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.
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