Reviews with content warning for Racism - Strange the Dreamer

Beautifully written, magical and hopeful yet challenging and dark story about mysterious people with otherworldly and dangerous powers, and the city who fears them. Glad I read it when the second book is available to pick up immediately, since it ends on a cliffhanger.

On the negative side:

Note that the adult/minor relationship tag refers to a 20-year-old in a romantic relationship with a 17-year-old, which I personally think is close enough in age to be acceptable in the world of this story, although other readers may not agree, as in our real world it seems rather sus for a 3rd year college student to be dating an 11th grader in high school.

There are also descriptions of a sexually active 15-year-old with their teenage lover, plus mentions of another young couple who are sleeping together. All the teenage sex, despite not being graphically described but only alluded to artistically, was rather off-putting because an adult writer should not be encouraging her adolescent readers to engage in sex - it leads to consequences like STDs/STIs, unwanted pregnancies, and emotions that are too complicated for most young people to understand.

This inevitably results in broken hearts and emotional trauma in the majority of cases, which then leads to some (or many) people having difficulty finding love as adults because their teen romances ripped a hole in their heart they've not been able to repair so far. For real, I know people in their 50s who still haven't recovered from their adolescent entanglements and that's why they are single today... and that's why their would-be partner is also single. These are consequences that resulted in the unhappiness of two people (much like Eril-Fane and Azareen in this book, although in their case they had no choice in the matter).

So if you're a teenager reading this review - don't be inspired by the exploits of the young lovers in this book, and instead wait until you're older to chase... "that." You'll have more of a chance to mature and develop so that you also meet somebody mature who can give you the true love you'll want to receive and give in return.

Content Warnings

amallard's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

I put this down as lighthearted but you might like to check the content warnings, because I get that folks who resonate with the writing may feel differently. To be clear - I'm not dismissing or downplaying these traumas. I am dismissing the way they were done here, please don't come for me, it just elicited nothing in me.

Revision: the

adult/minor relationship

did elicit something in me because wtf was that, lads, wtf wtf that was not cool but it was written as Something Beautiful.

Let me splat down the good. Imagery was a happening thing. Backstory was a smoothly-delivered thing. Dialogue was a frequently-fun thing. Mystery was a suspenseful thing.

Let me splat down the bad I could take. Imagery sometimes happened too much. Tropes sometimes delivered too stereotypically. Explanation was sometimes exposition. I run low. Let's move on.

What did I ardently dislike? Unmarked spoilers from here on out.

Look away if you don't want spoilers.

Look away.

Okay.

Returning to the point made above: a guy who has been raised with four girls his whole life says that they're like sisters to him...but not quite. He then proceeds to have sex with the littlest, who is fifteen. She's fifteen. I don't care if they gave her a fake birthday so she could pretend to be sixteen - she's fifteen. Also, as someone who was raised with not-brother brothers, this whole speel is so gross to me. What, are adopted siblings not siblings? Does biology trump everything? Are platonic bonds worthless? Is that the case here? They. Shared. A. Mother.

I don't like Sarai but I'm being brave about it. Passion brings a character to life, makes me care for them. Give them an interest. Give them a hobby. Let me know how they spend their quiet minutes, their free time when they can steal it. Lazlo had a passion, Minya had a passion, Calixte had a passion, Sparrow had a passion, even the "it-might-be-love-what-we-have" paedophile had a passion.

Luckily, so did Sarai. You're gonna call me hypocritical but hers was complaining. I'm a very positive and optimistic character on the whole, with a lot going for me; I assure you that my hobby is not. If you think I'm being harsh on this book, please remind yourself of the last paragraph.

My final issue. Maybe we can kick it off with an anecdote: at one point in this book, a girl forces a man to kiss her. He's deeply uncomfortable - no, more than that. He's in a very traumatic situation and she uses him against his will.

It's played for a laugh. It made me wonder if I was being too SJW about the whole thing. But it struck me as upsetting, and a dismissal of consent. If the roles had been reversed, it would have been blatantly wrong, right?

That excuse, that the perpetrator was a girl, ties into the heternormativity that permeates this. By default, the girls only think about kissing boys, the boys only think about wanting girls. Guys are masculine and strong. Girls are pure and chaste. There's a couple of token sapphics who break the mould, plus some dweeby dudes, but it's a deeply straight book.

I’m not “obsessed with forcing diversity” or “pushing an agenda” and i am not trying to overlay stories with my own false reading of queer-coding when it doesn’t exist. But it’s funny to me when a writer writes a book with homoerotic overtones, when all the coding is blatantly THERE, and then they try to do damage control. Please please believe me when I say this story felt like it was supposed to be gay.

We get introduced to Thyon Nero and he is magnificently beautiful and desperately alone with the truth of his sins and secrets, and he’s a prince but he carries the scars of his beatings, and Lazlo’s a pauper but he knows those wounds well, and when they meet in the present day there is an immense amount of fear fluttering between them, and nerves, and history, and disappointment. And there is a smart man, with an insight that rivals Lazlo’s, that grounds where his dreams. And there is a good man buried somewhere within him. And there is an interesting journey for him to take to that stage.

Look, there are intended enemies-to-lovers which have worse setups than this. It’s so natural. It’s the story offered that has a spark.

Did Taylor miss the opportunity? Did she have too many plans for the way things already went? Not much would have been lost if Lazlo and Sarai had been friends instead; on the contrary, I think an intense platonicism would have been so beautiful. He could have carried his lifeless friend’s body and its impact would not have been lost. She could have visited her friend’s dreams and their visions together would not have been diminished.

Content Warnings

lilifane's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

NO! What do you mean "To be continued"!?!?!
I knew there was a sequel, but I was not expecting the first book to end on a CLIFFHANGER!
At least it's already written and published... But I didn't plan to read Muse of Nightmares this month, or even this year? Guess I need to squeeze it in somewhere in April.

Because this was SO good. Much longer than I had expected tbh, but I also couldn't put it down.
I loved the writing and world building, they are phenomenal. I also loved the plot, but this is definitely more of a "the journey is the reward" kind of story (only without the reward because it ends on a cliffhanger!!!). Yes, I want the plot to progress and all the mysteries and questions to be answered. No, I don't mind reading hundreds of pages of dream descriptions and fairy tales while I'm waiting. This is truly a love letter to reading and dreaming and story telling and magic. And it's such an interesting world with many interesting and complex characters and character dynamics and a heartbreaking conflict. It actually gets pretty dark and there is a lot of trauma. So much trauma. I have so many feelings for the characters and what they went through/are still going through, the decisions they made. It physically hurts. And I don't know how, but there better be some kind of happy ending.

Content Warnings

kapaiai's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

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

4.0

This book is beautifully written.
Very flowery, dreamy prose that matched the title and overall atmosphere of the book.
World-building was very interesting and full of potential. I could not grasp the geography though and I got lost while reading, like what??
The characters were all very enjoyable to read.

Even Nero, with his Uchiha Sasuke-esque lack of self confidence. Even Minya, who is some kind of evil, ghost-wielding Detective Conan.

Lazlo was a lovely, sweet protagonist and I rooted for him sincerely. Sarai was also very sweet, and I only wanted good things for her. But y’know… plot and all that.

Has a bit of a bad ending / cliffhanger for the sequel, which I see is equally long.

It is, however, a very SLOW book. It takes its time to take you somewhere, which I didn’t hate. In fact, it matched the tone of the subject matter so I was all for it.

It’s not the kind of book that was like, I can’t stop reading!!! But I got so far in that I was like… “I can probably finish this tonight,” and before I knew it, it’s 15 past midnight and my dog wants me to turn off the lights so he can sleep.

The romance aspect was like, meh. I honestly didn’t need it. I would’ve enjoyed the book just as equally if it was a story of Lazlo learning himself and becoming a “great person”.
That's not too say the romance wasn't a important as a plot device, but I felt like it wasn't really something I focused on personally.

It was insta-love, and it’s only saving grace was that it was… unproblematic? Like, they’re very young and the way they fell in love and clung to each other showed it. (esp Sarai to Lazlo, which understandable. He was the first and only outsider who could see her.)

In fact, I would’ve loved to have seen more of Lazlo and Nero solving alchemic impossibilities together (together???).
Side note: I just want to say that I love that Nero is a Hot Guy, but he's also like "ALCHEMY IS SCIENCE. NOT MAGIC". I don't know. Something about that just tickles me, haha.

Content Warnings

sukidookie's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

The writing style of this book was visually enriching and seriously drew me in. It was easy to relate to a main character who is always reading books and has his head in the clouds. It was fascinating watching him grow from a peasant into a mysterious God, and I'm already itching to read the next book in the series. The characters had consistent personalities and were uniquely different from each other. I was invested in the lore and the fantastical mythology because it was directly related to both the main character and the setting. I thought the discussion on racism and trauma was well done, and I desperately want to see Weep become something like the city Lazlo dreamed.

Content Warnings

bethy_joy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

hanarama's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The Good:
• Beautiful prose
• Omniscient narrator, looks into all POV
• World building unfolds gradually

The Bad:
• Romance felt a bit shallow

You Might Like This if You Like:
• Disney's Atlantis
• Lost Kingdoms
• Fairytales

Wow! I adored my time in Weep. Laini Taylor's prose here is very soothing—perfectly suited for the dreaminess of this story.

The lost kingdom premise sucked me in immediately. It reminded me very much of Atlantis, which has been a comfort movie for me for awhile.

I really enjoyed both Lazlo and Sarai as protagonists. They're both thoughtful and caring. That said, I felt that the relationship between them was very surface level. I get that this is YA, but it was almost too fairytale for me.

Content Warnings

amz1006's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Bye, I’m literally in love with this story. I am not going to be able to function for the next two days. Not to be dramatic, but I would actually die for every character in this book

Content Warnings

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