So I just finished Strange the Dreamer and it was sooo amazing that I just had to do a review. I know I haven't posted in a while and I am super sorry but even in the summer I had school, that's how depressing and busy my life had been. Anyways I've been reading a lot less recently because I have time to watch Once Upon A Time, finally, so I've been trying to get through that, because it's so good. Anyways this isn't an update post but a review one so I will try to stay on topic, and will hopefully have a lot more posts coming up. Another side note is that this month the book club book is Thirteen Reasons Why, and since it is a super popular topic rn because of the TV show (which was fabulous), I will be rereading it and hopefully reviewing and also hopefully posting a book club post. (Btw I just realised I never posted an Acowar or a Lord of Shadows review and now it's kind of too late, but I will try to remember everything and post soon.)
Short Summary:
The characters in this book were so vivid and well developed that they felt almost real. I really enjoyed all the different perspectives of this book and thought that they all really added to the general story telling mood and plot. The two main characters were Lazlo Strange, an ordinary boy, orphaned by the war, and a young girl named Sarai (who if I can't say much about as it will spoil a good portion of the book). Going into further detail with Lazlo's character I feel very strongly in the fact that Laini truly brought this character to life through his descriptions of the world and everything else around him. Laini did a phenomenal job with all the characters in this novel but Lazlo specifically. His character was often the narrator more than others and the way he saw the world was just amazing to read about. He was a dreamer and made everything around his seem vivid and beautiful, even the worst of things and the most frightening. His character also really developed from a scared librarian to an explorer and friendly young man. His journey throughout the book was just amazing to see through his eyes and the eyes of his friends.
Laini's writing style is like no other I have ever read. If you have never read one of her books before, as was the case with me, it takes a little bit to get used to but once you do it just flows like a beautiful river of art. All her words are so carefully chosen and all her sentences are so beautiful. Most of this book was narration with some dialogue and everything was just so lifelike and beautiful. The way that she described the characters and settings was just phenomenal, her writing style is like a dream. It feels like honey, smooth and sweet. It fit this book so well too, because it was a lot about a dreamer and how he saw the world. But her writing style, oh my, you just have to experience it. It is almost like you are dreaming and everything is right in the world. It is so flawless and it feels like you are floating in her imagination. It is just so whimsical and dreamlike, and also so mature, definelty not a book that younger children will truly appreciate. She doesn't just cut to the point in a harsh way but kind of drags things out beautiful with no excess. It takes you to another world (which in the case of this book is just perfect). I could honestly try to describe her writing style and how truly wonderful it is all day but to truly experience it you have to read this book for yourselves. And I highly highly recommend it.
Overall, this book was just phenomenal, and brought so much more life (and joy) to my life. Sounds weird I know but its so true. I really did not expect to like it as much as I did, mainly because I had absolutely no idea what it was about when I picked it up. All I knew was that it got a lot of excitement when it first came it, that it was written by a best-selling author, and that it had a very high rating on Goodreads. I actually picked this book up at an event that I went to, as an arc, and I am so thankful to them for giving me this chance. I never would have read this book if I hadn't picked it up (just from the hype around it) and started reading it when I didn't have my laptop. This book was so full of emotions and it made me laugh, smile, and giggle like crazy (and I know I feel like I say this about very book but I am 100% serious). As I was reading it, I even started logging my emotions every 50 pages or so on Goodreads and by page 80 I was "already totally emotionally invested", it was that amazing. I highly recommend this book to any Fantasy lovers, like me, who just want to try something new and are open to being completely swiped off their feet into Laini's crazy imagination. I would give this book a 9.6/10 because it was that amazing (but it can't be more amazing than my baby Acomaf). Overall, you all have to go read it right now. But warning this isn't a single book, it is a series of some sort (probably trilogy). And for almost the whole time I was reading I thought that it was a stand alone, how wrong I was. It literally left off in like mid chapter and just said to be continued. Ahhh. I actually cannot wait to get my hands on any of Laini's other books, and now I definitely have to go read the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. I would actually say that this book surprised me a lot, and now I love it so much that it is probably in my top 5 books I have ever read, top 10 for sure (don't ask me to pick, it isn't fair, soo many). (Also random note, Laini is so cool that in Acknowledgements she literally just put TK and left it at that, like what, lmao)
Anyways enough with the updates and maybe posts, let's dive into this book: Strange the Dreamer.
Strange the Dreamer Review:
Short Summary:
Strange the Dreamer is a new fantasy novel by Laini Taylor, author of the best-selling Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy. This book was published on March 28th, 2017 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. This book is a somewhat coming of age story of a young man named Lazlo Strange, it is about how he discovers who he is as a person, and how he can reach his dreams. The story is about Lazlo who is a vivid dreamer, and who has always dreamed of finding the long lost city of Weep. This city was once a magical and beautiful city closed to outsiders but 200 years before the events of this story take place Weep closed its doors and was never heard from again. 15 years before the events Weep's true name was stolen and Weep was left in its place.
This is a beautiful story of a young man's journey to find what he has spent his whole life searching for, and discover who he truly is.
The characters in this book were so vivid and well developed that they felt almost real. I really enjoyed all the different perspectives of this book and thought that they all really added to the general story telling mood and plot. The two main characters were Lazlo Strange, an ordinary boy, orphaned by the war, and a young girl named Sarai (who if I can't say much about as it will spoil a good portion of the book). Going into further detail with Lazlo's character I feel very strongly in the fact that Laini truly brought this character to life through his descriptions of the world and everything else around him. Laini did a phenomenal job with all the characters in this novel but Lazlo specifically. His character was often the narrator more than others and the way he saw the world was just amazing to read about. He was a dreamer and made everything around his seem vivid and beautiful, even the worst of things and the most frightening. His character also really developed from a scared librarian to an explorer and friendly young man. His journey throughout the book was just amazing to see through his eyes and the eyes of his friends.
The plot of this book was actually probably the best part in my opinion. Everything was just so thought through and developed. Every string led somewhere and every piece of information was useful. I especially loved how there were tons of mini stories inside the big one and with every chapter you would learn something new about one of the characters or about the history of something. I especially loved how at the beginning there were a few chapters that were dated all from different years and they truly gave us a bigger picture of Lazlo's childhood as well as Sarai's and how they were so different but they were both meant to play a giant role in the end story. The plot changed so much too, from one major conflict to another, to finally the biggest one of all. It was like a roller coaster and you would never know when the big drop was because it just kept dropping and dropping. This was a major reason why it was such a phenomenal book, there was no fluff and no extra unnecessary details. Every chapter, every word had a reason behind it, and together this made it so that you could never put it down. You could never get bored with a part and just leave it on the shelf. Although even though it was amazing the beginning took a little time to get into and used to (the writing style). So if you pick this book up make sure to read at least until page 150 and then decide if you want to put it down. A lot of the begging was backstory and Lazlo's history but once you get through it everything else makes a lot more sense and it just flows.
Laini's writing style is like no other I have ever read. If you have never read one of her books before, as was the case with me, it takes a little bit to get used to but once you do it just flows like a beautiful river of art. All her words are so carefully chosen and all her sentences are so beautiful. Most of this book was narration with some dialogue and everything was just so lifelike and beautiful. The way that she described the characters and settings was just phenomenal, her writing style is like a dream. It feels like honey, smooth and sweet. It fit this book so well too, because it was a lot about a dreamer and how he saw the world. But her writing style, oh my, you just have to experience it. It is almost like you are dreaming and everything is right in the world. It is so flawless and it feels like you are floating in her imagination. It is just so whimsical and dreamlike, and also so mature, definelty not a book that younger children will truly appreciate. She doesn't just cut to the point in a harsh way but kind of drags things out beautiful with no excess. It takes you to another world (which in the case of this book is just perfect). I could honestly try to describe her writing style and how truly wonderful it is all day but to truly experience it you have to read this book for yourselves. And I highly highly recommend it.
The settings in this book were just so well written you cannot imagine. All the detail that Laini put into it just made it that much easier to imagine it. The scents, the colours, all so vivid. Especially whenever we went into Lazlo's mind, and his version of Weep, every time it just blew me away. The settings changed a lot in this book too, which made it that much more interesting and have such an adventurous vibe to it. At the start we start off with Lazlo's history and how as a child he was brought up in an Abbey and it was described as a dark time, with somewhat crazy adults never letting Lazlo do what he wanted or be the dreamer he was. Then it progressed to a time in his life that he truly appreciated as a librarian. Lazlo loved being in the Zosma's giant library, I think the biggest in his world, and he knew it by heart as he spent all his time there. So as readers we also got to know it so well. Seeing things through Lazlo's point of view made everything that much more interesting because he was just such a kind, optimistic and creative individual. The setting of the library brought hope and life to Lazlo because by reading about Weep and learning the language and more, he got that much closer to his dream and so did we. But those were just the initial settings. As Lazlo went on his adventure the settings were just so amazing. Each scene felt like you were there and was described in such detail that you were fully absorbed and you were never left with any questions. I can't describe how amazing the settings were later on as that would be too spoilery but I can assure you that they just kept getting better and better.
Overall, this book was just phenomenal, and brought so much more life (and joy) to my life. Sounds weird I know but its so true. I really did not expect to like it as much as I did, mainly because I had absolutely no idea what it was about when I picked it up. All I knew was that it got a lot of excitement when it first came it, that it was written by a best-selling author, and that it had a very high rating on Goodreads. I actually picked this book up at an event that I went to, as an arc, and I am so thankful to them for giving me this chance. I never would have read this book if I hadn't picked it up (just from the hype around it) and started reading it when I didn't have my laptop. This book was so full of emotions and it made me laugh, smile, and giggle like crazy (and I know I feel like I say this about very book but I am 100% serious). As I was reading it, I even started logging my emotions every 50 pages or so on Goodreads and by page 80 I was "already totally emotionally invested", it was that amazing. I highly recommend this book to any Fantasy lovers, like me, who just want to try something new and are open to being completely swiped off their feet into Laini's crazy imagination. I would give this book a 9.6/10 because it was that amazing (but it can't be more amazing than my baby Acomaf). Overall, you all have to go read it right now. But warning this isn't a single book, it is a series of some sort (probably trilogy). And for almost the whole time I was reading I thought that it was a stand alone, how wrong I was. It literally left off in like mid chapter and just said to be continued. Ahhh. I actually cannot wait to get my hands on any of Laini's other books, and now I definitely have to go read the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. I would actually say that this book surprised me a lot, and now I love it so much that it is probably in my top 5 books I have ever read, top 10 for sure (don't ask me to pick, it isn't fair, soo many). (Also random note, Laini is so cool that in Acknowledgements she literally just put TK and left it at that, like what, lmao)
Guys thank you so much for reading or not reading, up to you! But I just love blogging and getting all my feels out. Hopefully I'm helping someone out there make some good reading decisions. But I usually love books, so you know maybe I'm not always 100% the best person to ask. But since I love book so much I am super grateful that I started this blog. If you guys ever want to talk to even just rant about books, comment or email and I would be glad to listen or rant with you.
- Love, Kat Hearts
