Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

41 reviews

sarah_cameron's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.75

A slow start but the characters were  interesting and well fleshed out. The last quarter was executed really well and brought my attention back to the book, excited to give the sequel a go! 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Bullying, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence

aidamaria_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

I’ve been wanting to read Strange the Dreamer for years now and it did not disappoint. It is wonderfully written, full of terrors and splendours and it made me Weep. Also, I hate to break it to all other fictional men but they can pack their bags: Lazlo Strange is the most beautiful protagonist I’ve ever encountered, both inside and out. I hope the second book will be just as good, although I suspect there to be a little less dreaming and a lot more drama (and imminent double heartbreak). Either way, I look forward to diving right back into Lazlo’s world as soon as I’ve emotionally recovered from the first part of the duology.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War

greatu's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Slavery

Minor: Blood

dariusmortee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

This book has exactly the vibe that I love in books. It’s the magical and fairy tail feel that I also found in The Night Circus and The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. It’s that wonder of the world. 
That wonder of there being more than we know and it’s what I’d wish I still could believe in. 

The writing is beautiful and although the plot is predictable, that didn’t annoy me with this one. When someone asks me again who would be the perfect book boyfriend my answer will be Lazlo Strange. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, Death, Murder, and Slavery

Minor: Rape

shoohoob's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

This book is….interesting. To preface, I did really enjoy reading it. Laini Taylor’s writing style is captivating and so beautifully written. She can turn a description of a turd into poetry if she wanted to. That being said, the book was over 500 pages long and the real action happened about 400 pages in. I found myself getting impatient with the characters and the development, and wanted the book to move faster. However, I don’t know that it could have been any shorter? I can’t wait to read the second book in the duology though! 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Death, Murder, Sexual content, and Torture

sr_readings's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad 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 don't know how this book, that for what I had heard before, had a lot of things that normally I'm not a fan of like slow plot,  flowery writing and insta love, made me get all teary eyes and ended up being a 5 star read for me.


 I went into this book knowing little of the plot, what I knew was that we have this male character, Lazlo, that is librarian and something about a lost city and that story is really whimsical..and all that is true what I didn't expect was the dark theme and hard hitting topics that are touched in this book from generation trauma, war,  and tragedy all that compacted in this flawless writing with a fairy-tale feel. 


Lazlo is really a character that you can't help but adore and Sarai a character that just broke my heart. There are characters that are neither heroes nore villains and ones that I just really couldn't help to dislike thoroughly.  


Beware the plot is slow, especially the first half,  but it picks up and hits you with an ending that really requires you to have the next book at hand.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Murder

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Genocide, Sexual content, and Xenophobia

Minor: Kidnapping, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

btg's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Taylor is clearly talented -- her prose includes absolutely gorgeous descriptions, and she's written one of the best romances I've written in a while. I have given this book a 4 instead of a 5, though; while the ending was heartbreaking and well done, I felt that it went too far for what I was hoping for. Hopefully the issue will be resolved in the next book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Murder, Slavery, Blood, and Genocide

A main character (who is young) and side character explicitly die at the end of the book, with descriptions of their blood. The backstory of the book involves a side character and several unnamed characters killing the children and several members of a race to free themselves from slavery; while the act itself is not described in detail, a viewpoint character overhears them and has a flashback. Many side characters imply bigoted views.

daydreamermoonwalker's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

3.75

The first half was really slow and I almost gave up on it, but the second half was so good that I'm glad I didn't. The characters are what really drew me in, they were very likeable and the romance was beautiful. So if you can get past the kinda boring parts and you love magic, interesting characters, great world building, evocative writing, and romance I highly recommend! (Honestly the second half of the book is a solid 4 stars and I'm definitely gonna read the sequel) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Murder, Rape, and Violence

whatevertheysay's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Death

Moderate: Child death, Slavery, Murder, Rape, and Violence