• Dreams of Gods & Monsters

  • Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Book 3
  • By: Laini Taylor
  • Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
  • Length: 18 hrs and 8 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (2,404 ratings)

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Dreams of Gods & Monsters  By  cover art

Dreams of Gods & Monsters

By: Laini Taylor
Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
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Publisher's summary

Two worlds threaten to crumble in the face of a common enemy in the epic conclusion to the New York Times best-selling Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy—now with a gorgeous new package!

What power can bruise the sky?

Two worlds are poised on the brink of a vicious war. By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera's rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her.

When the brutal angel emperor brings his army to the human world, Karou and Akiva are finally reunited—not in love, but in tentative alliance against their common enemy. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people. And, perhaps, for themselves.

But with even bigger threats on the horizon, are Karou and Akiva strong enough to stand among the gods and monsters?

The New York Times best-selling Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy comes to a stunning conclusion as—from the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond—humans, chimaera, and seraphim strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy.

©2014 Laini Taylor (P)2014 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

*In the final book of the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy, Taylor revives the strong interweaving of reality and fantasy that gave the first story such cross-genre appeal."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
"[An] ambitious, gorgeously edgy drama lit up by its coruscating characters and prose."—Kirkus
"New revelations, characters, multiple love stories, and constant plot twists and suspense will not disappoint Taylor's many fans."—Booklist

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What listeners say about Dreams of Gods & Monsters

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

So Beautiful

I loved this entire series. Laini Taylor is such a talented writer. It's like artistry on paper or ear candy for audible listeners. Her characters are deep with extensive world building - you can't help but get sucked into this fantasy she has created. I crave more and can only hope this is NOT THE END of such a wonderful series. Thank the God Stars, but I really want more!!!
Definitely a 5 star listen!!!!

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

not with a bang, but a whimper

Would you try another book from Laini Taylor and/or Khristine Hvam?

I love Khristne Hvam (narrator), even though she mispronounces words that call her degree of education into question. She's a very talented voice actress and I have found some great series of books looking for her work. Laini Taylor created a fantastical world, but the third book didn't live up to the others. Though I loved the first two books in this series (especially the first one), this one was disappointing enough that I doubt I would read more of the author.

What could Laini Taylor have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

This book seemed like a huge mishmash. It was extraordinarily poorly edited. For instance, there was so much soul searching and angst that I felt it undermined the reader's ability to bond more deeply with the characters. It became tedious and annoying. Also, the book really went nowhere, fading away at the end. I understand the need to leave some open ended plot elements for possible coming installments, but this one was a poorly crafted ending. I believe the elements of a fantastic bang of an ending were all there, but they were so overcrowded with superfluous material that they lost all power and merely fizzled.

Was Dreams of Gods & Monsters worth the listening time?

I'm glad that I listened to the end, but I'm left feeling very unsatisfied.

Any additional comments?

A great editor would have made this a masterpiece.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Disjointed and way too long!

Any additional comments?

This series began in book 1 with such mystery, beauty and promise but steadily declined from there. Book 3 was so, so unnecessarily long and wordy! It was trying (WAY TOO HARD) to be very poetic but it just made the whole story very disjointed and hard to keep track of.

I think introducing the new characters and background story lines in the final book was a mistake in this case. The new backstories really needed SO much more development and detail but instead it was just thrown in bit by confusing little bit. And what detail was given, was done so in such a poetic way that it really did nothing to help you understand the story. For as long as the book was, all of the unnecessary stuff should have been removed, and detail and attention given to developing the new characters and backstory in a straightforward manner. It was like she was trying to create mystery up until the very last second but instead created confusion and the build up just fizzled when revealed because it never quite meshed with the rest of the story.

The characters were also very disjointed and felt thrown into the story at random. Sometimes you wouldn't even hear about a particular character for many many chapters. Long enough in between to forget what was even going on with them. Also, many important things that were built up all throughout the book (i.e. Zuzana and Mik finally getting engaged) were just completely glossed over and only given one or two sentences after they occurred. Big letdown!

The ending of the book was so jumbled and all over the place. It really didn't make a whole lot of sense. I still don't even understand all the backstory that led to the ending. And a lot of things were just left open-ended, which sometimes works, but in this case it feels like certain characters were just forgotten about.

While I thought the narrator did a great job with the voices, she sounded a bit subdued throughout this book, even in very intense scenes which should have warranted much more enthusiasm. She read the entire book as if it were one long (too long) poem. She also mispronounced so many words that I thought it was really silly that the editor didn't catch any of them. Oh, and when you change the way you pronounce names and places from one book to the next in a series, it's distracting. I feel like this has happened quite often with audio books and I wonder why the narrator doesn't find out how to pronounce the names and places of characters from the author before recording. Especially in fantasy books where the names are sometimes difficult.

Anyway, I would love to read book 1 again but I won't be wasting my time with books 2 or 3.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

The anti-religion message got too strong

Man! I kind of hate it when an author ruins her own excellent book or series by force-feeding a personal view or belief (or in this case lack of one) down her reader's throats. I really enjoyed the first 2 books in this series but try as I might, I could not stomach this one all the way to the very end because the blatant anti-religion (primarily anti-Christian of course) message became nauseating. Full disclosure, I'm a Christian, otherwise it probably wouldn't bother me, however, I don't need the books I read to reflect my values. I have enjoyed many books that had a word view, whether realistic or fantasy, that does not align with mine. Where I take issue is the fact that Laini Taylor decided in this book to cram her clearly anti-religious view down my throat with a pitchfork. I tried to ignore it, then I tried skimming pretty much all the parts that start "Arrival:" Finally, I just got fed up. It's a real shame too, because the base story between Karou and Akiva/Seraphim and Chimera was very good. I was 100% on board and loving the first 2 books, but an author can only go so far with an agenda in a work of fiction and this crossed way over that line. This is my opinion and my personal choice of embracing this book, I understand that. I would just caution any person of faith to be ready to be offended, angry, or disgusted by increasingly large parts of this book as it progresses. It is really disappointing because there was real promise in these books. Khristine Hvam was, as always, excellent despite the material.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Amazing narrator but mediocre last book

Ok…I’m not gonna lie, this book was tough for me to get through. I finished reading book 2, Days of Blood and Startlight, on January 12, 2013. Yes, over a year ago. Needless to say with this HUGE cast of characters I was LOST! There really isn’t any recap at all to speak of, just kind of throw into the story again. MAYBE I should have re-read (re-listened) to the last book but I rarely (okay never) do that. Of course since I was kind of lost it didn’t help when there were SO MANY POV changes. LOL! I’d figure out what’s going on then get lost again. UGH!

Anyways…I figured I’d get that out.

I’ve seen other reviews complete there was just too much going on in this book and I would completely agree. There were new characters that I wasn’t invested in. Then as I’m not really caring for them BAM something major happens to that character and they are part of a HUGE plot point. My head is still reeling and more happens and then more. There was never any downtime at all. Poor Karou and Akiva barely had anytime together with all the mess that was happening in their lives.

My favorite thing in this book is Karou’s bff, Zuzana. She never fails to make me laugh and breaks up the seriousness of the situation in the book.

I liked that Akiva and Karou had their HEA after EVERYTHING they’ve gone through but the journey was just TOO much I guess.

I thought this book was going to end at least twice…but then it continued and then continued and then continued. This is one of those books that I just thought was WAY TOO long. I really wanted to like this one more. :-(

Narrator Note: As I stated in the last two books in this series, Khristine Hvam is an AMAZING narrator! Her voice for Razgot is SOOOOO good I’m in aww every time I hear it. I can’t wait to hear more from her.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Too dark -- no hope

This series started off great -- fun, interesting, and engaging. But the author took a dark turn and kept getting darker and darker until by the middle of the 3rd book there is simply no hope and every page was just more pain and suffering heaped on the lead characters and through them on to me, the listener. I couldn't take it any more. I need some glimmer of light or hope for a story to be worth reading. I couldn't finish it.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

ALL OF THE FEELS

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH

this series...

I CAN"T

So many feelings. Good. Bad. Happy. Sad. Tears. Laughter. Love.

I have so many questions about what happens after the book ends. SO MANY. I loved .... I didn't love.... What happened to .... Where did he go....

NEED MORE

WANT MORE

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

a bit disappointed

I can't say I loved this series. I'm sorta wishing I stopped at book 2. This book was slow and verbose. Half way thru I just wanted to get it done already. And the ending? Not near as satisfying as I'd hoped. I found my mind wandering. I'm really not sure what the fuss is all about. I just couldn't get past the feeling that there was a lot of filler in this book. While I loved the characters, the story just dragged for me. So book 1 was the strongest, but it was an uphill climb for 50% of it. Needless to say, I am done with the author.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A Little long ...

This story was a little long and convoluted. I didn't like it as much as the other 2. The narrator was great though. It had too many parts and not enough detail, so it was difficult to keep track of at times. At least it had a mostly decent ending.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

My least favorite

I'm sad to say that this was my least favorite book of the series. I loved the first book and the characters and in this installment the story was boring and the characters were bland. I'm glad I finished the series, but disappointed overall.

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