REVIEW| Strange the Dreamer

Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer #1)
Laini Taylor
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐+

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Synopsis:

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.

What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?

The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? And if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?

Welcome to Weep. 

Review

The Cover

Favourite cover of the year? 
Possibly? 

I will say that the picture above, really doesn't do the cover justice. The azure blue and gold, makes it something to full on display- like a peacock and his feathers. 

The moth taking center front, is brilliant spacing by the designer. Could this cover be considered book-cover-porn? Definitely.

The Content

This whole book is just quotable, but here a just a snippet few favourites:

"It was impossible, of course.But when did that ever stop any dreamer from dreaming?"

"He wasn't an alchemist, or a hero. He was a librarian, and a dreamer. He was a reader, and the unsung expert on a long-lost city no one cared a thing about."

"He read while he walked. He read while he ate. The other librarians suspected he somehow read while he slept, or perhaps didn't sleep at all."

"His nose was broken by a falling volume of fairy tales his first day on the job, and that, they said, told you everything you needed to know about Lazlo Strange" 

What more could I dream to receive from a new Laini Taylor book?

• Long lost world? Tick.
• A bibliophile? Tick.
• Children of Gods? Tick.
• Adventure? Tick.
• Magic? Tick.
• Laini Taylor's beautiful prose? Tick.

Trying to fully fathom and translate my thoughts and feelings into coherent words of phrases is really hard. Even months later looking at my notes, I still completely glaze over and drift back into the world of Weep. 

Unlike Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Strange the Dreamer is completely secondary world building and so lacks the touchstones that her previous work had. But, I feel like this made it more enjoyable to read. I could allow myself to completely drift off. A world with so many layers and depth that I just want to keep going back to reread, knowing that I will always find a new element to enjoy. And that's what you need in a favourite book. And this is definitely one reaching into my top ten.

This is a tale for not only the bibliophile, but for the imaginaries, the reachers, the fantasy-dwellers. It reaches and grasps at so many tangents that twine this story together. It left me heartbroken and wistful and desperate for my own long lost land.