Why haven’t I read this book sooner?! I should have read it as soon as I had it. How did the beautiful cover NOT pull me in even quicker? I’ll tell you why… Because I’m stupid. This book is full of adventure, mystery, books and just awesomeness.

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?

“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.”

― Laini Taylor, Strange the Dreamer

I went to meet Laini Taylor at Waterstones in Birmingham in March, for the release of Strange the Dreamer, and I started reading it on the half an hour train journey to Birmingham. I think I read about 45 pages and I fell in love with it. Unfortunately, I didn’t finish it after the meeting. I left it and left it until I did a 24-hour readathon last week and I was determined to read it and actually finish it this time. And I did. And I absolutely loved it. But it did leave me in a gooey mess on my floor.

Why Laini Taylor?! Why would you do this to your readers? WHY WOULD YOU WRITE THAT ENDING?! PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS TO ME BECAUSE I COULDN’T BELIEVE WHAT I HAD JUST READ AND I FELT SO DEFLATED. I also can’t see how the second book – The Muse of Nightmares – is going to work BECAUSE of the ending of the first. But, obviously, I’m going to read it anyway because I NEED more of these characters and I NEED more of this world. Lazlo Strange is my husband. I love him. I love his awkwardness and how he’s a massive book nerd. I need him in my life.

Speaking of the characters, all of them were so well written and I especially loved the characters of Sarai, Feral, Ruby, Minya and Sparrow. I loved to hate Minya and I was so protective of Sparrow. She seemed so innocent and just wanted to help out her ‘family’ as much as she could. Even though Feral, Ruby, Minya and Sparrow were secondary characters, they still had so much depth to them and they weren’t pushed to the back in any occasion. Their personalities shined through on every page and I loved learning about them and their family history. The same goes for the characters of the Godslayer and his team. All of the characters were so well written and they didn’t feel like filler characters.

“And that’s how you go on. You lay laughter over the dark parts. The more dark parts, the more you have to laugh. With defiance, with abandon, with hysteria, any way you can.”

― Laini Taylor, Strange the Dreamer

The ending left me in a mess and there was the usual YA fantasy trope (but I can’t say what it is because of spoilers) but the trope didn’t bother me at all and I just screamed and flailed around at how amazing this book is and I simply cannot wait til the second book comes out! I cannot express how brilliant this book is and how much you need to read it.

If you haven’t read it yet, I thoroughly urge you to! You’re missing out on a book that will change your life.

“You’re a storyteller. Dream up something wild and improbable,” she pleaded. “Something beautiful and full of monsters.”
“Beautiful and full of monsters?”
“All the best stories are.”

― Laini Taylor, Strange the Dreamer