Days of Blood & Starlight is book two of a trilogy.  This review may contain spoilers.  

For thousands of years Angels and Chimaera had fought a brutal war of attrition. In Daughter of Smoke & Bone the Chimaera’s greatest secret was discovered and the Angels pressed their advantage, defeating the Chimaera.

The war is over and the Chimaera armies have been decimated, but what follows war is not peace but genocide.  The Angels have turned their attention to the innocent civilians and are hunting them down like animals.

Bitter and broken from what Akiva has done, Karou has joined a small group of Chimaera warriors who survived the final battle. They are led by Thiago, a narcissist and sociopath whose goal is not to protect Chimaera but to exact a bloody revenge.  As the only surviving resurrectionist Thiago needs Karou to build him an army. She finds his tactics repugnant but can she stand up to him when she hasn’t got a single ally?

Akiva is crushed with guilt over what he has brought about.  As he watches the genocide unfolding he makes a decision to turn against his own and protect the innocent Chimaera. But what can a single angel do in the face of so many?

Days of Blood & Starlight is as close to perfect as it’s possible to get. In parts it’s an extremely uncomfortable book to read and I literally had to put it down because I couldn’t go on.  But before very long I just had to pick it up and continue. It’s a powerful story about  good versus evil; love versus hate; hope versus despair.