YMMV / Daughter of Smoke and Bone

• Complete Monster: The world of Eretz features this monstrous pair of Seraphim brothers:
  • Emperor Joram leads the Seraphim on genocidal purges of the Chimaera, alongside his younger brother, Jael, enslaving the survivors of their attacks to suffer as their empire grows. Within his empire itself, Joram forces women to become his concubines, mistreating them to the point they have attempted suicide to escape him; he also slaughters his own guards for perceived disrespect. Horrifically raising his own children to become front line soldiers for his armies, Joram shrugs aside their deaths when they are killed for the "glory" of his empire. When he lays siege to the Chimaera capital of Loramendi, Joram sacrifices hundreds of his own troops to weaken the enemy's defenses, then invading the city to massacre the thousands within, both soldier and innocent civilian alike. After winning his bloody conquest, Joram intends to further expand his tyranny, next laying eyes on a peaceful group of seraphim, ever-hungry for more power.
  • Jael leads his brother's elite forces "The Dominion" and is the one who murdered Akiva's mother. His unit feared even among Joram's empire for their brutality, Jael leads them on purges of Chimaera villages, and relishes the chance to murder unarmed women and children personally, as well as torturing prisoners, in one notable case force-feeding the ashes of Ziri's comrades to him. A being of voracious lust, Jael rapes both civilian women and his own female soldiers. Seizing the throne with Joram's death, Jael kills his own nephew and all the guards present for his coup, leaving only his niece, Liraz, alive to become his Sex Slave. Discovering the human Earth, Jael intends to present himself as a messianic figure, then manipulate them into eliminating his enemy races, by manipulating the humans into giving him dangerous weapons to annihilate his enemies. When confronted by Akiva, Jael uses his own men as human shields, caring for nothing but his own selfish conquest.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Brimstone, especially since he only appears in one book in person and only in flashbacks in the other two.
• Tear Jerker: Hazael's death in Days of Blood and Starlight definitely counts. Akiva and Liraz's reactions are arguably even worse.
• Wangst: What Karou and Akiva's wailing sometimes borders at.