Review: Strange the Dreamer

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This review is also found on Goodreads! :)
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Actual Rating: 4.5 stars
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For a few minutes after reading the last page, I was speechless. Strange the Dreamer is so wonderfully and ingeniously crafted. The world Taylor created is a breath of fresh air from the desolation brought by the real world and by the era of post-apocalyptic dystopian novels. The world within this book is fantastical and rich. There is also a sense of other-worldliness at how she writes. And it isn't just purely whimsy, it has humor and mystery. The setting was built in rich detail and background. The story has great pacing within the three-quarters of the book, but it slowed down towards the remaining quarter when I was already on the edge of my seat itching for things to pick up. This is actually one of the reasons why I didn't give this book a perfect score. Towards the end, there were chapters dedicated to Lazlo and Sarai's discovery of each other in dreams. That is, discovery in a physical sense. Their 'getting to know' stage left a bad taste for me. Lazlo being Lazlo, the dreamer (and the romantic), gave way to what I can only call with a shudder as corny. It was too...contrived. The emotions ran heavy, cloying, and flamboyant, as opposed to the hard-edged but muted manifestation of Eril-Fane and Azareen's story. Lazlo and Sarai's meetings and relationship were built in dreams which didn't give me a sense of validity at all. Their love story seemed rushed and only to serve as the plot device of the book. But again, I have to give credit at how Taylor writes prose beautifully by way the book ended. (view spoiler on Goodreads!)[The devastation and grief were so palpable and convincing. I almost screamed at the end when I read the "TO BE CONTINUED". (hide spoiler)]

I have read from the Acknowledgements that this is going to be a duology. I am definitely excited for The Muse of Nightmares. I am assuming this would wrap things up since this is the last book, so that's a sigh of relief (I hate how some writers almost always seems to stretch out stories into multiple books without even leaving you a sense of conclusion at the end of each book, just so the reader would want to buy the next book. Sometimes with stories like that, I just don't bother with the rest of the series). I am also very intrigued because I cannot figure out how the second book will proceed. The first book made it seem like they were at an impasse, so I am very curious and excited at how Taylor will build the last chapter.

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