Strange The Dreamer Paperback

In this novel, Laini Taylor aggressively shatters male stereotypes, and as someone who opposes gender discrimination, I love that.The male hero is a librarian turned secretary. He’s not physically attractive or muscular. He has a crooked nose, in fact, because it broke after a book fell on it from a library shelf. He’s been cast into a low socioeconomic class, so he’s poor and has no apparent economic prospects. His expertise is fairy tales. His passion is an area of learning that the scholars of his day consider dead. He’s selfless and service-oriented. He can’t help but show concern for others even if they don’t appreciate it or reciprocate. He’s utterly without ego, cooperating instead of competing. His greatest strengths are dreaming and loving. He doesn’t try to dominate any woman or man around him. He isn’t a professional killer, or in a profession that involves killing, or violence, nor is he driven to slay, or even prone to occasional, angry outbursts. He doesn’t drink or roughhouse, or think a great night out involves harassing women at bars. He isn’t trying to become wealthy through some impressive, high-flying career that might not actually accomplish much for the world, the way the novel’s Sisyphean alchemist is. Lazlo, in fact, tries to help another man become wealthy without expecting anything in return, specifically because he knows how much stress the pressure to “succeed” has produced in this acquaintance.So you should like Lazlo, right? He’s a great guy. He works diligently to protect and advance the bank of scholarship which serves society and provides it with hope. If he’s poor, it’s because others created a class, put him in it, and are trying to keep him there. He’s ever helpful and polite, doesn’t beat anyone or get into fights, and never stabs anyone in the back.The novel's heroine comes to love this man by entering his dreams. That is to say, she learns who he is on the inside, and discovers that his inner world is far more appealing than her outer one. That’s why their relationship grows into love before they ever physically touch.Lazlo may be contrasted with the character of his lover’s father, a testosterone-filled warrior who fought bravely for his people, and who committed atrocities in doing so that caused him to be estranged from his own daughter. Outwardly, he appears strong, brave, noble, and heroic, if repressed and a tad rough around the edges. In reality, his past experiences have left him broken and ruined inside. He is a tormented shell of the man he might have been had he approached life in a different way.This is healthy fare, then, for men thinking about who they are and what their values should be, and for women thinking about interacting with men and what makes for a good man. Wherever you may come down on these matters as a reader, there is plenty to consider, because in the end Lazlo is revealed as a complex person who demonstrates as much genuine heroism as any hero in literature.Strange the Dreamer is categorized as a young adult novel, but it’s suitable for adults of any age. The lovers are Lazlo and Sarai. Lazlo is the main character, but it did not surprise me to learn that Laini Taylor originally envisioned a different main character for this book, and presumably that was Sarai. Sarai is the daughter of the Goddess of Despair and of a human man whom the goddess raped. The author stresses that one cannot learn about strangers by looking at them; Sarai has the gift of being able to look inside them, and it is this which drives the story, so I can see why Sarai would have made a compelling main character. Personally, I happen to love complex supernatural characters, so I am sure I would have liked that.But I think Ms. Taylor had to shift the focus more to Lazlo, because some of the most entrancing and beautiful parts of the book take place inside his dreams, where Sarai is a visitor. So instead of focusing on the trials and tribulations of a supernatural being whose existence is altered when an unusual human appears, this is presented more as the story of a man’s gradual self-realization and personal growth.I can also see why the author expanded the book, which she initially planned as a standalone novel, to a duology; having created a world so beautiful, one would want to allow one's readers to linger in it. That is, after all, one of the reasons why we sometimes choose to read an extended story when we could have watched a two-hour film or seen a television show.I would advise you not to worry if it initially feels like you’re not following the story. Go with the flow as in a dream, and you'll be rewarded as the events and characters coalesce and the story becomes clearer. Then you won’t want to put the book down.The novel has a certain Romeo and Juliet-esque quality in that the lovers become progressively divorced from their own societies as they grow closer to one another. There are strong messages about control and freedom; the more certain characters seek to control others, the more rapidly the social orders upon which their control depends erode. This leads to some satisfaction as certain selfish or dysfunctional characters get their comeuppances, but it produces a running tension generated by hatred on both sides which goes unresolved. There are clear messages about the futility of ongoing conflict, war, and hate, as contrasted with the transcendence (and sometimes the tragedy) of love. The author goes out of her way not to trivialize death, and characters do not die for entertainment in this novel. Death has consequences, and the consequences play a major role.Naturally, dreams also play a major role: When societies collide, whose dreams control? Who dreams whom, and why, and how? This is a “Western society-meets-other society” fantasy, so as I was reading, it called to my mind the Adventures of Esplandián, the myth of El Dorado, and tales of the Fountain of Youth in which Europeans invented fairy tale creatures and fanciful places while pondering life beyond the horizon.Initially, Lazlo is destined to be a monk, presumably within Christendom, but as he heads east he encounters a polytheistic world. The pantheon there is complicated. Deities have their ups and downs, and strengths and weaknesses. The eastern city is enmeshed in an ancient conflict which seems incapable of resolution. Its populations live in close proximity, but separately, and look upon one other with mutual hostility stemming from horrific events they experienced during early conquests. In this respect the fantasy has a clear basis in reality, providing food for thought and reflection. The neglected city that Lazlo is driven to see for himself has been stricken by the Goddess of Oblivion, who has devoured its name. Now that no one can remember the city's name, its people call it Weep. This resonates with me in the context of colliding cultures, where conquerors have often sought to erase indigenous societies and cast them into oblivion. Again, what happens to the dreams of the invaded?My favorite quote from this novel encapsulates much of what it is ultimately about: “For what [are people] but the sum of all the scraps of their memor[ies] and experience[s]: a finite set of components with an infinite array of expressions[?]” In Strange the Dreamer, personalities are malleable, dreams are strange, strange is good, and the passions and obsessions that spring from our dreams are our destinies, not our choice.

I've never posted a review before (not even for the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy which I LOVED) but I had to say what a beautiful book this is. I would give anything to have even a 10th of Laini Taylor's imagination. I know the description says YA but this book is for anyone who loves dreams and understands that nightmares are real.

For now, I'm going to give this 5 stars. I'm a little disappointed it ended on a "To Be Continued," only because that was unexpected. I expected resolution. But I'm hopeful I will enjoy the full tale...This book is beautiful. It's like poetry for the novel/fantasy reader. I don't really like poetry, but that is what this is. Taylor writes will such magic and flair, it is impossible to imagine this anything but a magical place. Her use of vocabulary--Strange, Weep, Unseen, Godslayer, godspawn, vengeance--all her words carry such beautiful importance. It's truly a work of art, and I don't say that often. It isn't a book I could read in one sitting because you have to absorb it.As for the plot... fascinating. She has such an imagination. Her characters have depth. There is all range of human emotions in one, from love to hate, despair to joy... And honestly, the cliff hanger ending is beautifully created, and terrible. So I'm desperate to see how it ends. And hopeful.

2 stars.First half: 1.5 stars. Second half: 2.5 stars. Narrator: 4 stars (loved his voice but I kept zoning out)Let me start off by saying that I'm surprised at how low I've rated this. I loved the Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy. I loved Night of Cake and Puppets. So I was, while not completely interested in the plot of this story, excited to get started on another Laini Taylor read.When I first started this, I couldn't get past page 60-ish. The pacing was so slow, for some reason I wasn't enjoying LT's flowery writing this go around, and the characters were all 'meh' as I was reading it. I hoped it was just the reading mood I was in at the time. Decided to grab this in audio book form from the library. I was still bored.Now the audio book narrator was very good but his voice was so soothing that I would drift off or zone out and miss a few pages. I want a pleasant voice to listen to but also one that I'm able to pay attention to while I'm doing other things and not drift.I was so confused because of how much I was missing but because I was so bored with what was going on I didn't want to go back or pick up the physical book to fill in what I missed. At the end of this book, I understood the gist of what was happening but none of the finer details.So I'm putting this into the unhaul pile and I doubt, highly doubt, I'll pick up the next book.

It's been a long wait for something new from Laini Taylor, I absolutely adored her writing in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series but if anything she's honed her skills even more and Strange the Dreamer was even more beautifully written. She always manages to completely captivate me with the worlds she creates and when I fall into one of her books I never want to come back out again.Strange the Dreamer is the story of Lazlo, a young man who was orphaned as a baby and raised by monks before he discovered the magic of the great library and trained to become a librarian. Lazlo is in part a little like every book worm you'll ever meet, he's obsessed with stories and spends so much time with his head stuck in a book that real life often happens around him without him even noticing. Lazlo's biggest obsession is the mystery of Weep and he has dedicated his life to reading everything he can about the city that disappeared so long ago. It's been years since anyone was able to find Weep and nobody can even remember the city's real name but Lazlo longs for it to be discovered again and he would give anything to visit the place he has spent so long dreaming about. Lazlo is a dreamer but he's also smart, funny and very caring. He always tries to help people but never expects thanks for his hard work and is so grateful for every opportunity he is offered that he never takes anything for granted.This is also the story of Sarai, a young woman who has been trapped in her home for years with only her siblings for company. I don't want to get into too much detail about where Sarai is or how she ended up trapped there but her path crosses Lazlo's in the most unusual manner and I absolutely loved spending time with them both and watching the beginnings of their romance. Sarai and her siblings have been through something horrific but thanks to her unique talent she is the one best placed to understand both sides of the story and she longs for peace and freedom. She's such a compassionate girl, one who has seen the worst people have to offer but who also has great capacity for forgiveness and who tries really hard to look at the good in people.Once again Laini Taylor has created a world that you just want to dive into, there are so many beautiful and amazing things to discover but there are also dark secrets lurking underneath that will leave you reeling. Her characters are people you want to be friends with and even her villains are so complex that you can understand their actions even if you don't particularly agree with them. There is so much pain and fear between the two different groups in the story that it's going to take a miracle to pull them together but I have complete faith that if anyone can pull it off Lazlo Strange and the Muse of Nightmares can. Working together I think they can achieve anything.Strange the Dreamer is definitely one of my favourite books of the year and there is no doubt in my mind that it is going to be appearing on a lot of "best of 2017" lists. The Muse of Nightmares is right at the top of my 2018 wish list but I know I'll be rereading this book while I wait for it to be released.

After being an avid fan of the Daughter of smoke and bone series, I highly anticipated this new series of hers, and it did not disappoint. Lani Taylor's ability to create vivid, complex and believable worlds in immense detail is truly astounding, and I can not express how engrossing her stories are. This is a little slow to start, but once you are a couple of chapters in, there's no putting it down. This book is a true feat of mystery and masterful writing, just as daughter of smoke and bone is. After creating such an extensive and engrossing world and character plot line in DOSAB, I don't know how she has managed to come up with new characters, completely different in every respect but equally as captivating and developed, in a new world, unequivocally enchanting and full of burning questions we must know the answers to. One of my favorite books already.

Lazlo Strange has dreamed of the mythical lost city of Weep since he was a young boy playing make-believe in the orchards of the monastery where he was raised. Now a librarian in the Great Library of Zosma, Lazlo spends his days still dreaming of journeying to the lost City, until that is the day arrives when his dreams look set to turn into reality. Suddenly he finds himself one of a group of delegates accompanying a mysterious stranger known as the Godslayer as well as a group of legendary warriors from the lost city. What awaits them there is even more extraordinary than anything even Lazlo could have dreamed!I found myself completely immersed in this imaginative and captivating read, drawn into the vividly described fantasy world that Taylor has created. From the Great Library of Zosma, to the vast desert plains of the Elmuthaleth, and to the lost City itself, it was a joy accompanying Lazlo on his voyage of discovery.Lazlo himself makes for a wonderful fantasy book hero, with his nose always behind a book and his mind full of wonder; he's gentle and kind and very easy to like. Yet I thought that Taylor did a really good job of portraying a whole host of more complex characters too. There's Thyon Nero, the arrogant alchemist, who early on in the story seems set on being a clear villain; yet I was surprised to find that it wasn't quite so black and white. The Godslayer too is another prime example, a hero who saved his City and its people from a reign of terrible tyranny, and yet at a great cost too;such that he is haunted by the blood on his hands. Minya, again, is an intriguing character; controlling and manipulative, she might easily have been painted a pure villain, but the tragedy of her past and the great trauma she has witnessed can but render her in a more sympathetic light.I don't want to go into detail regarding the ins and outs of the story, but I thought that Taylor touched upon some great themes within the book, re-working them in an imaginative way. Its a story about the aftermath of tyranny and war, about hatred and how hard it can be to forgive and reach a reconciliation. I thought that Taylor did a good job of portraying two sides of a story; as a reader it is easy to appreciate the suffering that the people of Weep have endured, but by allowing us to get to see things from the Godspawns' points of view, and Sarai's in particular, we gain an insight into what they - the orphans of war - have endured too.I personally found the idea of the Mesarthim and the Godspawn, with their mystical powers, intriguing; and there are still so many unanswered questions regarding them. Who were the Mesarthim, where did they come from, and what happened to all those Godspawn children over the centuries?Sarai's power is a particularly interesting one and obviously shapes a lot of the story; with dream elements becoming more prominent as the book goes on. I really liked the depiction of the dream sequences in which Lazlo and Sarai interact; and thought Taylor really managed to capture that whimsical and magical quality that dreams have. The romance between the two central characters was I thought sweetly rendered; and whilst some people have complained that it felt too instantaneous and also took up too much time I would disagree on both accounts. I think the secluded nature of the lives that both Lazlo and Sarai have lived, makes it believable that they might develop feelings so quickly for each other; and I think the ending of the book makes it quite clear why so much time was invested in their relationship.Certainly the book ends on a cliffhanger, with some very interesting dynamics being set up;such that I can't wait for the sequel.I did guess at the ending of the story, but that didn't at all spoil it. I would also say that the book starts off quite slow, but if you stick with the first few chapters, things soon start getting interesting.A beautifully written book, with exquisite prose and imagery, this is certainly a story I won't be forgetting in a while.

I first heard of Laini Taylor when she was interviewed on Woman's Hour, I was drawn in to Laszlo's world by Ms Taylor's description, fearing that the book would not live up to the author's description. I was wrong. The book builds a world that is both impossible and convincing. Books have magic, but few weave it into the fabric of the world as simply and naturally as this. As Laszlo grows, our understanding of the world in which he lives expands and matures. By the time, as a young adult, he meets Sarai and starts to develop an insight of the godspawn, it is easy to take the fantastical elements of the book into the narrative stride and enjoy Strange the Dreamer for what it is: a very good story, told by a natural storyteller.Since reading this, I have read the Gods and Monsters trilogy, and I still come back to Strange wondering why the book ended as it did. It is a trilogy, and I want the next two books to arrive quickly so I can understand how the various threads and characters evolve and interact.

I'm enthralled by this author. I picked up her book the daughter of smoke and bone as a fly by purchase in between my wait for Brandon sanderson to finish his lost metal book. Prior to that I felt that I couldn't appreciate a writing style better than Rothfuss or Sanderson, although the latter I noticed seemed to write a fair few late teen books which was disappointing to realise mid read. Then it was a case of fininshing for the sake of it rather than wanting to. So I was so happy to find the daughter of smoke and bone trilogy and this one seems to following with the same imaginative guile that captivated my attention before. I'm trying to go slowly on this one as I burned through the last L. Taylor trilogy in a month and was actually sad when I finished it because it meant that I would never read about those characters again. I fell in love with them. I stopped going for lunch with my friends and instead slunk off on my own each day to my small corner cafe just for the chance to be lost in my imagination for an hour, then again on the bus, slinking off from my partner to read, hunkering down in the bathroom. Anywhere I had the opportunity. It was such a great series. This trilogy has all the billings to be just as wonderful.It's early going so far, in fact i'm only on chapter 2. However it sparkles with the same charm and imagination that I've missed so dearly. I look forward to being captivated by this author for years to come