Taylor has decided that they don't get to rest at the completion of their story, but am I ready to let them go?

I kind of feel like the answer might be yes, even though I do like these characters. Taylor was really good at layering together decades, centuries, longer, of trauma and repercussions, and while I get that a lot of the time, life doesn't just stop and give you a break when you reach the end of the war, oh, I think I'm ready for one. I'm ready to just let them live in my imagination and be done.

In other words, I might read a further book, were it written, if it came up on one of my lists. But I'm not sure I'd seek it out.

For those of you joining us here, this is the story of Akiva and Karou, an angel and a chimera, on opposite sides of a very old war, and very much in love.  I really enjoyed the first two books in this series. Much more than I had expected to enjoy them. Now we're at the third, and there are a few things that started to get in the way of my enjoyment, bits where it felt like Taylor didn't quite stick the landing. She came pretty damn close, and this is still good, but there were a few issues....

A) Oh for fuck's sake, this book took a bucket to the well of "will Akiva and Karou finally get a stolen moment to get together and finally have sexytimes/NOPE" one too many times. Really, seriously, the other times were mildly aggravating, but that last time, it was extremely annoying. Because we've played these chords before. We've seen frustrated love and lust a whole fucking ton of times, and it's time to give them that moment, so to interject ONE MORE RESURRECTION was too much. (I don't deny that that resurrection had to happen. But it could have happened without it being ONE MORE ROADBLOCK in Akiva and Karou getting time alone. Very easily. We could just not have had that chapter of lustful buildup, had her resurrect that person, and then make goo goo eyes and...other body parts.)

Because if that wasn't enough, AFTER THAT, of course, THERE'S ANOTHER FUCKING THING in the way. Again, some delay is fine, but when it's done too many times, it becomes meaningless.  This is approaching George R. R. Martin "end a chapter making it look like a character has died" level of trying the same trick too many times. Do it once, maybe twice, and then leave that pony in the barn.

B) The pacing felt a little odd as well, but that wasn't a dealbreaker. We had some new characters introduced, and while I liked Eliza, bringing her in in this book threw off the flow. I suspect Taylor didn't realize until this book she was going to be a necessary character, and you can't exactly go backwards and add her into previously published books, but some things in the book were overly drawn out, and others felt like they were oddly stitched together.

C) It's a matter of terminology, but I really hated that the new enemy that appears in the last third were called The Beasts, because that's also what the chimera were called by the angels for most of the series, and so it caused confusion in my brain about who the Beasts were. Really, none of the angels or chimera thought "hey, that's an epithet for an enemy that's already in use Maybe we should...find something else?"

I don't mind the launching pad to new adventures, and I'm glad that there were a few moments of grace in and among the characters realizing that the old war was giving way to a new one. It was a little bumpy along the way, and I don't think I need more of this story, but I am glad I hung in all the way through.