It is kind of hilarious, especially set to the backdrop of the plague breakout in Verona, which gives some perspective to the childish dramatics of our couple. He confides in Karou that Thiago’s plans are anything but peaceful, and she ultimately realises that Thiago doesn’t want to need her anymore. Now, there is a void of resentment, guilt, disappointment, and betrayal separating the two of them, in addition to a complete lack of communication. Karou fills Zuzanah and Mik on the situation, including Brimstone’s death and Akiva’s part in it all.

Akiva spends a month patrolling, training, practicing magic, interacting with his half-siblings - anything to keep his guilt and despair from overwhelming him.Trying to resurrect his character by romanticizing what he did felt cheap and disrespectful in this one.

God, if they only knew what they were getting into and thank God at that time Thiago needed Karou or they would have been supper! However, I liked the fact that Akiva and Karou don't share any real page time in this book because I'm not a big romance fan (although the misunderstandings that get set up seemed like a lazy way of introducing more tension to an already fraught relationship). The character voices, the incredible world, the fantastic fight scenes (especially in this sequel); it's elaborate without being overdone, it's pretty without being cliché. It's about a blue-haired art student raised by monsters, a broken angel, and a war that has raged for 1000 years in another world. These two enemies cannot help but keep coming back to each other, even against so much betrayal and heartbreak!Zuzanah and Mik travel to southern Morocco and risk their lives traveling to a spot in the travel blog that they think Karou might be. But this second book, as I said before, is a great successor, and elevated the series to another level! The second in Laini Taylor's SMOKE AND BONE TRILOGY is another beautifully written novel with incredible imagery that displays a stunning imagination. Karou thinks the Revenants she is creating are being sent to Hintermost to protect innocent fleeing chimaera from the angels, but really they are being sent on counterattack missions to kill innocent seraphim. Most of us had to prepare ourselves for the fact that DoBaS, like most middle child books, was probably not going to be quite as good as it’s older siblings.