DNF @ 20%

Although the writing is pretty and I generally like the characters, this book is absolutely not holding my attention. I've read over 100 pages and I'm just emotionally unattached. Reading Strange the Dreamer feels more like a chore at the moment so I'm DNFing it. Maybe I'll try picking it back up again in the future.

A lushly written fantasy that should appeal to fans of books, librarians, magical worlds and epic romance. Excellent writing from Taylor, as always.

BLOWN AWAY. Laini never fails to create gorgeous worlds and indelible characters. Improves even more upon a second read.

I keep trying this book and I keep stopping. I cannot seem to get into the storyline at all. I'm a mood reader so I'm not sure if that is the issue or this book is just not for me.

** spoiler alert **

WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW

I was honestly blown away by this because I went into it knowing nothing. Also Laini Taylor books have notoriously ridiculous world-building and so I'm impressed I got into it as quickly as I did. Honestly I think it came down to LAZLO FREAKING STRANGE SWEET JESUS HE IS ADORABLE

List of things I didn't like about this book:
-only 1 queer couple
-#predictable (like i was shocked at how easily i predicted things)
-SHE DID NOT DESERVE THAT AT ALL
-minya aka she's a b*tch and i hate her
-a lot of the races are just described as "brown" and i don't know what that means? if that's meant to be inclusive of POC i feel like it could've been done waaaayyyy better (also i pictured them as indigenous people? is that accurate or nah?)
-too much kissing (but that's no one's fault but my own so carry on)
-thyon. how the heck do you even say that (thee-on?)

List of things I loved about this book:
-LAZLOOOOO MY SWEET BABY CHILD CINNAMON ROLL WHO I WILL PROTECT UNTIL I DIE
-Sarai even though I didn't think I liked her that much I'm still mad bc she did not deserve that AT ALL even though it was basically revealed at the beginning like BOO YOU LAINI TAYLOR
-the world/plot - it reminded me of like if miyazaki did road to el dorado & atlantis?
-writing was on point as always
-IT FREAKING MAKES ME THINK OF DREAMS OF GODS AND MONSTERS AND I LOWKEY HOPE SHE CONNECTS THE SERIES AT THE END BC WHAT IF
-literally all the people of weep - they're so CUTE AND SWEET
-did i mention lazlo he is my favorite
-honestly the whole opening of the book with lazlo was great bc he got so trodden on by thyon and then HE FINALLY STANDS UP FOR HIMSELF AND GETS HIS DREAM


WHAT IS THE WRAITH
DOES THIS CONNECT WITH DOGAM
WHY IS LAINI TAYLOR SO OBSESSED WITH GODS AND SERAPHIM AND MONSTERS AND MOTHS
WHO IS GONNA KILL MINYA
WILL E-F EVER GET TO TALK TO SARAI AND BE FORGIVEN
to be continued my friends

I can't even explain to you how excited I was to learn that Laini Taylor had written a new book. I absolutely adore her writing, and her ability to tell completely engrossing and complex stories. If you haven't read LIPS TOUCH THREE TIMES, or her DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE series, I highly recommend getting on that right now!

I'll admit that it took me a bit to really get into STRANGE THE DREAMER, but that isn't unusual for me. That said, I loved the writing from the start. Laini's ability to craft beautiful sentences is unquestionable. But it's her genius at creating captivating worlds with complicated characters that truly captures me.

One of the things that Laini does that I absolutely love, is blurring the idea of good vs. evil. There is no right side or wrong side, or I should say, those things aren't exactly what you normally see in stories. Both sides have people who are good, and who are bad. Everyone has a history and valid reasons that have brought them to the place they are now.

Lazlo and Sarai are fantastic and unique characters. Their stories begin so differently, but the way they come to know each other is out of their similar desire to look beyond what the people around them are saying and to find the truth. The history of Weep is tragic and horrifying. There are truly monstrous people on both sides of that tragedy. So many of the characters are both victim and perpetrator. But there is also beauty and hope in Weep, and the journey to that is the thing that binds Lazlo and Sarai. Oh, and the kissing :) Laini gets an A++ in writing kissing scenes!

STRANGE THE DREAMER is a mystical, magical, stunning, and, yes . . . strange, adventure, full of imagination, romance and mystery. I can't wait to read more of this amazing world.

"It was impossible, of course. But when did that ever stop any dreamer from dreaming?

Did not finish at 48%
I'm disappointed that I couldn't finish this one. I tried SO hard to keep reading but it just wasn't clicking with me. The writing was really pretty and the descriptions fantastic but I found the pacing much too slow for what I need.

I finished this book two weeks ago, and it’s taken me this long to have anything articulate to say about it. What I wanted my original review to say was “AHHHARGHAHHHHHHHHH HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WAIT FOR THE NEXT BOOK NOW?!?! WHAT IS GOING TO BECOME OF ME??? HOW WILL I GO ON?!?! WHY IS THIS BOOK SO SHORT?!?!?! MORE NOW PLEASE!” But that didn’t seem very professional. Also, this book is actually very long, so I felt leaving my review at that would be misleading.

But the thing is, Strange the Dreamer doesn’t feel like a long book. It feels like a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it kind of book. It’s just this magical little enigma that you never want to end. I seriously don’t know what to do with myself now that I’ve finished it. Are there any Strange the Dreamer recovery groups out there? Something I can join so that I can get through this tumultuous period between books in one semi-coherent piece? If you find one, or if you’re interested in starting one, let me know.

Because WOW. Just WOW. This book is absolutely perfect and if you love fantasy, magic, or books in general then you HAVE to pick this book up purely on principle. It’s such a beautiful ode to readers and dreamers, and you will fall head-over-heels in love with Lazlo Strange immediately. He is such a fantastic protagonist, because there is never a moment you aren’t rooting for him. I wanted nothing but good things for Lazlo, and I just wept every time something bad happened to him. Because after like 3 pages I was severely attached and so lost in this mythical world that I could no distinguish between real life and the story. And that’s the real beauty of this book – you will lose yourself in it, forget your life for a few hours, and escape into a wondrous and unbelievable world made manifest by Laini Taylor’s exquisite prose.

Every single character is remarkable – from Lazlo, who is just a darling to Sarai, with her compassion and humanity and clarity to of mind, all the way to Minja, who is just absolutely PSYCHO but has a really good reason to be but still I can’t get over how psycho she is – there is a character here for everyone to like/love/lust after/hate/be confused by/etc. etc. It’s a complex masterpiece, is what I’m trying to say, and I you will love it so you should probably stop reading this and go pick it up right now.

Oh, and THAT ENDING. I can’t talk about it. But I NEED to talk about it. Because it’s traumatic and perfect and a cliffhanger and oh my gosh I just need the sequel in my hands yesterday.

Rating: 5+/5 stars

Strange the Dreamer is one of my most anticipated reads of 2017. Not surprising given that I adore Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke & Bone series. I read everything she writes since she writes pure magic. Now, let’s get on with the review!

Lazlo Strange is a orphan, a librarian, a gentle soul and a dreamer. He has dreamed his entire life about the lost city of Weep, that “disappeared” from books, trade and memory, except for him. Lazlo made it his life’s work to read and document everything related to Weep until one day, he had the opportunity to get out of the library and travel there to unravel a 200 year old mystery. I loved Lazlo. He’s not handsome, he’s humble, genuinely caring, without guile, with an immense imagination, beloved by most people that care to know him.

“Strange the dreamer,” they called him. “That dreamer, Strange.” And it didn’t help that he sometimes walked into walls while reading, or that his favorite books hailed from dusty sublevel where no one else cared to go.”

It is hard to explain who Sarai is without spoiling too much of the story. Let’s just say that she’s blue, and she has magic. It is in Lazlo’s very vivid and incredible dreams that they meet each other. Sarai is special and has lived all her life isolated from the real world, but in the company of three sisters and a brother. I learned to like Sarai as she learned to forgive and know herself.

Sarai and Lazlo’s relationship – in dreams, as it where – is a thing of magic (pun intended). They are both so loved starved. They crave intimacy, friendship, contact with others, trust… that is not a wonder that it develops kind of fast. It’s believable, and very real to them.

Strange the Dreamer is a YA, but an older YA. That is to say, that there are terrible things that happened in the city of Weep, but I think that all in all, Laini Taylor handled it with care and respect. The writing is amazing, as it is to be expected from her. Lyrical, enthralling, breathtaking, magical.

“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.”

The only thing that I didn’t love about the book is the pace. Sometimes I felt how long the book was, not that it wasn’t interesting, but a bit slow at times. The ending, however was brutal. So many things happened in the last 10% of the book, most of them I didn’t see coming and some of them left me with my mouth hanging wide open. No exactly a cliffhanger, but rather an unbearable suspense.

“Like nightmares, dreams were insidious things, and didn’t like being locked away.”

Overall, Strange the Dreamer is a marvelous story of love and hate, oppression, a quest for freedom, the search of knowledge. Of magic, gods, slaves, impossibility, monsters and beauty. Marvelous.

The first in Laini Taylor's highly anticipated duology is so gorgeously written and wholly unique that I was utterly charmed. Blending together elements of mythology, folklore, and the Renaissance period with a lush Middle-Eastern-esque setting made for beautiful imagery and a reading experience unlike any other.

Part of the magic and allure of STRANGE THE DREAMER is the slow reveal of the mysteries surrounding the mythical city of Weep and learning alongside Lazlo Strange what happened to this city and its people. Taylor reveals the city's dark past in a deliberate and descriptive slow burn, lulling the reader with beautiful imagery and so many quotable passages, my heart was filled with joy.

And so Grief and Shame abided in adjoining rooms with the door shut between them, holding their pain in their arms in stead of each other.

The prologue of the book will draw you in with the image of a girl with blue skin falling from the sky to her death. It set the tone for the whole book with hints of the magic and the dark ominous otherness this end brought.

On the second Sabbot of Twelfthmoon, in the city of Weep, a girl fell from the sky.
Her skin was blue, her blood was red.
She broke over an iron gate, crimping it on impact, and there she hung, impossibly arched, graceful as a temple dancer swooning on a lover's arm.

I can't remember the last time I read a young adult fantasy series that was almost entirely narrated in a male perspective. Lazlo Strange is a character that I won't soon forget. He's both a resilient character and an unlikely hero who, throughout the book, goes through great character growth. Honor and the desire to do the right thing radiates from him, which will endear you to him instantly. Raised by monks and then later escaping to live in a library as a librarian to scholars, he has come from small, humble beginnings. His life changes drastically in this book in more ways than one. He learns who he is and experiences the feeling of falling in love.

"I think you're a fairy tale. I think you're magical, and brave, and exquisite. And..." His voice grew bashful. Only in a dream could he be so bold and speak such words. "I hope you'll let me be in your story."

When Lazlo makes it to the city of his dreams he meets a girl, who isn't like him or anyone else, but in true star-crossed romance fashion he can see her only in his dreams and has never actually touched her. I don't want to give much away but I absolutely enjoyed watching her and Lazlo fall in love.

Despite all of my accolades, this book was one that I could put down (and could put it down often). While it was so beautifully written, the pacing stalled multiple times throughout. Sometimes I felt like I had been reading for hours but it had only been a short time.

Taylor spends an exorbitant of the story laying a solid foundation for the world and building the characters' backstory. While I appreciated these very crucial elements immensely, I felt like what was sacrificed here was a rhythm and drive to the story to propel it forward in a more compelling way. I've read other lengthy fantasy reads that didn't have the feeling of being long and draggy. This one felt long. And as much as I loved Lazlo and fell in love with the story as a whole, I didn't love how long it took me to feel attached to this one.

* Thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for sending me an early copy for review.

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

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?

Strange the Dreamer is haunting, lingering. Lyrical and impossible. The journey of a lifetime for a dreamer such as Lazlo Strange, one he yearned for but never thought it would come true. Until it did.

Lazlo is lost and alone. Abandoned as an infant, raised in an abbey and a library, all he ever had was what he could dream. Something more than his life as an orphan. Something like his true name. But no one was there to tell it to him. And so he dreamed and he wondered, he wrote book after book of possibilities after reading book after book on the lost city called Weep. He knew something was there, something that stirred him up inside. but how would he ever find the chance to leave the library and find out the truth? He's curious and passionate, questioning, a definite romantic, but it leaves him blind. Who is Lazlo Strange?

The city called Weep is a curious place. Covered in shadow and secret, in theft, in missing memories and haunted dreams. What is the truth behind what happened two hundred years ago when the city went quiet? Or what happened fifteen years ago when a name was ripped from everyone's minds? This is a city of ghosts, ghosts of loved ones and ghosts of love. Of gods, their desires, and what grows from them.

Reading this was like watching someone put a puzzle together. Seeing the pieces laid out, separate and unconnected. Lazlo, Thyon Nero, the Godslayer. The city called Weep. The blue-skinned goddess. Seeing the pieces come together, reveal the secrets and the truths lost and forgotten. While reading this I couldn't shake these overwhelming feelings. Sorrow and despair. Fear. A deep-seated craving for the truth, for a place to be. At the beginning I didn't know what would happen, and now at the end I can't wait to wonder what will happen next. I'm certain that fans of Laini Taylor's previous books will devour this.

Beautifully written, and utterly mesmerizing. Laini Taylor proves once again that I will read anything she writes. I'm pretty sure I say this about all of her newest releases, but this just may be her best book yet. I couldn't devour this book fast enough.

Strange the Dreamer is one of those books that effortlessly pulls you into it's entangling, magical world, and ensnares you with it's poetic like writing style. While I normally like to talk about the characters and specific aspects of the book, all I want to talk about is Taylor's writing. It is beautiful. Her vivid descriptions effortlessly bring every aspect of this book to life. I am in love with the writing of this book. I wanted to crawl into this book, and hang out in far longer than it took me to read it.

Taylor has a way of making it incredibly easy to visualize all of the details of her book. From her rich world building to her complex characters, and everything in between. I loved it. I wanted more. I couldn't read it fast enough, yet I wanted to take my time and savor everything I was reading. Taylor's writing is addictive.

True to a Taylor's writing style, this book is not without unforgettable characters, rich world building, romance, magic, friendship, intrigue, heartache, danger, revenge, forgiveness, and destruction. The way she writes and infuses these elements together is heartbreakingly beautifully. It leaves you feeling satisfied, and wanting more all at the same time.

My word, I hope Taylor never stops writing. I did not want this book to end. This is one book that I'd definitely recommend picking up.

f words are magic, then Strange the Dreamer is the closest I've come to tasting it.

Strange the Dreamer is the tale of Lazlo Strange, an orphan who grew up in a monastery and escaped to the great Library of Zosma and became a librarian. He has dreamt of Weep, the mythical and magical lost city, his entire life and has chronicled everything he has come across in the massive library. When the Godslayer arrives at Zosma, he refuses to lose his opportunity to witness his life's dream. However, something happened 200 years ago that cut the city off, and all the answers lie in Weep.

How do I express into words all the things that this book made me feel?

Laini Taylor has a talent for painting worlds with her words. The world in Strange the Dreamer feels massive, without losing the imagery and the sheer wonder for the world that we see through Lazlo's eyes. It's beautiful and terrible and it feels so real.

The novel shifts through different points of view of the characters within the novel seamlessly just like in her previous novels. However, this novel mainly focuses on the points of view of Lazlo and the mysterious blue-skinned goddess. It definitely helps since we are able to empathise with both sides and really understand the full situation. I have a lot of feelings for these characters.

There were points where I didn't know where the plot was heading, especially as I found myself towards the end of the novel. How was this book going to resolve? I didn't care too much since I was so invested in the characters and the world. I was mildly concerned that the ending would be too rushed, but I didn't find it to be so. However, there is a literal "TO BE CONTINUED" at the end and I need book 2 now, because that ending. THAT ENDING.

I'm not mentioning much about the story itself because I want you to discover the world and be as enamoured with it as I am as it unravelled in the novel. That, and I don't think I could do it justice with my words.

Strange the Dreamer is a gorgeous fantasy novel with a vast world filled with love, treachery, a lost city and fallen gods. I already knew that I would love this novel and it has only exceeded my extraordinarily high expectations.

You cant go wrong with Laini Taylors writing. Her stories are just so enchanting and unique. I remember loving the beautiful writing in the Daugther of Smoke and Bone trilogy and how it got a lot darker then I expected. Laini isnt afraid of crushing your heart and making you feel the desparation of a no win situation. Im not one to get the feels easily but her stories always pull on my heart strings. Strange the Dreamer was no exception. I just wanted to give the characters a big hug.

I didnt think Laini Taylor could make another world about gods and monsters and not have it be repetitive but she did. The world was imaginative and fascinating. Theres all kinds a made up creatures, stories and myths. The people in this world have veins filled with not only blood but veins filled with a clear substance called spirit. Pumped by a second heart, spirit is the source of vitality and passion. The way spirit was mentionned at first I thought it was another one of Laini Taylors beautiful metaphors.

At first I enjoyed Lazlo, also known as Strange the Dreamers, perspective a lot more then Sarais but as the story progressed Sarais perspective got more interesting. Lazlos passion for books was easy to relate to and I thought his journey was compelling. I thought he was well developped and had a wonderful character arc. I really enjoyed the star crossed romance. I also loved his interactions with his mentor. His mentors advice about women was funny and I would have loved it if he came along.

It took me about half of the book to warm up to Sarai and the characters in her point of view. I did enjoy the magical aspect of Sarais, the Muse of Nightmares, perspective but it took me a couple chapters to understand who she was and what was going on. One thing I didnt understand was if the moths can move the shade on the light then they can certainly grab a couple seeds to grow food without looking suspicious. I liked how the children all had distinctive personalities. I thought Minya was and entertaining character but she was also vindictive and cruel.

I felt for Eril-Fane the Godslayer and Azareens PTSD but I dont know how they were able to justify some of the murders. Since Lazlo an orphan I thought the motherly dynamic Suheylas (Eril-Fanes mother) had with Lazlo was heart warming. I didnt like the Prince, especially when he tried to steal Lazlos dream but I appreciated knowing his motivation for acting the way he does. I loved that there was a lesbian relationship but I was disapointed that there was barely any time spent with the characters.

It took me a few chapters to get into the story and get use to the pacing. Once I did I thought the pacing created a dreamy atmosphere but sometimes it felt a little too slow. It took me a lot longer to finish. I even started skimming when they were dreaming. The beautiful descriptions didnt feel necessary to the plot. I would have rather spent time with some of the side characters, like Calixte and Tzara. I was disapointed when I was able to pick up on the forshadowing and predict the twist, but it was a cool twist.

(Will post on amazon on pub. day)

This is not a review. I didn't request this title, but since I clicked the link it added it to my shelf, and sending my opinion is the only way I can remove it.