GoodRead - Dreams of Gods and Monsters

As you guys are probably aware, I am a fan of this series. I liked Daughter of Smoke and Bone, loved Days of Blood and Starlight and I devoured Night of Cakes and Puppets. So, of course, I had to get my hands on a copy of Dreams of Gods and Monsters when it came out back in April. I got one of the special first editions that was signed and had a drawing (by the author) of Karou. 

So, why have I waited to review it now? Because I was just swamped with books. And it's size! I got scared by its size and, also, I had The Fear. The series was such a good urban fantasy that I was scared that, somehow, the final book in this series wouldn't live up to the hype. 

So, I held off. And then, the lovely Fliss from Midas (working on behalf of Audible.co.uk) asked if I wanted an audiobook version of this and I said no. Then changed my mind. And Fliss was very kind to send me a credit to download the audiobook. 

Now, before I go, I would like to make clear that I only listened to under half of the audiobook and I read the rest. I have reasons which I will get to, but bear with me. 

In this, the final book in the series, Jael's forces have made their way to Earth. Pretending to be holy angels, they are playing on religion and the fears of the humans to get weapons to crush his enemies once and for all. 

But for Karou and Akiva are going to stop. Or die trying. They must ally their enemy armies to defeat Jael. It's a twisted version of their dream from previous life. But Jael isn't the only threat... 

Now, let me explain why I only listened to under the audiobook. It took me over a month or so to get to that point. I stopped because of two reasons. The first was the last chapter I listened to, a section was missing. I think this was because of the download or the file got corrupt on my laptop/iPhone. The second reason, and the most important, was that there were times when the audiobook didn't follow the text within the book. It wasn't a big deal when it was a sentence of a slang/saying. But in one chapter, a paragraph was added. Out of nowhere. Which makes me think the audiobook is read from the US edition rather than the UK edition... 

And with reader of the audiobook - Kristen Hvan. I liked her voice - it fitted well with Laini's writing style. Though it did take me a while to get use to Kristen's voices from Zuzana and Mik - well, they are my favorite characters and, when I first heard them, I thought Kristen was having a laugh! 

Now, my thoughts of this book. I really liked it. I didn't love it like Night of Cakes and Puppets and Days of Blood and Starlight, but I really enjoyed it. I liked the fact that we had the new character, Eliza - a character who became a fave of mine very quickly (although not as much as Zuzana and Mik. Who, while reading this book, I was scared that Laini was going to kill off! If she did, I'm not sure I could forgive her...). And with the plot and twists, I liked how this book ended the series. 

I can completely get why there are some people that didn't like it. Some people will say the ending was too open-ended (which means that Laini could return to this world), certain characters never really got their just-dessert... 

But I enjoyed myself once I got into my stride (which was when I actually read the book), and I'm quite excited to read more from Laini Taylor's pen.