So the time has finally come for me to finish Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy, and as before I’ll be breaking this book down into segments and posting a weekly review/discussion post/wordflail about the chapters I read.

In these opening chapters, the angels arrive on Earth and … everything’s going to hell. IRONICALLY. Oh, I’ve missed my messed up darlings.

Let’s discuss Dreams of Gods & Monsters.

Spoilers follow for chapters 1 through 10.

So first, a quick recap: everybody made ill-advised decisions, like Karou deciding to join the chimaera rebellion as their resurrectionist despite being the reincarnation of their most hated traitor, and Akiva plotting to kill the seraph emperor in an effort to end the war only to end up handing power to the creepiest sociopath ever to call himself an angel and being forced to go on the run with a bunch of fellow rebels.

Oh yeah, and now Karou has killed Thiago after he assaulted her and has resurrected a trusted friend in his body in order to try to keep anyone from finding out. And the seraph army has invaded Earth posing as humanity’s saviours and absolutely everyone is losing their minds.

Great work, guys.

Moving on, however, this book opens with the introduction of a new POV character. And this time it’s a mere mortal! Apparently?

Eliza is introduced as she’s waking up from what seems like a real monster (ha) of a nightmare, though we don’t get much in the way of specifics. It also leaves her dealing with anxiety-related fallout, and right away she’s fascinating me.

It wouldn’t take much digging for an interested party to ascertain the … depths of abnormal … upon which she’d built this life.

What does THAT mean? Where did she come from? What awful things has she seen (or done)? And why would a terrible nightmare leave her feeling guilty?

Hello, dark secrets. I look forward to getting to know you.

So we have the apocalypse kicking off, disguised as salvation. We have Karou hanging onto a dangerous ruse, and thus her life, like it’s a cliff edge and she’s dangling off it. And she hasn’t told Akiva the truth, which I can kind of understand. I mean, let’s face it. Akiva hasn’t had the best track record for not leading with his feelings, since meeting her. Sure, he might be able to help protect her – but could he keep the secret?

On the other hand, now he has the completely wrong end of the stick about why she’s staying with Thiago, as if he didn’t hate the Warlord enough already. If someone doesn’t tell him, I foresee very bad things happening.

I’m trying not to be too gleeful at the highly dramatic prospects, but it’s so hard.

Also, can I just take a moment to ROLL MY DAMN EYES at the particular way Jael chooses to have his shiny new seraph army appear on Earth?

“Give me a break with the harps,” said a paleobiologist. “Overkill.”

I mean. Yes, the stereotypical imagery is impressive, but I’m with the scientists on this one. It’s waaaay off. Seriously, who would fall for that? Who would not see straight through it, or at least know something wasn’t right, if they took even just a minute to think about –

*Is handed a note*

– Ah. Right. Those guys. Of course.

Well, I’m sure it’ll still be fine, I mean we’re all sensible people –

And with that the riots began.

Oh boy.

Kaz update: Still a tool. So some things still haven’t changed. That’s nice?