After Reading: STRANGE THE DREAMER by Laini Taylor

By: Meradeth Houston on 4:00 AM

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. (Goodreads)

Welcome to October! (Wait, how did that happen? :)

So the Smoke & Bone series was epic and I think I'd pretty much read toilet paper with scribbles on it by Taylor at this point. She ranks amongst my absolute favorite authors. I've meant to get to this one for a while, and then while reading, kicked myself for not devouring it earlier. Though, bonus, the sequel comes out tomorrow so perhaps my timing wasn't so abismal. At any rate, I adored this. The switching between perspectives was a touch jarring at first, but I came to deeply love Sarai along with Strange. They were so...human (which only makes sense in context of the rest of the novel). Anyhow, as I would expect from Taylor, the worldbuilding was fantastic and fantastical. I love all the little sprinkled details and fabulous concepts (the cusp especially!). Overall, I just wanted to crawl into it and live there, monsters and gods included. The ending...oh the ending. All I can really say is that I am absolutely glad I preordered the next book and it'll be in my hot little hands on Tuesday!

Have you read any of Taylor's books?