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A review by cbleyer
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
3.0
“On the second Sabbat of Twelthmoon, in the city of Weep, a girl from the sky… They would say she hadn’t shed blood but wept it.”
This was a great book, but it did draw on for a little long in my taste.
We are introduced to Lazlo Strange, an orphan who daydreams of a far away lost city, Weep.
“Lazlo was a dreamer in more profound a way than they knew. That is to say he had a dream- a guiding and abiding one, so much a part of him it was like a second souls inside his skin. The landscape of his mind was all given over to it. It was a deep and ravishing landscape, and a daring magnificent dream. Too daring, too magnificent for the likes of him. He knew that, but the dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around.”
Due to a storm 200 years ago and an arrival of gods, Weep is shadowed by a citadel.
We are introduced to five others, with powers, who live above Weep.
Feral- power of weather control
Ruby- power of fire
Sparrow- the power of growth of living things- the Orchid Witch
Minya- Harnessing and control of ghosts
Sarai- can travel inside and manipulate peoples dreams- Muse of Nightmares
They have one rule- they must betray no evidence of life
I hated Minya so much “She was a wild creature, by turns furtive and barging, even unwashed, and with the starting lack of empathy that belongs to murderers and small children.”
And then, the Godslayer, head of the Tizerkane warriors and former servant of Sarai’s goddess mother, who murdered all the gods and many children, turns out to be Sarai’s dad! And he thinks he killed her!
“Her father had saved his people and destroyed himself. As strong as he looked, inside he was a ruin, or perhaps a funeral pyre, like the Cusp- only instead of the melted bones of ijji, he was made up of the skeletons of babies and children, including, as he had always believed, his own child: her.”
“Hate was his triumph… It was who he became to save his wife and all his people. So much blood on his hands, so much hate in his hearts.”
Also, it is not know what happened to the thousands of children born half gods by the god and goddesses servants
Oh yeah, and then Sarai is dead?!!
Fun, Minya and Lazlo and siblings!!!!
And now Minya is blackmailing Lazlo
“The little girl held the threat of Sarai’s soul, and so she as good as hell the thread to his- and to his power, too.”
Quotes
“Because if Lazlo thought a dream could not be stolen, he underestimated Thyon Nero.”
“It was the first week of the Twelthmoon, on the far side of the Elmuthaleth, and Strange the dreamer- library stowaway and scholar of fairy tales- had never been thirstier, or more full of wonder.”
“Her consciousness had wings. She couldn’t fly, but it could. It was a kind of escape, but it mocked freedom. She was still a prisoner, a secret monster. But now she was a prisoner and secret monster who could spy on the life that she could never have.
“This is our city, that our foremothers and forefathers built on land consecrated by Thakra. We won’t forsake it. That is our sky, and we will have it back.”
“This young man whom they had found at a library in a distant land, whom they had taken into their hearts and into their homes, and whom they valued above any outsider that ever known, was also, impossibly, godspawn.”
Definitions-
Shrestha- When a dream comes true- but not for the dreamer.
Thakrar- The precise point on the spectrum of awe at which wonder turns to dread, or dread to wonder.
Muhal- A risk that will yield either tremendous reward or disastrous consequence.
Sathaz- The desire to possess that which can never be yours.
This was a great book, but it did draw on for a little long in my taste.
We are introduced to Lazlo Strange, an orphan who daydreams of a far away lost city, Weep.
“Lazlo was a dreamer in more profound a way than they knew. That is to say he had a dream- a guiding and abiding one, so much a part of him it was like a second souls inside his skin. The landscape of his mind was all given over to it. It was a deep and ravishing landscape, and a daring magnificent dream. Too daring, too magnificent for the likes of him. He knew that, but the dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around.”
Due to a storm 200 years ago and an arrival of gods, Weep is shadowed by a citadel.
We are introduced to five others, with powers, who live above Weep.
Feral- power of weather control
Ruby- power of fire
Sparrow- the power of growth of living things- the Orchid Witch
Minya- Harnessing and control of ghosts
Sarai- can travel inside and manipulate peoples dreams- Muse of Nightmares
They have one rule- they must betray no evidence of life
I hated Minya so much “She was a wild creature, by turns furtive and barging, even unwashed, and with the starting lack of empathy that belongs to murderers and small children.”
And then, the Godslayer, head of the Tizerkane warriors and former servant of Sarai’s goddess mother, who murdered all the gods and many children, turns out to be Sarai’s dad! And he thinks he killed her!
“Her father had saved his people and destroyed himself. As strong as he looked, inside he was a ruin, or perhaps a funeral pyre, like the Cusp- only instead of the melted bones of ijji, he was made up of the skeletons of babies and children, including, as he had always believed, his own child: her.”
“Hate was his triumph… It was who he became to save his wife and all his people. So much blood on his hands, so much hate in his hearts.”
Also, it is not know what happened to the thousands of children born half gods by the god and goddesses servants
Oh yeah, and then Sarai is dead?!!
Fun, Minya and Lazlo and siblings!!!!
And now Minya is blackmailing Lazlo
“The little girl held the threat of Sarai’s soul, and so she as good as hell the thread to his- and to his power, too.”
Quotes
“Because if Lazlo thought a dream could not be stolen, he underestimated Thyon Nero.”
“It was the first week of the Twelthmoon, on the far side of the Elmuthaleth, and Strange the dreamer- library stowaway and scholar of fairy tales- had never been thirstier, or more full of wonder.”
“Her consciousness had wings. She couldn’t fly, but it could. It was a kind of escape, but it mocked freedom. She was still a prisoner, a secret monster. But now she was a prisoner and secret monster who could spy on the life that she could never have.
“This is our city, that our foremothers and forefathers built on land consecrated by Thakra. We won’t forsake it. That is our sky, and we will have it back.”
“This young man whom they had found at a library in a distant land, whom they had taken into their hearts and into their homes, and whom they valued above any outsider that ever known, was also, impossibly, godspawn.”
Definitions-
Shrestha- When a dream comes true- but not for the dreamer.
Thakrar- The precise point on the spectrum of awe at which wonder turns to dread, or dread to wonder.
Muhal- A risk that will yield either tremendous reward or disastrous consequence.
Sathaz- The desire to possess that which can never be yours.