RATING:⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

SYNOPSIS:

The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around–and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old, he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the form of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.

What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? And who is the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams?

In this sweeping and breathtaking novel by National Book Award finalist Laini Taylor, author of the New York Times bestselling Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy, the shadow of the past is as real as the ghosts who haunt the citadel of murdered gods. Fall into a mythical world of dread and wonder, moths and nightmares, love and carnage.

The answers await in Weep.

REVIEW (Spoiler Free):

Strange the Dreamer was absolute magic. I was speechless when I finished because it was so beautiful. Laini Taylor has the exceptional gifts of story telling and world building. Her writing is stunning. There is really nothing else like it. She literally writes magic! I really liked the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy but Strange the Dreamer blew me away. I don’t know how I can possible write a review that adequately describes how spectacular it is.

I don’t know how she does it, but once again Laini Taylor has built a beautiful world. The Unseen City is so creative and original. I had never read anything like it. I was completely immersed in this world. The atmosphere is whimsical, lyrical, and at times bleak. I wanted to savor every single moment. The characters and plot were completely unique. Lazlo and Sarai are excellent leads. I especially adore Lazlo because he is so kind, dorky, and a book lover! I loved reading both of their POVs. I truly felt like I was there with them, especially in the dream sequences. And Minya!? What a creepy and well-done antagonist! I love to hate her!!

The story is filled with magic, dreams and nightmares, gods and goddesses, godslayers, ghosts, romance, friendship, and moths! There also is the strong theme and message about race and how wrong it is to judge someone based on the color of their skin. This book was not only a fantastical story, but also can relate to our society. I love when authors are able to do this with their books.

The mystery, the love, and the messages of Strange the Dreamer are all phenomenal. I was hooked from the first line. It is a love letter to reading and book lovers everywhere. There is a quote in the book that says, “On the occasions that he did look up from the page, he would seem as though he were awakening from a dream.” I absolutely felt like I was in a dream while reading Strange the Dreamer. It took my breath away and I will carry this story with me forever. I cannot wait to read what happens next in Muse of Nightmares.

Thank you, Laini Taylor. You are a queen.

Favorite Quotes:

• “He read while he walked. He read while he ate. The other librarians suspected he somehow read while he slept, or perhaps didn’t sleep at all.”

• “You’re a storyteller. Dream up something wild and improbable,” she pleaded. “Something beautiful and full of monsters.” “Beautiful and full of monsters?” “All the best stories are.”

• “It was impossible, of course. But when did that ever stop any dreamer from dreaming.”

• “I think you’re a fairy tale. I think you’re magical, and brave, and exquisite. And I hope you’ll let me be in your story.”

• “Life won’t just happen to you boy, he said. You have to happen to it.”

• “I turned my nightmares into fireflies and caught them in a jar.”

• “He looked him right in the eyes and saw a man who was great and good and human, who had done extraordinary things and terrible things and been broken and reassembled as a shell, only then to do the bravest thing of all: He had kept on living, though there are easier paths to take.”

• “And they gazed at themselves in it, side by side and hand in hand, and they beheld neither gods nor monsters. They were so nearly unchanged, and yet that one thing – the color of their skin – would, in the real world, change everything.”