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april_bm 's review for:
Strange the Dreamer
by Laini Taylor
I didn’t doubt that Laini Taylor would, again, sweep me off my feet into fantasyland because she’s just that good at world-building. This book was beyond any expectation I had. The world this takes place in: the storytelling, the narration, the plot, the dialogue—it’s all so good!
Strange the Dreamer covers a lot of real world issues but makes them digestible. It turns real world dilemmas into fantasy quests in need of conquering. It’s poetic how Laini does it: all of the problems she writes in her fantasy books are grounded in reality. Issues of race, skin colour, genocide, abuse, slavery, trauma—and all that it insinuates—hate, fear and even love. These are all present in the story. It takes a deep understanding of humanity to write about these things in the way Laini does. She makes them easy to read, especially for the average reader who isn’t necessarily looking for solutions to world issues in a fantasy book. Some might even read this book and miss its whole purpose: to highlight the realities of our world by reflecting it in a world not of our own. Its the tenets of such basic strategies for problem solving—so basic that we tend to overlook it: If you want to see objectively, then you have to look at things from a different perspective. Laini utilizes that strategy so well.
Strange the Dreamer tells the story of Lazlo Strange, and his story of self-discovery. It also tells the story of Sarai and her siblings; the trauma they’ve endured and the ways in which they’ve chosen to cope. Most importantly, it tells of the relationship between people who have experienced a troubled history—the fear and hate that abuse can breed, the amount of empathy it takes to forgive those who have hurt you, the strength and endurance needed to reclaim stolen power, and just how much love it really takes to make a positive difference.
Strange the Dreamer covers a lot of real world issues but makes them digestible. It turns real world dilemmas into fantasy quests in need of conquering. It’s poetic how Laini does it: all of the problems she writes in her fantasy books are grounded in reality. Issues of race, skin colour, genocide, abuse, slavery, trauma—and all that it insinuates—hate, fear and even love. These are all present in the story. It takes a deep understanding of humanity to write about these things in the way Laini does. She makes them easy to read, especially for the average reader who isn’t necessarily looking for solutions to world issues in a fantasy book. Some might even read this book and miss its whole purpose: to highlight the realities of our world by reflecting it in a world not of our own. Its the tenets of such basic strategies for problem solving—so basic that we tend to overlook it: If you want to see objectively, then you have to look at things from a different perspective. Laini utilizes that strategy so well.
Strange the Dreamer tells the story of Lazlo Strange, and his story of self-discovery. It also tells the story of Sarai and her siblings; the trauma they’ve endured and the ways in which they’ve chosen to cope. Most importantly, it tells of the relationship between people who have experienced a troubled history—the fear and hate that abuse can breed, the amount of empathy it takes to forgive those who have hurt you, the strength and endurance needed to reclaim stolen power, and just how much love it really takes to make a positive difference.