I am back with another book review, today it is the glorious Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. Thanks so much to Hachette Canada for providing me with a copy of this book for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.
Despite the fact that it took me waaay too long to finish this book, I loved it.
The story follows two main perspectives, Lazlo Strange and Sarai. Lazlo is a library in a magical town who is fascinated by the seemingly lost city of Weep. Sarai is half-human, half-god who lives in Weep and was never supposed to survive the attack that killed most of the gods 15 years ago. I'm not going to get too into a synopsis because the story is too intricate to boil down to a quick synopsis.
This book was what I wanted Daughter of Smoke & Bone to be. If that one wasn't an urban fantasy, I would have liked more than I did. And in this one, Taylor pulls off everything I hoped she would. The writing is so lyrical and well-done, it made me wish I liked urban fantasy to pick up DoSaB. Going into this book, I was weary, because I wasn't such a fan of DoSaB like every other person in the world seemed to be. But after finishing it, I am so glad I picked it up.
Taylor made it so easy to love this book. There is romance, adventure, myths and tales, just everything I hoped it would be.
Firstly, let's talk about the relationship between Lazlo and Sarai. Taylor crafts an amazingly slow-burning romance between these two. Normally, I'm not a fan of the drawn out romance, but for this book, it works so well. And the way she integrates the dreaming into the relationship made it feel even more magical, pun intended.
The world building in this book is phenomenal. Everything is so beautifully and intricately described, I felt like I was really there. I was following Lazlo on his journey and I was in the citadel with Sarai and the others. It was just fantastic.
I think that the pacing of this book is decent, I had a little trouble getting into it at the beginning because it was a new world and there were terms and things that were a little confusing. But once I got into it, I was hooked. Like the romance, the whole story has a bit of a slow-burn that builds up to a dramatic ending.
And speaking of that ending, oh my gosh! What was that? I need book two NOW!
I'm not sure if this review is coherent or not because honestly, this book moved me for the first time in a while. There are a million things I could talk about, but I will just tell you that you need to pick this book up for yourself because it is magnificent.