Reviews

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

laurenkara's review against another edition

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4.0

Read this review @ my blog Wonderless Reviews

I received a copy of this book from Hachette Australia in exchange for an honest review.

Questions that have been plaguing my mind whilst thinking about this review:

• How do you review a book that’s literally impossible to review?
• How do you review a book where literally everything you say can be considered a spoiler and can ruin the incredible journey that the book takes you on?
• HOW DO YOU WRITE A REVIEW? LIKE IN GENERAL?

So yeah, be prepared for this “review” to be a bunch of filler that probably won’t be informing or helpful at all aka every review I’ve ever written.

Trigger Warnings: Rape (there’s nothing descriptive or any scenes depicting it, but part of the history is that Gods take humans back without their consent and control their minds.)

Strange the Dreamer is one of the most creative and unique Fantasies I’ve read. I can not even think a book that comes close to it except Laini Taylor’s other book series, Daughter of Smoke and Bone. It defies all tropes and cliches and the tropes it does use makes you think that they’re brand new and have never been done before. This book heavily focuses on the dynamics of Gods, Monsters and Humans which is used a lot, but Laini Taylor manages to twist it into something that’s unlike anything you’ve seen before.

“You think good people can’t hate?” she asked. “You think good people don’t kill? Good people do all the things bad people do, Lazlo. It’s just that when they do them, they call it justice.”


Our main character, Lazlo, is probably one of my new favourite main characters. It’s not often male characters are the protagonists in YA fantasy and when they are they can definitely suffer from a lot not so great cliches i.e the asshole who gets away with it because he’s hot. Lazlo broke a lot of stereotypes and didn’t suffer from any kind of toxic masculinity. He’s incredibly precious. And a librarian. Without giving away TOO MUCH he was abandoned as a child and never really grew up experiencing love, but he was always so incredibly kind. It would have been easy for him to be jaded ect. like a lot of male characters, but he was so soft and pure and I wanted to keep him safe the entire time.

I don’t even know if I should talk about the other characters, but since it’s kind of in the blurb I’ll go into it a little. Sarai, the blue skinned goddess, is so incredibly interesting. She’s such a layered and complex character and I loved her just as much as I loved Lazlo. You don’t need to worry about her only existing as a love interest. She is just as important as Lazlo. Her gift is unlike ANYTHING I’ve ever seen before and I have no idea how Laini Taylor managed to make it work so well, but she did!


Like nightmares, dreams were insidious things, and didn’t like being locked away.

The world building and magic system proves that Laini Taylor is some kind of creative (and evil) genius. Every new detail that came to light completely blew my mind. The world is so dreamlike, but so intricate and detailed that it feels like it’s actually a real part of history.

One thing I didn’t realise when I first started reading this was that it’s part of a duology. I’m not sure why I thought it was a standalone? Oops. So there is a lot of foundation being laid down. This book took me a month to read. Yep. This is more on me than Laini Taylor, but I just thought I should mention it. Strange the Dreamer is definitely a slow burn read, if you’re like me and get distracted easily be prepared for this book to take A LOT out of you. I couldn’t read more than a few chapters at a time. That’s not to say this is a bad thing – this is just a me thing. I don’t think this book would have worked if Laini Taylor didn’t go into as much detail as she did. There’s also a MASSIVE cliffhanger.

I do recommend possibly reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone first because Laini Taylor has such an unique writing style it might help you get used to it. Strange the Dreamer is one of the most magical books I’ve read. It has an amazing cast of characters and incredible beautiful writing. If you love Fantasy then I feel like it’s going to be hard to be disappointed by this.

“And that’s how you go on. You lay laughter over the dark parts. The more dark parts, the more you have to laugh. With defiance, with abandon, with hysteria, any way you can.”

labunnywtf's review against another edition

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5.0

Read for Book Roast's Magical Readathon: OWLs Exams. Subject: Potions (A book featuring alchemy)

Shrestha (noun) When a dream comes true - but not for the dreamer. Archaic; from Shres, the bastard god of fortune, who was believed to punish supplicants for inadequate offerings by granting their hearts' desire to another.

I finished the readathon! Six minutes before midnight on the last day. I am pretty proud of myself. And wow, what a book to wrap up with.

This is a fairy tale. No, that's not right.

This is a mythology tale. No...

This is a love story. Hmm. Not right either.

This is a story of gods and heroes. Well, not...quite...

This is a story of boy meets girl, with a touch of mistaken identity.

This is a story of....

This is a story of everything.

I would like, very much to sit inside Laini Taylor's brain. I don't want to affect anything, I don't want to give her nightmares or for her to see me. I just want to live in there for a couple of hours once in awhile. I feel like this is something I may have said while reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone.

This is so gorgeous. This book is beyond words incredible. The story, the characters, the world. This world. I was reading steadily all day and I didn't feel like I was rushing through it because this book refuses to be rushed through. The words and the characters will not let you plow through them. They stand in your way and demand to be seen.

Okay, I've just learned that the next book will not come out until October and now I'm very grumpy. WTFOMGBBQ. Okay, moving on, back to the review.

I don't want to give too much away, because in typical Taylor style, the synopsis tells you everything and nothing. I didn't know what I was heading into with this.

Lazlo is our main character. He's your typical orphaned monk librarian who teaches himself a language no one's heard spoken aloud and also has an understanding of alchemy. You know the type.

It is because of his 'head in the clouds, nose in a book' persona that he ends up on the most amazing adventure, the stuff of which he's only ever dreamed of. He's picked, along with some of the smartest and most accomplished people in all the land, to go to The Unseen City to help solve A Problem.

I mean, that sounds simple enough, right?

Wow. Wow. wow wow wow.

I cannot over emphasize how beautifully Taylor writes. This language that Lazlo has taught himself is described as sounding like calligraphy, if calligraphy were written in honey.

Just sit with that a moment. And understand what I mean when I say I want to eat beautiful words.

I haven't even talked about Sarai yet. I can't talk about Sarai. I can't. I just can't. Read the book, understand why. She's so amazing, and wonderful, and through her eyes you see not only the story of the gods, but the story of the people of Weep. You see how hatred and vengeance can be taught, how it can fester, and how a person can overcome it and have great empathy for those who have wronged them.

I just love this book so much. Picture me pulling down my cheeks and sobbing that to the heavens, because so much wow.

I cannot stress enough that everyone needs to go read this book. Take your time with it. Let it drown you.

But if you want to wait until it's closer to October, I get it. Because the wait for the sequel is going to be torturous.

elaryen's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Beautiful. Absolutely recommend.

shadowrealmreader's review against another edition

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I NEED THIS!

lfjm's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

When a dream comes true - but not for the Dreamer. 

This was such a unique story and so beautiful written. I just love Laini Taylor writing style. Even Though the book was very slow spaced, the story was captivating and I always had the urge to Pick it up again. The story deals with race and prejudices against skin colour, as well as the way New Generations are treatend because of their ancestors comitted crimes. The romance was so sweet and I love the main characters. Lazlo and Sarai were likeable and very adorable and I never thought that something like THIS would happen to a main character.😭 I felt sorry for Sporrow, but also dont think that Ruby should now turn away from Feral after she discovered Sporrows feelings. I think Feral and Ruby are a great couple. 
And then there is Minya.... I pitied her at some points in the story, but the end....... Iam soooo angry. The ending was just nerverecing and I am a little bit scared to start the next one. 

zach_r's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

2.5

lokithescientist's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

errie's review against another edition

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  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.5


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witchybookgirl's review against another edition

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4.0

This book is beautifully written to start off with. I’ve heard many good things about this book and this author and I’m glad I picked this one up. The only issues I have with this book is that it starts off pretty slow, well in general it’s slow but still very captivating. I’m not a fan of slow moving books but some how this one still kept me to read more. It does have romance in it which was meh for me. Not because I didn’t like the romance it just seemed to fast pace but that could be how the meet that would allow that. I did love the world and plot and can’t wait to see where it leads. Though I did guess something half way through but I wasn’t mad about it either.

Overall I thought it was a fantastic book and will continue on with the series. 4/5 stars

igood54's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25