Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer, #1)

by Laini Taylor

Steve West (Narrator)

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 to 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?


In this sweeping and breathtaking new novel by National Book Award finalist Laini Taylor, author of the New York Times bestselling Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy, the shadow of the past is as real as the ghosts who haunt the citadel of murdered gods. Fall into a mythical world of dread and wonder, moths and nightmares, love and carnage.

• ISBN10: 1478913053
• ISBN13: 9781478913054
• Publish Date: 28 March 2017
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 7 April 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
• Imprint: Little, Brown Young Readers
• Format: Audiobook (CD)
• Duration: 18 hours and 20 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[ross91]

This is probably the best book I've read so far in 2017.
It was like step in a dream

[cornerfolds]

DNF @ 80%

[rohshey]

It was.... Strange. Im just not sure if it was good strange or bad one.

[wyvernfriend]

NO! That end! The fact that I have to wait for the sequel. The Numinous writing! A Librarian hero....
 
I have not the words to do this justice, read it.

[liz089]

This book was absolutely amazing !! One of the best books I've read this year so far, and most likely will still be one of the best at the end of the year.
The writing is gorgeous, so beautiful, I loved flewing through the pages. But not only that, but the plot is very enthralling, I could not stop reading and it was not very predictable. More towards the ending you knew what was going on, but I did not suspect it at first.
I loved the worldbuilding, you knew enough to understand and just enough to make it mysterious.
The main characters are also very interesting and lovable. Lazlo... 3

I cannot wait for the second book !!

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

I really enjoyed the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, so I was stoked to hear about Strange the Dreamer.  But not stoked enough to buy the book; I waited until it was available at my library, so I've just read the novel recently.  My overall feelings: It's beautiful and imaginative and skillfully celebrates both book knowledge and field work, but it has a couple flaws.

First, the pacing is rather slow.  Taylor may be known for her prose and world building, but I think it's possible to give such things slightly too much reign.  In Strange the Dreamer, it takes her 200 pages (no exaggeration; I checked) to introduce the main point of the novel.  Sure, she introduces the world and the characters, but she does that thing where authors withhold information; readers are not told for 200 pages who one of the main characters is, what she's doing, or how her life is going to intersect with the other protagonist's.  I like long books, but I don't like this.  I think Taylor could have tightened things up.

Second, the romance is not compelling.  I love the two protagonists individually, but together...meh.  I don't want to say much that spoils the plot, but their relationship felt too much to me like something that arose out of circumstances rather than something I really believed in.  Of course, all relationships depend on circumstances...living near someone, for example, but I left the book with too much doubt that these two would be together if things had been different in small ways.  When I read about romance, I want to feel the chemistry.

The rest of the book was stellar, however.  As I've mentioned, the world building is phenomenal.  Taylor really delves into the myth and lore and of her world and how it travels and evolved.  I also love that she combines love of research and book knowledge with a love of adventure and getting out and doing things.  For a while I thought she was going to pick one over the other and imply that, ultimately, spending your lives with texts is not as fulfilling as going out into world, but she nicely sets out the value of both.

Strange the Dreamer is thoughtful and imaginative, stocked with a varied set of complex characters--dreamers, doers, idealists, pragmatists.  I enjoyed entering this world.  However, I didn't love the story quite enough that I'm truly interested in sequel, particularly as it is set up at the end of book one.  Perhaps I'll get to it eventually, but it won't be a priority for me at time of publication.

[Angie]

Strange the Dreamer is probably my biggest disappointment of the year. I was super excited for this one, but it wound up being super boring. Seriously, nothing happens until the last several chapters. When it starts, we meet Lazlo Strange as a child. He's an orphan and is raised to be a librarian. As he gets older, he becomes obsessed with stories about a lost city known as Weep. To everyone Weep is just a fairy tale, but Lazlo believes it exists. Especially when his research leads to successfully creating gold.

I was extremely bored with Strange the Dream from the very beginning. It's just so slow going and I felt disconnected from Lazlo. He's basically a laughingstock for being so invested in the lost history of Weep. I had a burst of hope when Thyon Nero takes all of his books to make gold without crediting him. Maybe Lazlo will do something! Nope. Nothing. Although when the Godslayer from Weep appears, Lazlo does beg to be taken on the journey back to the lost city even though he has no useful skills. Um, okay?

Other than Lazlo, the other narrator of Strange the Dreamer is Sarai, a child of the gods. She lives in the floating citadel above Weep with four other children of the gods, although no one knows that they're there. Fifteen years ago, the Godslayer, well, slayed all of the gods and their children, but he missed those five. Now they live in secret and torment the citizens of Weep. Well, Sarai does since she can enter dreams and manipulate them into nightmares. She does it on the orders of one of the other godspawn though, because she's not like that and likes humans, and whatever. She's boring, although her power is pretty cool.

Aside from being boring and giving me no reason to care about either main character, I had huge issues with Strange the Dreamer's world building. It's all basically built on rape. The people hate the gods because they kidnap men and women, hold them in the citdel, and use them to make children. They steal their memories when they put them back, and mess with their minds while they're still there. The Godslayer didn't lose his memories though, which is why he went on a killing rampage. But all of the godspawn are products of rape which is why everyone hates them, even though it's not their fault. I really could have done without that. Isn't there some other basis for Fantasy worlds?! It doesn't seem like it.

Strange the Dreamer was just a mess. The plot is so slow and boring. The world building is atrocious and uncomfortable. The main characters have zero personality or backbone. The romance was just kind of there. It's a case of "no one's ever been kind to me before, so let's kiss." There's no chemistry whatsoever. I would believe Lazlo and Thyon going from enemies to lovers instead, but that's just wishful thinking. I honestly don't care enough to read the second book to find out what happens next, especially since I saw that big reveal at the end coming from the beginning.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Sarah Says]

I don’t think I’ve ever been more full of wonder when reading a book then during Strange the Dreamer. I finished it over a week ago and I am still just contemplating. THAT ENDING! I wanted to cry. I wanted to break something. I needed a hug. Love, love, loved it! You’re a brilliant woman Laini Taylor and your imagination is phenomenal, but damn you, that epic cliff hanger has caused me one of the biggest book hangovers I’ve had in years.

At the start of the story we meet Lazlo, dubbed Strange the Dreamer, as a small energetic orphan boy with a vivid imagination and love of stories. We get to see him grow and find himself a safe haven with a job as a junior librarian, where his love of stories and desire to learn all he can of the lost city of Weep flourishes. Lazlo becomes a mild mannered, intelligent and kind hearted young man. A twist of fate sees Lazlo going on the adventure of a life time, taking his lifelong dream by the reins and traveling to find the answers his heart truly desires.

Straight from the start I felt a strong connection to Lazlo and Sarai (The Muse of Nightmares) and I grew to love many more characters along the way. The Characters were deeply developed, most likeable, some lovable, some scorn worthy and with one to be feared.

Laini’s writing is beautiful, her world building is intricately beautiful, the underlying plot is beautiful, the whole gosh darn book right down to the cover, is beautiful. Actually beautiful really isn’t even a good enough word. This story has it all; mystery, adventure, magic, romance, forgiveness and revenge.

I was in Weep. I ran with Lazlo straight towards danger. I felt my hands pass into the Mesarthium. Strange the Dreamer is an enthralling story, cover to cover you can’t step away. I give it Five “just go and read it” Stars.

[Stephanie]

This was wonderful, and great, and weird, and strange (huehuehue) and I loved it so much.

Minya is a stone-cold bitch (who is gr8). And Lazlo is a cinnamon roll, too pure for this world who I must protect at all costs, forever. Goodbye.

[verkaskodova]

Přesně takhle si představuji dílo spisovatele, který si plní sen. Co je na tom kouzelné, je, že Laini nepotřebuje žádnou přiblblou oživlou knihovnu, kterých už začíná být přecpáno, aby vzdala poctu nikoliv knihám, ale příběhům samotným.

A já koukám jako puk, protože mi celá dějová linka přišla extrémně jednoduchá a nakonec je to jedna z mála knih, které mi za poslední dobu opravdu vyrazily dech. Wow.

Příběh: 3/5
Charaktery: 5/5
Plynulost textu: 3/5
Jazyk: 5/5

Takže v hodnocení máme asi jasno.