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lilifane's review against another edition
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.
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
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Slavery, Violence, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Genocide, and Racism
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, War, Rape, and Death of parent
c_serpent's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I am a sucker for a few things. One of them is a story about gods. But a story about a city tormented for 200 years by false gods? That then the Godslayer killed?
Please do tell me more.
I messaged my best friend at one point while reading this book (it's her favorite) and said, "I want to eat this book. Which is WEIRD but it's like it has a flavor." The voice in this novel is a gift. It is funny, moving, poetic, and taught me some new words. Ya girl was a former ~*~ gifted child ~*~ reader and still rates shamefully high on vocabulary quizzes, and I learned words, bruh. That takes some work.
Lazlo is a gift. Sarai is a gift. I would do terrible things in the name of love for Ruza. I want to be Calixte's best friend. I want to kick Thyon in the teeth and if I had words for how much I hate Minya, my mother wouldn't let me use them.
It's hard to find a novel written in poetic voice that doesn't overdo it or make things needlessly obscure. Nothing was needlessly obscure here, and the prose sang. Moreover, I don't trust many people to do omniscient third person, but Taylor pulls it off. It never felt weird or contrived to me. I think I was about 50% of the way through the book before I even realised it was third person omniscient. The twists weren't completely unforeseeable but nor were they so obvious that everything was boring. And I appreciate that kind of foreshadowing.
This book deals with heavy issues (as in literal sex trafficking and the murder of babies), but it does so bearably. This book could have been completely grimdark, and it wasn't, and I love it for that. It is laced through with hope. And even though it ended on a cliff-hanger that made me yell, I know everything will be okay, and that is, I think, one of the most endearing qualities a novel can have.
Two stars have been awarded for the poetic voice, a star has been awarded for Sarai's brave little pacifist soul, a star has been awarded for Eril-Fane's tears, and a star has been awarded to Lazlo and Ruza's banter about mushrooms. Then I took all the stars away and gave them all to Ruza, because wow. What a guy.
Total score: 5/5 stars
Please do tell me more.
I messaged my best friend at one point while reading this book (it's her favorite) and said, "I want to eat this book. Which is WEIRD but it's like it has a flavor." The voice in this novel is a gift. It is funny, moving, poetic, and taught me some new words. Ya girl was a former ~*~ gifted child ~*~ reader and still rates shamefully high on vocabulary quizzes, and I learned words, bruh. That takes some work.
Lazlo is a gift. Sarai is a gift. I would do terrible things in the name of love for Ruza. I want to be Calixte's best friend. I want to kick Thyon in the teeth and if I had words for how much I hate Minya, my mother wouldn't let me use them.
It's hard to find a novel written in poetic voice that doesn't overdo it or make things needlessly obscure. Nothing was needlessly obscure here, and the prose sang. Moreover, I don't trust many people to do omniscient third person, but Taylor pulls it off. It never felt weird or contrived to me. I think I was about 50% of the way through the book before I even realised it was third person omniscient. The twists weren't completely unforeseeable but nor were they so obvious that everything was boring. And I appreciate that kind of foreshadowing.
This book deals with heavy issues (as in literal sex trafficking and the murder of babies), but it does so bearably. This book could have been completely grimdark, and it wasn't, and I love it for that. It is laced through with hope. And even though it ended on a cliff-hanger that made me yell, I know everything will be okay, and that is, I think, one of the most endearing qualities a novel can have.
Two stars have been awarded for the poetic voice, a star has been awarded for Sarai's brave little pacifist soul, a star has been awarded for Eril-Fane's tears, and a star has been awarded to Lazlo and Ruza's banter about mushrooms. Then I took all the stars away and gave them all to Ruza, because wow. What a guy.
Total score: 5/5 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Child death, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Sexual assault, and Slavery
Moderate: Pregnancy and Confinement
panickedhonking's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Incest, Confinement, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Death, and Emotional abuse
traceyanderson's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Genocide, Sexual content, and Violence
literarypenguin'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
A wonderful and exquisite novel! How did it take me this long to pick up and read this book? If I would have known it would be this good I would have picked it up sooner. Strange The Dreamer is about Lazlo, an orphaned young man with big dreams and a caring personality. Ever since he was a boy growing up in a monastery he dreamed about visiting a long-forgotten city called Weep. For years he dreams this impossible dream until one moment comes along that makes that dream less impossible and more probable for Lazlo Strange. This book made me feel so special and full of wonder and excitement. The writing, the characters, the plot, everything was presented in such a way that made you feel happier as the story progressed. I now understand why people fell in love with this book and say it is one of their favorite books of all time. I can say that my expectations and everyone else’s were correct, this book met my expectations more than I thought. When the end of the book came I felt so sad because I wanted to know what happens next and what will become of the characters I grew to care about. I needed to know what happened. Hopefully, I will read the second book soon and not wait like I did this one!
The writing in Strange The Dreamer is beautiful, so well written and the attention to detail is impeccable! The way Laini Taylor wrote this book made you feel like you were there in the city of Weep, experiencing everything firsthand. The sights, the smells, and the tastes were all there waiting for the reader. The pace was very good, it wasn’t too slow or fast. It felt just right for the type of story that it was. It paid attention to a lot of details that I felt were important to the overall story and the plot. It stayed consistent throughout, going back and forth from two different points of view Sarai and Lazlo’s. The points of view were both equally important and towards the end, they both came together in a lovely and wonderful way. One thing I loved was how different both points of view were written, you could tell whose points of view you were reading because it fits their character very well.
Strange The Dreamer follows Lazlo, a shy librarian with big dreams in a world where he doesn’t quite belong, and Sarai, a young girl desperately trying to leave behind the dark shadow of her mother and her horrid gift. Both of these young people who want to find a place to belong come together to find solace in each other while trying to help a city move on from its dark past. The story was so captivating, it held me and kept me interested to the very last page! The story of a lost city needing help and in order to get that help they need a group of experts to save them. When they get there they discover more than they thought, a city with a deep and dark history that needs just as much help as the city itself. What I loved about the story was how you thought, in the beginning, it would be simple but then the more it goes on the more you learn and the more complicated and complex it becomes. You felt like Lazlo learning all of this for the first time and trying to understand it all but it still was filled with wonder and much more to explore!
Lazlo: Lazlo was such an amazing and relatable main character! He was shy, quiet, and usually liked to be by himself and not get involved too much. His caring and loyal attitude only made me love him more and not want anything to happen to him by the end! I still hope nothing happens to him in the second book! His personal journey in the book watching him grow into the man he becomes by the end is truly amazing!
Sarai: Sarai is a young girl with dark abilities and a dark shadow from her past looming over her for most of her life. She believes at first that people can’t be trusted but then with help from Lazlo slowly begins to trust people. She starts to see people for who they are and that her people are not the only ones who have suffered. Her acceptance of her magic and the person she is makes her a great female main character!
Minya: I hated Minya! I understood why she was filled with hate and violence but she still tormented others including her own family just to get what she wants. She doesn’t even do it herself she makes others do it for her. The way she torments people is heinous and her guise of being a small child only makes her more appalling and terrible.
The relationship between Sarai and Lazlo while it feels a bit insta love it is so sweet and heartwarming! Two people trying to find a place in this world come together to find safety and security with each other. Their love is inspiring and very deep.
The book takes place in a city called Weep, a beautiful hidden city above a large river surrounded by darkness because of a large statue overlooking the city. The Citadel once housed the Gods and Goddess the citizens of Weep once revered but then grew to fear. They want to take down the Citadel to free their city from darkness but find it much harder than they thought. The city itself was beautiful, you learned about their culture and how they treated one another. They had their own government and group of warriors called the Tizerkane. It may have looked beautiful on the outside but it held a lot of darkness and old wounds underneath its surface. It was more fantastical than the other cities in the world and was set apart from the rest.
Two major themes were present in the book, the first was leaving the shadow of our ancestors behind and trying to make our own legacy. We all have been in others’ shadows and have tried to escape them to carve our own paths in life. It can be extremely difficult especially when we have other voices telling us the opposite. The second was judging other people because of their skin color, or how they were raised. It brought up how old prejudices can still be relevant and can cloud our judgment of others. How hard it can be to let these prejudices go and move on from them. How it affects those being prejudiced as well and how it makes them begin to doubt themselves and what they can do in a world that hates them. I think these themes were handled very well and the Citadel hanging over the city of Weep was a great analogy to how our past sins will never truly go away and will hover over us for as long as we live.
In conclusion, I highly recommend Strange The Dreamer to anybody who loves an engaging and wonderful story with a loveable main character who finally achieves his dreams. I think this book is a great book all book lovers can relate to and even those who aren’t can too. Give this one a try and get lost in a dream of your own because nothing can stop a dreamer from dreaming!
The writing in Strange The Dreamer is beautiful, so well written and the attention to detail is impeccable! The way Laini Taylor wrote this book made you feel like you were there in the city of Weep, experiencing everything firsthand. The sights, the smells, and the tastes were all there waiting for the reader. The pace was very good, it wasn’t too slow or fast. It felt just right for the type of story that it was. It paid attention to a lot of details that I felt were important to the overall story and the plot. It stayed consistent throughout, going back and forth from two different points of view Sarai and Lazlo’s. The points of view were both equally important and towards the end, they both came together in a lovely and wonderful way. One thing I loved was how different both points of view were written, you could tell whose points of view you were reading because it fits their character very well.
Strange The Dreamer follows Lazlo, a shy librarian with big dreams in a world where he doesn’t quite belong, and Sarai, a young girl desperately trying to leave behind the dark shadow of her mother and her horrid gift. Both of these young people who want to find a place to belong come together to find solace in each other while trying to help a city move on from its dark past. The story was so captivating, it held me and kept me interested to the very last page! The story of a lost city needing help and in order to get that help they need a group of experts to save them. When they get there they discover more than they thought, a city with a deep and dark history that needs just as much help as the city itself. What I loved about the story was how you thought, in the beginning, it would be simple but then the more it goes on the more you learn and the more complicated and complex it becomes. You felt like Lazlo learning all of this for the first time and trying to understand it all but it still was filled with wonder and much more to explore!
Lazlo: Lazlo was such an amazing and relatable main character! He was shy, quiet, and usually liked to be by himself and not get involved too much. His caring and loyal attitude only made me love him more and not want anything to happen to him by the end! I still hope nothing happens to him in the second book! His personal journey in the book watching him grow into the man he becomes by the end is truly amazing!
Sarai: Sarai is a young girl with dark abilities and a dark shadow from her past looming over her for most of her life. She believes at first that people can’t be trusted but then with help from Lazlo slowly begins to trust people. She starts to see people for who they are and that her people are not the only ones who have suffered. Her acceptance of her magic and the person she is makes her a great female main character!
Minya: I hated Minya! I understood why she was filled with hate and violence but she still tormented others including her own family just to get what she wants. She doesn’t even do it herself she makes others do it for her. The way she torments people is heinous and her guise of being a small child only makes her more appalling and terrible.
The relationship between Sarai and Lazlo while it feels a bit insta love it is so sweet and heartwarming! Two people trying to find a place in this world come together to find safety and security with each other. Their love is inspiring and very deep.
The book takes place in a city called Weep, a beautiful hidden city above a large river surrounded by darkness because of a large statue overlooking the city. The Citadel once housed the Gods and Goddess the citizens of Weep once revered but then grew to fear. They want to take down the Citadel to free their city from darkness but find it much harder than they thought. The city itself was beautiful, you learned about their culture and how they treated one another. They had their own government and group of warriors called the Tizerkane. It may have looked beautiful on the outside but it held a lot of darkness and old wounds underneath its surface. It was more fantastical than the other cities in the world and was set apart from the rest.
Two major themes were present in the book, the first was leaving the shadow of our ancestors behind and trying to make our own legacy. We all have been in others’ shadows and have tried to escape them to carve our own paths in life. It can be extremely difficult especially when we have other voices telling us the opposite. The second was judging other people because of their skin color, or how they were raised. It brought up how old prejudices can still be relevant and can cloud our judgment of others. How hard it can be to let these prejudices go and move on from them. How it affects those being prejudiced as well and how it makes them begin to doubt themselves and what they can do in a world that hates them. I think these themes were handled very well and the Citadel hanging over the city of Weep was a great analogy to how our past sins will never truly go away and will hover over us for as long as we live.
In conclusion, I highly recommend Strange The Dreamer to anybody who loves an engaging and wonderful story with a loveable main character who finally achieves his dreams. I think this book is a great book all book lovers can relate to and even those who aren’t can too. Give this one a try and get lost in a dream of your own because nothing can stop a dreamer from dreaming!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Slavery
Minor: Sexual assault
jayisreading's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
2.5
I read this book years ago, around the time it was first published, and enjoyed it enough. Rereading it, I can’t quite figure out what it was that I enjoyed. I guess to focus on some of the strong components of this book, Taylor is incredible with words, maybe to the point that it’s a little too overindulgent in descriptions. I also like that the protagonist, Lazlo, is a relatively gentle figure, which I feel isn’t too common in YA fantasy. He’s definitely an introspective one, making it interesting for the reader to be in his head. Sarai, who I guess is the other protagonist, is also interesting, though I felt she was far less developed than Lazlo, making her sections a little less engaging.
I think I have mixed opinions about the worldbuilding. There’s a lot of it, but it also felt like it was more self-indulgent than anything. That being said, it’s very possible that more of it will be important in the sequel, which I haven’t read (and, admittedly, I don’t intend to). The book did end on a cliffhanger, so there’s a lot left to be desired.
So, that leads to what I didn’t like about the book, and, frankly, it was just the plot. It was too slow-paced, I couldn’t stay focused, especially when the prose went all over the place in descriptions. But what really didn’t work for me was the drastic change-in-pace to make room for an instant falling in love situation that came up around the halfway mark. It didn’t work for me and it kind of felt forced at times, but hey, it could just be me being a grump.
In defense of the book, I will say that I probably wasn’t in the right headspace to read a fantasy novel. If there’s a lot of worldbuilding (which is certainly the case with this book), I generally need some breathing room to digest everything and appreciate it. However, even if I was in the right headspace, I still think I wouldn’t have enjoyed it very much, which is what it is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Child death, and Grief
Moderate: Rape, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Genocide
annevivliohomme's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The mind that created the world of Mesarthim and the progression of events is a truly wonderful mind. However, the language used to describe the world and its characters' thoughts struck a nerve: it was difficult to get used to, and even more difficult to be unbothered by the occasional pretentious air. In addition to this there is a section of the story which gave me a genuine reason to be bothered. The theft and assault of young inhabitants was unsettling, and this violence never felt truly acknowledged because it was largely unspoken of, and often only hinted to. It was mentioned casually, as if it were expected of this world, and thereby lost its gravity and respect.
Last of all, there was a certain romantic relationship which added nothing to the story, nothing to the characters, but instead added a feeling of discomfort. (it gave me the icks if I'm being honest) Two-dimensionality does not disappear after a sex scene, especially not if one of the characters is 15 years old.
Last of all, there was a certain romantic relationship which added nothing to the story, nothing to the characters, but instead added a feeling of discomfort. (it gave me the icks if I'm being honest) Two-dimensionality does not disappear after a sex scene, especially not if one of the characters is 15 years old.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Child death, and Sexual assault
Minor: Slavery
lanid's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Death, Genocide, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, and Slavery
maeverose's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Things I liked:
The story was fun. The writing is super pretty and atmospheric. So many quotes i wanted to highlight. It was very easy for me to imagine what was being described, and i loved that. I like Lazlo a lot as a character. I like anything to do with dreams so I loved that that was a big part of the story.
Things I didn’t like:
Sarai’s chapters/the citadel chapters felt super repetitive, at least in the beginning. I was often pretty bored during those chapters. As much as I love the writing, it is overwritten at times. I think this book should’ve been about 100 pages shorter, the pacing is very slow for most of it. Also the reveals were pretty predictable but I guess that’s not super surprising for YA. It’s also very instalove. Very mild spoilers for this next part (it doesn’t have to do with the main romance, just side characters): I didn’t like the non consensual kiss played off as funny because it was a girl doing it to a guy. If the roles were reversed I don’t think it would’ve gone down the same… It’s still sexual assault no matter who’s doing it. And then when it happens again later it was still very dubious consent at first. Idk it made me feel gross.
I hate everything about that ending. I hate minya so much. Please tell me she dies a painful death in the next book. And that sparrow is able to bring sarai back to her body with her powers and then sarai and lazlo get to live happily ever after. If that doesn’t happen I’m suing. /j
The story was fun. The writing is super pretty and atmospheric. So many quotes i wanted to highlight. It was very easy for me to imagine what was being described, and i loved that. I like Lazlo a lot as a character. I like anything to do with dreams so I loved that that was a big part of the story.
Things I didn’t like:
Sarai’s chapters/the citadel chapters felt super repetitive, at least in the beginning. I was often pretty bored during those chapters. As much as I love the writing, it is overwritten at times. I think this book should’ve been about 100 pages shorter, the pacing is very slow for most of it. Also the reveals were pretty predictable but I guess that’s not super surprising for YA. It’s also very instalove. Very mild spoilers for this next part (it doesn’t have to do with the main romance, just side characters): I didn’t like the non consensual kiss played off as funny because it was a girl doing it to a guy. If the roles were reversed I don’t think it would’ve gone down the same… It’s still sexual assault no matter who’s doing it. And then when it happens again later it was still very dubious consent at first. Idk it made me feel gross.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Blood, Child death, Death, Rape, Slavery, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Gore, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
There was frequent mention of female fertility and ‘becoming a woman’ once you bleed. Personally it made me uncomfortable, as an afab non binary person with zero desire to ever get pregnant.quasinaut's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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
4.75
I bounced off this book a few years ago, but I'm so glad I came back to it. The first quarter of the book, though beautifully written and necessary to ground the story, is definitely slower! Once the journey truly starts, I was caught up in this fascinating and devastating story. I love the value placed on storytelling and fairy tales, the exploration of grief and vengeance, the combination of practical and mystical.
I can't wait to read Muse of Nightmares -- while also scared at how much it will destroy me!
I can't wait to read Muse of Nightmares -- while also scared at how much it will destroy me!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Violence, Slavery, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death
Minor: Sexual content, Rape, and Pregnancy