Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

52 reviews

jose_kg's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

5.0

I really loved this book, I can't believe it isn't being talked about more. I picked it up on a whim because I liked the cover and the blurb sounded interesting, I am so glad I did. This is one of the most intriguing fantasy novels I've ever read, the world the author creates is so interesting and unique, the characters are interesting and multifaceted and the author addresses oppression and it's aftermath in an incredibly understanding and nuisanced way. 

I read that the author had been intending to write a historically based novel about medieval Spain and the middle east when she wrote this book. You can really see the influences of this time period in these locations on the novel and I think that's part of why it felt so different, as so much fantasy is set in a version of medieval England/France. 

I don't want to give too much away, just go and read it, it's an excellent book and you'll be so glad you did! 

Also I loved this book so much I immediately went out and bought a copy for my Gran for Christmas as she loves fantasy novels. I was a bit surprised to find it had been categorised as YA in my local bookshop, the characters are younger but this doesn't feel like just a teenage book to me, particularly because the world the author creates doesn't really recognise teenagers, like a lot of the past in europe, you were either a child or an adult, so the MCs spent a lot of time with significantly older characters without their age being a consideration. All of this is to say that if you shy away from books labeled YA because they can be a bit too teenage highschool focused, this book is not like that, I would personally categorise it more as a regular fantasy book that happens to have some younger protagonists. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping

Minor: War and Slavery

errie's review against another edition

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Slavery

nclausel25's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Violence, Child death, Death, Kidnapping, War, and Slavery

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, and Sexual content

kelly_sch29's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious sad 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Death, Slavery, Rape, Child death, and Kidnapping

Minor: Pregnancy

kathrynleereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

As a human, mysteries intrigue me. As a person who devoted years to the study of anthropology, mysteries of culture consume me. 

So a story about a city, mysterious from the beginning, but suddenly lost, disappeared from the world? It felt like magic to have stumbled upon it.

Right from the prologue, Strange the Dreamer grabbed my attention and refused to let go. 

The story, the characters, the settings, the dreams, they all just kept getting better and better. 

Watching the history of Weep unfold bit by bit in tiny little shards of knowledge was mesmerizing.

Other than the gods themselves, there were no characters that I didn’t like. 

The only two who came close were Minya and Thyon, but even the two of them weren’t evil, they just lacked compassion. 

And the dreams.

Laini Taylor’s writing truly encompasses and deserves the word “art.”

I have long wished that I could dive into the worlds I read about, and then there I was, reading about a world I wanted to dive into, and within that world they were doing the same thing.

The connection I felt to Lazlo and Sarai as they dove into dreams together and made their stories was one of the strongest I’ve ever felt with a character (or characters in this case). 

I’m both excited and terrified to learn where the story, and the unseen city of Weep itself, go from here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Genocide, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Child death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, and War

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Child abuse

Minor: Homophobia

benmilo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I didn't expect to like this as much as I did. Laini Taylor's writing style feels like "calligraphy written in honey". It captured me instantly. The story feels like sitting at a campfire and being told old tales. I was also impressed by the nuance with which Taylor described her characters. At first sight there were heroes and monsters, but after looking closer that distinction wasn't clear anymore. Only thing I didn't like was the cliffhanger at the end,  made the ending feel very sudden. 
I loved this, gonna go buy Muse of Nightmares now. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Kidnapping, Rape, and Slavery

cosmicwillow's review against another edition

3.0

Definitely a fascinating world, but some of it drags for me and I think this book suffers from a bit of exoticism. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Moderate: Sexual violence

elodiethefangirl's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Rape, Kidnapping, and Slavery

brindlecat's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Rape, Pregnancy, Slavery, and Kidnapping

takarakei's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

This book gave me Miyazaki vibes and I say that as someone who strongly dislikes the comparison of almost any book to his movies because I rarely agree. I was specifically thinking about Laputa a lot, but also bits of Howl's and Spirited Away.

Just really beautiful writing, very descriptive imagery that built a very lush and intriguing world. I am very excited to read the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Child death, and Blood

Moderate: Violence, Confinement, Kidnapping, Rape, and Slavery

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

rape/SA:

nothing descriptive or on page, but it is discussed as something that happened regularly in the past of this society under the gods