Title: Strange The Dreamer
Series: Strange The Dreamer #1
Author: Laini Taylor
Publication Date: March 28th, 2017
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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 person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance to lose his dream forever.
What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?
The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries - including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo's dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? And if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?
Review
(Nts: I finished this book months ago and found a half written review, which I tried really hard to complete, true to what I remembered about reading it)
Strange The Dreamer completely obliterated my expectations for it. I’m well aware of how well Laini Taylor excels in writing, with her series Daughter of Smoke and Bone being one of my favourite reads. I went into STD expecting it to be a great read, but finished it in awe and am so excited for the series to come.
Taylor has a way with her words, which reflects in strong characters, world building and plot development. She writes in prose, painting a stunningly realistic world alongside creating a whirlwind of emotions that had me invested in the entire story from start to finish. What I really love, which Taylor did amazingly well, was give each character a voice of their own, no matter how major or minor their role was. They each had their own characteristics, and I found that I was invested in some, if not most, of the characters own progression. It was great to see that most of them had their own background story, to create depth to the story and make the characters come to life. It was easy to relate to them and attach myself emotionally.
The world building in STD is absolutely genius! Taylor has created a rather expansive world with so much detail around each city including the people, their history and the culture within them - I could really envision each city and map them out to be part of an actual world. She built such a rich history around the world and the cities in it that it almost felt like I was reading about places that truly existed many years ago. This also reflected in the plot development, with Taylor producing such a complex but completely mind-blowing story. The novel is based around magic and mythical tales. Taylor’s whimsical and lyrical writing is the perfect accompaniment to make everything seem believable. Alongside that is her ability to explore worldly aspects including war, love, hate and discrimination to deliver powerful messages alongside her story.
I haven’t finished a book within a day in awhile, but STD was so engaging and compelling, I had to keep reading. The one thing I would be a little nit picky about is that the ending focused a little too much on romance, which made the mystery and character developments take a back seat for a tiny bit. As a whole though, Strange The Dreamer delivered an excellent read - well thought out, with immense detail to visualise every moment of the novel, paced perfectly and delivering an ending that had me shocked. I cannot wait for the sequel!
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