Inside a dream. Within a lost city. In the shadow of an angel. At the brink of calamity.
Strange the Dreamer
by Laini Taylor
Genre: YA Fantasy
About: Lazlo Strange is an orphan and a dreamer. And though his life has been full of dull prayers and dusty books, he's never lost his dream: to find the lost city of Weep. It's a dream worthy of a legend, and although Lazlo is certainly strange, he is far from legend material.
The Good
I loved Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bones trilogy and although this one is a slow start, halfway through the same tropes and themes begin to emerge that her previous trilogy had in abundance. The characters are fun and magical, even the villains, you want more of everyone on the page. And the love story is the right kind of epic, the kind filled with beauty and monsters.
The Bad
I first tried reading this when it came out in 2017 and made it three chapters before giving up and feeling disappointed. The beginning is just a bit... dull, and I don't think Lazlo himself would argue with me on that point. His life is necessarily dull in its origin and so his story takes a while to begin (and perhaps doesn't truly begin until the cliffhanger at the end!)
Also the romance doesn't start until more than halfway through the book. I feel cheated.
The Somewhat Iffy
This book is Fantasy with a capital F. Like it's a fucking fantasy. If you don't like flowery imagery of magical settings then it just isn't the book for you. I happen to enjoy flowery language but even I struggled with some of the early chapters that start off all the weird and wonderful.
Overall
Wasn't vibing with it at the beginning, started to smile in the middle and was hooked by the end. Currently with the dilemma of should I buy the sequel as a physical book to have in my bookshelf next to this one, or go for the kindle version so I can start reading tonight...
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