Author: Laini Taylor
Publisher: Little, Brown BYR
Publication Date: March 28, 2017
Pages: 544
Format: Hardcover/Own
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: Oh my god guys. This book was beautiful! I love the worlds Laini Taylor builds with her writing! Strange The Dreamer was definitely no exception. The backstory for the godspawn and the humans, Lazlo's dreams of Weep and the actual city of Weep. I just couldn't get enough of this world. I genuinely felt like I was transported to it while reading! I can't believe I let this sit on my shelf for almost a year. Even though the story building kept the book at a bit of a slower pace, it worked for this book. You want the story and world building you get in the first half to really help you enjoy the action and events of the second half. Not to mention the backstory also helps prepare you for understanding why certain things happen later on.
I love Lazlo. His dreams of Weep and longing to know more about it are amazing. He dreamed of Weep in such a beautiful way. You couldn't not get caught up in his dreamscapes of it. I also loved how eager he always was to learn and discover more about Weep. He even kept journals of all the stuff he learned about Weep and even learned their language by making a working dictionary type thing of it. I loved how he jumped at his only opportunity to get to Weep even if it made him a glorified secretary. I definitely loved how he had more questions after entering Weep than he got answers for his original ones! Lol. It definitely made for interesting reading. I have to say, I think Lazlo's ending in this book was pretty cool. I feel silly for not piecing it together sooner. But once it was right in front of me all put together at the end it made complete and total sense with all we learned.
Sarai. I also thoroughly enjoyed Sarai! I loved seeing the perspective of a godspawn in relation to the humans Lazlo was with. Having her perspective and backstory info really gave a clear image to both sides of the issue. And it really made you feel for both sides. On one hand we see how the humans suffered at the hands of the gods/goddesses and why they did what they did, but then we see the flip side with the few survivors of the massacre and how they deal with what the humans did and how they feel about the fact they killed innocent babies in the process. And Sarai aligned with both sides. She doesn't want the humans to die like a certain fellow godspawn does, but she also doesn't want the few of them to be executed either. It's a hard line to walk. Especially when Minya (the technical leader of them being the oldest) just hates the humans with a passion and wants all of them dead for what they did. Sarai's ability is really interesting. Being the Muse of Nightmares and being able to go into dreams and cause nightmares (if she wants to). It's incredibly interesting. But her ability to go into dreams is also such a great way to get information when the godspawn can't be seen and get it themselves. It's so cool. And if the synopsis for Muse of Nightmares is to be believed, Sarai has more ability to be seen than whats shown in this book. I felt so bad for Sarai's ending in this book. She really didn't deserve what happened and how she is now at the whim of Minya if she wants to stick around. Ugh. My heart aches for her.
I actually enjoyed the bit of romance we get with Lazlo and Sarai. Neither of them have had the chance at any type of relationship or love because of what happened in their pasts. Lazlo being abandoned as an infant to the monks and Sarai being stuck hiding in the Citadel after the slaying of the gods which was meant to wipe her and the other survivors out too. Their circumstances made it where neither had much of a chance at finding someone to love until the citizens of Weep decided they wanted to move the Citadel from over the city and brought outside help, including Lazlo to do it. Had this chain of events never happened, then they never would have had their chance.
I also enjoyed Eril-Fane. He is the Godslayer, the one who came up with and enacted the plan to kill the gods/goddesses for what they did to them. And you can tell he carries the weight of it around, much like a lot of the humans do. He also happens to be Sarai's father. He thinks he killed his daughter though when the massacre took place. He just completely has a change of heart when he finally learns Sarai is alive. His daughter. He doesn't want to just race back up to the Citadel and finish what he started 15 years ago. He seems to hold some regret for his actions, and pain for what he did to the babies. He even wants to try to meet his daughter. He's supposed to be the hero that saved all the humans, but you can just tell he regrets a lot of what he did and doesn't even want that weight. And you see it in all the other humans that knew they had children in the citadel with the godspawn. They might have hated how those children came about, but they hold some deep sadness over their own children having been killed. I thought this was so powerful.
I have to say, what Lazlo becomes at the end, and how things the little hints were there definitely makes me think that his abandonment as an infant was due to a certain mysterious thing that happened with babies at the Citadel before the massacre happened. I think we know what happened to all the godspawn babies based on this hint. Once you put all the info together, it all fits and explains it. I suspect it will be confirmed in Muse of Nightmares.
I love Lazlo. His dreams of Weep and longing to know more about it are amazing. He dreamed of Weep in such a beautiful way. You couldn't not get caught up in his dreamscapes of it. I also loved how eager he always was to learn and discover more about Weep. He even kept journals of all the stuff he learned about Weep and even learned their language by making a working dictionary type thing of it. I loved how he jumped at his only opportunity to get to Weep even if it made him a glorified secretary. I definitely loved how he had more questions after entering Weep than he got answers for his original ones! Lol. It definitely made for interesting reading. I have to say, I think Lazlo's ending in this book was pretty cool. I feel silly for not piecing it together sooner. But once it was right in front of me all put together at the end it made complete and total sense with all we learned.
Sarai. I also thoroughly enjoyed Sarai! I loved seeing the perspective of a godspawn in relation to the humans Lazlo was with. Having her perspective and backstory info really gave a clear image to both sides of the issue. And it really made you feel for both sides. On one hand we see how the humans suffered at the hands of the gods/goddesses and why they did what they did, but then we see the flip side with the few survivors of the massacre and how they deal with what the humans did and how they feel about the fact they killed innocent babies in the process. And Sarai aligned with both sides. She doesn't want the humans to die like a certain fellow godspawn does, but she also doesn't want the few of them to be executed either. It's a hard line to walk. Especially when Minya (the technical leader of them being the oldest) just hates the humans with a passion and wants all of them dead for what they did. Sarai's ability is really interesting. Being the Muse of Nightmares and being able to go into dreams and cause nightmares (if she wants to). It's incredibly interesting. But her ability to go into dreams is also such a great way to get information when the godspawn can't be seen and get it themselves. It's so cool. And if the synopsis for Muse of Nightmares is to be believed, Sarai has more ability to be seen than whats shown in this book. I felt so bad for Sarai's ending in this book. She really didn't deserve what happened and how she is now at the whim of Minya if she wants to stick around. Ugh. My heart aches for her.
I actually enjoyed the bit of romance we get with Lazlo and Sarai. Neither of them have had the chance at any type of relationship or love because of what happened in their pasts. Lazlo being abandoned as an infant to the monks and Sarai being stuck hiding in the Citadel after the slaying of the gods which was meant to wipe her and the other survivors out too. Their circumstances made it where neither had much of a chance at finding someone to love until the citizens of Weep decided they wanted to move the Citadel from over the city and brought outside help, including Lazlo to do it. Had this chain of events never happened, then they never would have had their chance.
I also enjoyed Eril-Fane. He is the Godslayer, the one who came up with and enacted the plan to kill the gods/goddesses for what they did to them. And you can tell he carries the weight of it around, much like a lot of the humans do. He also happens to be Sarai's father. He thinks he killed his daughter though when the massacre took place. He just completely has a change of heart when he finally learns Sarai is alive. His daughter. He doesn't want to just race back up to the Citadel and finish what he started 15 years ago. He seems to hold some regret for his actions, and pain for what he did to the babies. He even wants to try to meet his daughter. He's supposed to be the hero that saved all the humans, but you can just tell he regrets a lot of what he did and doesn't even want that weight. And you see it in all the other humans that knew they had children in the citadel with the godspawn. They might have hated how those children came about, but they hold some deep sadness over their own children having been killed. I thought this was so powerful.
I have to say, what Lazlo becomes at the end, and how things the little hints were there definitely makes me think that his abandonment as an infant was due to a certain mysterious thing that happened with babies at the Citadel before the massacre happened. I think we know what happened to all the godspawn babies based on this hint. Once you put all the info together, it all fits and explains it. I suspect it will be confirmed in Muse of Nightmares.
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