Strange the Dreamer

August 2017 Wrap-Up (Part 2)

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Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
(Strange the Dreamer, book 1)
Rating:  ★★★★★
Review:  Yes
Reading Dates:  August 18 – 25
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Lazlo’s love of and respect for books and stories.
Least Favorite Thing:  Thyon Nero’s love of and respect for nothing. (The little prick.)

I spent 1/4 of my time reading this book going back and forth checking the prologue against things I learned to try and brace myself for the inevitable utter fucking heartbreak of the ending!

Trigger Warning:  Descriptions of the Carnage include the murder of infants. It doesn’t go into gory detail, it’s a little more abstract, but it’s still vivid and mentioned many times.

My Posts About Strange the Dreamer

Specials by Scott Westerfeld
(Uglies, book 3)
Rating:  ★★★★☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  August 16 – 27
Read Count:  2  (I really think I read this one other time, but I haven’t got a record of it…)
Favorite Thing:  Special Tally’s Special skillz!
Least Favorite Thing:  The way Shay treats Tally…

Raise your hand if you want to be a little teen angst Special!
No? Just me? Well then…

Seriously though, the Specials are so cool, if only they weren’t Like That (looking at you Shay!). I honestly wouldn’t mind a whole separate book that’s just Tally’s adventures as a lone Special.

Trigger Warning:  Self-harm (cutting, some passing mention of burning). Only one character really treats it like it’s a bad thing, everyone else treats it as normal and/or good for the majority of the book.

My Posts About Specials

Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt
(The Tillerman Cycle, book 1)
Rating:  ★★★★☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  August 28 – 29
Read Count:  3
Favorite Thing:  “Parents?” “Not noticeably.”
Least Favorite Thing:  Eunice…

I missed this series so much! I’m sitting here now (having just finished it) with a warm, fuzzy contentment that only the most special books give me. Thank goodness for Cynthia Voigt.

My Posts About Homecoming

The Cursed Queen by Sarah Fine
(The Impostor Queen, book 2)
Rating:  ★★★☆☆
Review:  Yes
Reading Dates:  August 29 – 31
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Scrappy little (bisexual) protag 🙂
Least Favorite Thing:  Kill marks… (Why does every author feel the need to have a raider race that cuts themselves as a mark of honor? Can we stop that?)

This one was better than the first book. Somewhat less predictable, less annoying protag, more interesting people around the protag.

Trigger Warning: Self-harm (cutting). The protag glorifies it along with pretty much everyone else in her tribe, but towards the end of the book she seems to have realized it’s not a good thing. However, it is never explicitly decried.

My Posts About The Cursed Queen

Ash by Malinda Lo
Rating:  ★★★☆☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  August 31
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  The Fairy Tales
Least Favorite Thing:  Lady Isobel (duh)

I’m not 100% sure how to feel about this book. That is, I liked it, it’s a nice story, but it’s not what I was expecting. I’ll try to review it soon.

My Posts About Ash

In Progress

WWW Wednesday: August 30, 2017

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Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and revived on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three W’s!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading:  The Cursed Queen (The Impostor Queen, book 2) by Sarah Fine
I’m not loving the way cutting is being addressed so far, but I’m only in the first chapter. I hope this book will turn out to not glorify self-harm…

That aside, I’m definitely looking forward to learning more about the world outside Kupari. When I was reading the first one I found myself wondering what the rest of the world must think of them.

I don’t know if I will struggle with this book, but if I do, I have Dicey’s Song, the second in the Tillerman Cycle, to reread alongside this.

Recently Finished:  Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer, book 1) by Laini Taylor
I loved this book! It hurt me a little, but I forgive it because the story was so lovely and enjoyable.

The problem with loving this book though? Now I have to wait ages for the next one to find out what on earth happens to all those beloved characters! I’m so worried about them!

Actually, reading this one has me wanting to reread Laini’s other books, so I grabbed them from the library too.

I actually managed to write a review for Strange, which can be read here.

Specials (Uglies, book 3) by Scott Westerfeld
This whole series is so easy to breeze through, I’m glad I chose to reread it.

I very much wish I could be a special, only I hope they wouldn’t adjust my brain because I already have problems with anger management and impulse control!

I still don’t know if I want to reread Extras (book 4), but I might…

Trigger Warning:  Self-harm (cutting, some passing mention of burning). Only one character really treats it like it’s a bad thing, everyone else treats it as normal and/or good for the majority of the book.

Homecoming (The Tillerman Cycle, book 1) by Cynthia Voigt
I honestly didn’t intend to read this so quickly. I meant to read it in-between reading The Cursed Queen, but once I started I couldn’t read anything else until I’d finished it. And I also couldn’t bring myself to put it down for any significant amount of time.

There is some indescribable quality in Cynthia Voigt’s books that always leaves me feeling great and looking at the world in a very specific way (that also happens to be indescribable). It’s really so enjoyable.

I also really love the Tillermans. I feel, and have felt since the first time I ever read this book, like they are somehow my family too.

Reading Next:  Ash by Malinda Lo
I’ve had this one from the library for a while, long enough that I can’t remember when I got it, so I think it’s time to actually read it! I always love a fairytale retelling.

I’ve heard good things on tumblr so I’m fairly confident going in that this will be a decent book. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing where Lo has taken the classic Cinderella story. I’m also especially excited at the prospect of a non-heterosexual protagonist. YA Fantasy is my favorite genre and it’s so rare to find queer representation in it so the existence of this book is already refreshing.

Review: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

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In the aftermath of a war between gods and men, a hero, a librarian, and a goddess’ daughter must battle the fantastical elements of a mysterious city stripped of its name.

Rating:  ★★★★★ – it was amazing
Genre:  young adult fiction, ya fantasy
Pros:  beautifully written, bibliophile mc, fascinating world, banter!
Cons:  triggering Carnage descriptions, could use more diversity, no pronunciation guide

Trigger Warning:  Descriptions of the Carnage include the death of infants. It doesn’t go into gory detail, it’s a little more abstract, but it’s still vivid and mentioned many times.

The world of Strange the Dreamer is interesting and dynamic. I found myself wishing to know more about the history and customs — of Weep especially, but all the other kingdoms, too. I’d love to have several more novels set there (about literally anything) so I could just live in this universe longer.

The writing is beautiful. It’s been a little while since I read one of Laini’s books so, while I remembered I liked her writing, I had forgotten just how lovely it could be. The descriptive language paints masterpieces and it’s a purely enjoyable experience for the reader.

One of the best things in the book was the banter between characters. Lazlo and company had me giggling so many times. In fact, I kept stopping to read bits of dialogue to my husband so he could enjoy it too.

The only real drawback for me was (as is often the case) the lack of diversity. This book has character descriptions that are ambiguous enough for one to decide for themselves whether many of the people are white or POC, and that is better than a lot of books in this genre. However, we know Laini Taylor loves to describe things — her descriptive language really being a major draw for her books — and we see this with her poetic depictions of the Godspawn with their blue skin. (“Blue as opals, pale blue. Blue as cornflowers, or dragonfly wings, or a spring — not summer — sky.”) So there’s no reason in the world she couldn’t have given us some explicitly diverse characters. Overall, I’d say it’s a step in the right direction for representation, but just not quite enough.

I do wish the book had included a pronunciation guide for some of the proper nouns. Nothing takes me out of a story like constantly wondering if I’m saying names correctly. Luckily, Laini’s writing drew me right back in again.

The plot is really engaging. I honestly couldn’t read fast enough! The foreshadowing was, in my opinion, done perfectly. Some books have foreshadowing that’s too obscure, some have foreshadowing that’s too obvious, but Strange the Dreamer had that perfect middle ground. I was able to predict a lot of things, but more because I was familiar with the genre than because the foreshadowing wasn’t subtle enough. And another sign it was done right? Even when I expected something, it was still completely satisfying when it happened!

If you liked Laini’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy or you’re a fan of Magical YA Fantasy, I definitely recommend reading Strange the Dreamer.

Goodreads | Book Depository | Author’s Website

Musing Monday: August 28, 2017

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Musing Mondays is a weekly meme, hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker, that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ___, but…
I blogged about ____ this past week…

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: Do you find yourself reading more or less as the school season starts?

I blogged about ____ this past week…

Do you find yourself reading more or less as the school season starts?
I haven’t been in school for a while now, but back when I was I always read more during the school year. It seemed like the more I had to do, the more I just wanted to read!

Some quotes from Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

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These are the quotes I liked from Strange the Dreamer that didn’t get their own separate posts:

Prologue

She was young and lovely and surprised and dead.

– Page 2 (Prologue)

Part I

He had a trio of fears that sat in his gut like swallowed teeth, and when he was too quiet with his own thoughts, they’d grind together to gnaw at him from within.

– Page 59 (Impossible Dream)

Part II

And that’s how you go on. You lay laughter over the dark parts. The more dark parts, the more you have to laugh. With defiance, with abandon, with hysteria, any way you can.

– Page 135 (A Hundred Smithereens of Darkness)

So they layered cynicism atop their longing, and it was something like laying laughter over the darkness — self-preservation of an uglier stripe.

– Page 147 (The Muse of Nightmares)

He had loved the library, and had felt, as a boy, as though it had a kind of sentience, and perhaps loved him back. But even if it was just walls and a roof with papers inside, it had bewitched him, and drawn him in, and given him everything he needed to become himself.

– Page 157 (The Fused Bones of Slaughtered Demons)

Part III

Those words were like… they were like seeing a bloody knife. You didn’t need to have witnessed the stabbing to understand what it meant.

– Page 231 (No Way to Live)

Part IV

Inside a dream.
Within a lost city.
In the shadow of an angel.
At the brink of calamity.

– Page 357 (Witchlight)

Inside a mist, inside a dream, a young man and woman were remade.

– Page 367 (A Singularly Unhorrible Demon)

Few will ever witness an act destined to become legend. How does it happen, that the events of a day, or a night — or a life — are translated into story? There is a gap in between, where awe has carved a space that words have yet to fill.

– Page 504 (What Version of the World)

But the roots of their hate and fear were too deep, and Lazlo saw hints of revulsion as their confusion smeared one feeling into the next.

– Page 506 (Windfall)