Strange The Dreamer | Laini Taylor

THE DREAM CHOOSES THE DREAMER, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND

and Lazlo Strange, a war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross held 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 or 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 be 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?

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Strange The Dreamer was published in March 2017 by Hodder & Stoughton. 

The one and only, Hachette kindly provided me a copy of this gorgeous novel in exchange for an honest review.

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FIRST OF ALL.

I MEAN!! LOOK HOW GORGEOUS THIS GODDAMN BEAUTIFUL BEAUTY IS!! I LEGITIMATELY CAN’T EVEN WITH THIS CREATION. It’s actually stunning. I AM SHOOK. THIS BOOK IS SO AESTHETICALLY PLEASING. I could look at it all day.

Strange The Dreamer was selected in March via poll over at The YA Room on twitter! And I was immediately thrilled to have such an amazing story win the popular vote. And I wasn’t surprised to see it win either. Much like our March selection, which was The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Strange The Dreamer has a lot of perfect tangents for discussion, which bought about amazing conversations during our twitter chat as well as our book meet on Sunday!

I thought this book was absolutely incredible. I loved the writing style! Taylor has a completely different way of writing. Her style is so whimsical and fantastical and quickly pulls the reader in with the poetic prose and set up of her stories. She can easily weave the most boring of events and twist it into the best experience of a lifetime. And I love that. The fact that her writing is so different is what makes Strange The Dreamer stand out among the crowd, just like her Daughter Of Smoke And Bone trilogy did – which I STILL need to finish.

Not only did the writing stand out, the story did too. The blurb was instantly eye-catching. And I’ve heard quite a few people say they expected a very different story. I went into this novel half blind, and came out of it wanting more and more and more. I’ve never read a story like this, and I loved the mythical aspects and always adore a story with gods and goddess and an adorable romance to go along side it.

The only issue I had with the novel was the world building, and Lazlo’s rambles. At some stages, I feel like the world building was almost lost with Lazlo’s thoughts and mini flash backs in to the past. At one particular point in the book, Taylor uses Lazlo to set up the history behind one of the side characters motives. She goes back and forth between the past and present to do this that I was slightly confused and had to ask for help – That said, once I was used to the world building and reached the conflict of the book, I found that it was much easier to keep up with the world of the novel. I definitely feel like if I had read the novel cover-to-cover everything would have flowed, and felt far more fluid.

Despite not being fully invested into Strange The Dreamer straight away, I think the ending, and the cliff hangers that came with it definitely raised the bar for me. Any doubts I had with the novel dispersed once I finished it. For the longest time, all I could think was “maybe this novel is just over-hyped after all”, but it quickly changed to “I NEED MUSE OF NIGHTMARES IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!“

I also accidentally fell in love with all of the characters. OPPS.

I gave this perfect blue novel a massive five stars. This book had me in tears of laughter and heartbreak. I thought it was incredibly well written and had a unique, and amazing story with plenty of gorgeous characters ready to join the readers for the wild ride that is Strange The Dreamer.

I would definitely recommend this to lovers of young adult and fantasy and are wanting something that just stands out from all the others.

I’m super excited for the sequel and honestly have so many theories for what might happen next. Taylor left me on the edge of my seat during the last hundred pages or so, and I haven’t stopped thinking about since I finished it.

I was so in love with Sarai, that for The YA Room book meet up, I created a make up look inspired by her! And my friends loved it! Even Laini Taylor saw it *heart eyes* *for days*

Before I finish up this post, I want to say a massive thank you to Date A Book (the YA Hub for Hachette AUS and NZ) for providing Sarah and I amazing goodies for The YA Room! Thank you so much for offering to make our booking meeting even more memorable!

We were sent an abundance of Date A Book bookmarks, which you make have seen floating around the pages of new releases, as well as a few magical sets of Lesya BlackBirdInk art stickers. These four stickers are limited edition and we were able to hand them out to those who came to our bookclub as well as snag a few for ourselves.

Art by Lesya BlackBirdInk 

Also shoutout to this gorgeous human, over here at thereadingberry,  who joined The YA Room on Sunday and gifted Sarah and I with these gorgeous watercolour bookmarks inspired by Strange The Dreamer!

I hope you loved  as much as I did!

Until next time~