A Dream like Magic, A World Like Poetry: the Strange the Dreamer Duology
Strange the Dreamer and Muse of Nightmare are two titles in a brilliant, poetic, and intriguing duology by Laini Taylor featuring a lost city, a librarian with a dream, and the half-human children of gods.
Fantasy
Young Adult
Travel to…
The lost city of Weep
Lazlo Strange, orphan and librarian, grew up with stories of a mythic lost city called Weep. Though he dreams of searching for it, instead he pokes through his books, devouring every meager mention of the place. Then a band of warriors from Weep led by the Godslayer arrive on a quest to find special people–engineers, climbers, alchemists–to help them solve an unmentionable problem in the mythic city.
“What was he? Storyteller and secretary and doer of odd jobs, neither Tizerkane nor delegate, just someone along for the dream.”
Strange the Dreamer
Lazlo seizes the opportunity, though what good will a librarian be against a problem that causes even the Godslayer to wilt? Lazlo sets out on a quest to the city of his dreams, but every step closer only brings more questions. What happened in Weep to cut off the city from the rest of the world? What is the mysterious problem plaguing the city? And who is the blue-skinned goddess appearing in Lazlo’s dreams?
The answers await in Weep.
The second novel, Muse of Nightmare, continues Lazlo’s adventure in the city of Weep.
What I Loved
The World of Weep
The author who invented Weep must have a mind like Weep. I imagine a thousand hidden and mystical corners just waiting to be explored, and I eagerly anticipate her next book. Taylor has painted a beautiful world in the Strange the Dreamer duology that I know I will return to again and again.
“His shadow splayed out huge before him, and his mind gleamed with ancient wars and winged beings, a mountain of melted demon bones and the city on the far side of it–a city that had vanished in the mists of time.
Strange the Dreamer
The lyrical language in this novel shapes a world full of magic and emotion and beautiful moments. Taylor’s writing is almost like poetry, colors and emotions bursting off the page with the strength of her metaphors and the constitution of her words.
However, these two novels aren’t just beautiful works of art, poetry floating across the page. Weep is a city with a terrible, tragic past and Taylor embraces, in raw and beautiful language, the curse of remembering and the struggles of healing.
“Her throat would die before she ran out of rage. She could scream a hole in her throat and come unraveled, fall to pieces like moth-chewed silk, and still, from the leftover shreds of her, the little pile of tatters, would pour forth this unending scream.”
Strange the Dreamer
The Characters and their Struggles
Lazlo Strange. Let’s start with him. As a reader, it is impossible NOT to love a main character who is also reader. Yet, to call Lazlo Strange a reader is to call Mount Everest tall. Lazlo adores books. Lazlo adores books about impossible things. As a lover of fantasy novels, movies, and day dreams, I’ve always felt judged when I admit that my love of the imaginary and the fantastical followed me beyond childhood. So, for Lazlo to unashamedly embrace what everyone calls him a fool for believing in–and then to find it…
Lazlo is living all of our dreams.
Lazlo is a delight to follow, with his absolute adoration of books and his instinct toward kindness above all else. His wonder about the world is enchanting and he serves as the perfect guide to lead the reader through the beautiful and sorrowful city of Weep.
“There were no books to hide behind, and no shadows—only Lazlo Strange in his worn gray robes, with his nose that had been broken by fairy tales, looking like the hero of no story ever told. Or. No story yet told.”
Strange the Dreamer
The other characters are incredible too. Each one is portrayed in vivid shades. The hero who is haunted by what he’s done to save the world. The monster who wants to fall in love. The alchemist who is afraid of failure. The little girl who will do anything to save her friends.
The relationships and emotional journeys of the characters is what makes this book truly shine. The friendships, the lost loves, the suffering carried so that another will not suffer, the feelings of loss and abandonment and regret. And above all, the wondering carried by each character–by an entire city–of whether they can ever be healed. Whether they can ever cross the divide of the terrible things that have happened to them and the terrible things they have done.
“He dreamed of deserts and great empty cities and imagined he could feel the minutes and hours of his life running through him, as though he were nothing but an hourglass of flesh and bone.”
Strange the Dreamer
This is the kind of book that haunts you…in every perfect way.
Final Thoughts
Lazlo lives in a world where there are rules and expectations and he’s considered odd–or Strange, as the case may be. But in Weep, in the Godslayer’s crew, and in his dreams, he finds a place to belong. A place full of wonder. As a reader, that is all I’ve ever wanted, as well. And I want it to be a beautiful and magical and full of wonderment as Laini Taylor’s novel.
She transported me–and all I want to do is go back.
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