Strange the Dreamer

Strange the Dreamer - Laini Taylor

Synopsis (from Goodreads)
"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 or lose his dream forever."

Review
"On the second sabbat of Twelfthmoon, in the city of Weep, a girl fell from the sky. Her skin was blue, her blood was red."

How about THAT for an opening line? (read the rest of the prologue here)

And that GORGEOUS cover! This is the UK cover and I am in love. Usually I don't really care about covers one way or another but I can always appreciate a beautiful book.

Ahhhh what can I even say about this book? I LOVED it. It ticked all the boxes for me:

Interesting and complex characters
Fascinating new world with rich culture and history
Gods and goddesses and lost myths!
Adventure!
LIBRARIES!
Beautiful writing
Super cute and swoon-y romance

I really don't know what more I can say about it. Laini Taylor has gorgeous writing, I loved the two main characters and the personal journeys they go through. I loved the world-building! Completely new and original and it made me want to know more about everything. It's definitely high fantasy, so be aware of that going in. And while there is a sequel (it's a duology), the plot in this one wraps up nicely while preparing for the larger story to continue.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to everyone!

Rating
I give this book 5 stars!!!

Details
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Language: Some, but not frequent and not very strong
Sex: Some references to past rapes (though that word is never used). Nothing graphic is described. Lots of kissing!
Violence: Some violence, nothing graphic.

Comments

This Savage Song

This Savage Song - Victoria Schwab Review: The newest book by one of my favorite authors, V.E. Schwab (She goes by "Victoria" for her YA novels). I love the premise for the book: violent acts create actual monsters. The two main characters are a human girl named Kate who desperately wants to be a (figurative) monster: a big, bad crime boss like her father, who runs one half of V-City. The other is August, who is a literal monster, a Malchai, one that drains the souls of his victims through his music, who desperately seeks his own personal humanity. I loved them both, and their personalities and characters and drives are so multi-faceted and real. They interact with other characters in believable and different ways. The juxtaposition of these two characters in and of itself is one of the driving things behind this story, and one of the things that makes it so compelling. Even though marketed as a YA, it really delves into the deep questions: What makes us human? W...

The Reader

The Reader by Traci Chee Synopsis (from Goodreads) "Sefia lives her life on the run. After her father is viciously murdered, she flees to the forest with her aunt Nin, the only person left she can trust. . . . But when Nin is kidnapped, Sefia is suddenly on her own, with no way to know who’s taken Nin or where she is. Her only clue is a strange rectangular object that once belonged to her father left behind, something she comes to realize is a book." Review The main reason I picked up this book was that it got a LOT of hype. I thought it was a good book, but I'd say more for younger YA. I think if I were 12-14, I would have REALLY loved this book. The premise is interesting: In a world where reading doesn't exist, Sefia has a rare book. However, I found at times the story was a bit too meta... stories within stories within stories, and how reading is literally magic. The pacing was quite slow. I also found the feel or tone of the story jumped around. Fi...

Thursday Themes: So you liked The Hunger Games

So you really liked The Hunger Games and want some more of that sweet sweet dystoptian YA feeling. I'm guessing you've already read Divergent by Veronica Roth and Maze Runner by James Dashner (if not, were you even part of the YA dystopian craze??). Here are some other series I think you'll enjoy: Red Rising by Pierce Brown Basically Hunger Games in Space with super evolved humans. The main character is of the lowest caste (a Red) and fakes his way to the very top of society in order to take them down. ***Content Warning*** This book has a lot of violence (about the same as HG), and there is high use of profanity. Partials by Dan Wells One of the most underrated series in my humble opinion. 99% of the world's population has been wiped out by a weaponized virus during the war with the Partials—engineered organic super-humans—and no new babies are being born. Sixteen year old Kira is trying to find a solution. When a supply run ends with them capturing ...

Books Via Ashley

Search This Blog