Review: Strange the Dreamer

Strange the Dreamer
by Laini Taylor
9780316341684
Age Range: 14 & up
Release Date: March 28, 2017
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Junior librarian Lazlo Strange has long been obsessed with the city of Weep. A mythical place cut off from the rest of the world, Weep is purely the stuff of legend. Even the city’s true name is lost. When the leader of Weep, a fierce warrior called Eril-Fane but known as the Godslayer, assembles a team and offers Lazlo the opportunity to see the long-lost city, the young man does not hesitate. Once in the mysterious place, he thinks all his dreams have come true, only to find that his actual dreams are soon filled with visits from a beautiful blue goddess. Wasn’t he told all the gods were dead?

Sarai isn’t supposed to exist. Known amongst her small family of “godspawn” as the Muse of Nightmares, she dutifully spends her evenings using her strange power to silently terrorize the sleeping citizens of Weep. When the Godslayer brings outsiders into the city, Sarai’s investigation of these strangers leads her to a mysterious boy whose curiosity and imagination outshines anything she’s ever seen. Sarai has only known war and terror, has been brought up on tales of fury and vengeance, but this outsider named Lazlo Strange is no fighter. He is certainly not a warrior. Strange is a reader. A learner. A dreamer.

Strange the Dreamer is an epic to sink your teeth into, and not only because of the page count. Laini Taylor (Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy) has brought to the table a complex tale of warriors and dreamers and malevolent gods; of libraries and alchemy and storytelling; of love and heartbreak and betrayal, all told in a lyrical prose simply overflowing with beauty, tragedy, and endless imagination. This is a breathtaking, goosebump-inducing fantasy, so rich it begs to be experienced time and time again. I also highly recommend listening to the audio version read by Steve West. It is a masterpiece.

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