Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer, #1)

by Laini Taylor

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

This book broke me.

I love novels that wrap you up so thoroughly in their world that, when you're finished, it's like walking out of a dark movie theatre into bright sunlight. You're both a bit shocked by the sudden change of atmosphere, and filled with a bubbling need to talk to EVERYONE about what you just experienced.

Hi, I'm Amber, and I just read Strange the Dreamer.

This book is BEAUTIFUL. It's a heart-wrenching love story, mythology, war, magic and science and adventure and family and finding a way to fit into ones own skin. Laslo Strange and a dozen others are brought to the once-believed mythical city of Weep to help solve the problem of the immovable citadel in the sky. He never expected to discover a beautiful blue-skinned young lady in his dreams, or answers to his past.

Laslo is a kind, good man. He is called Strange the Dreamer, and reading about him, his dreams spilled out like ink on to the page and left me in thrall. I adored him and I was eery rooting for him to be happy and whole. I loved the love story. And Sarai, our other main story line, was brave and strong in her own accord. I enjoyed the both. The minor characters, and the despicable villain, are just as well developed and lovable.

But it is Laini's WRITING that draws me in the most. Every sentence is beautifully crafted. The book is lyrical without allowing the words to distract from the story. She's a true master of the art, and I am sold on her work.

I will absolutely be continuing on to Muse of Nightmares. I am so broken by the ending of this book, so you know. Know that the ending is brutal.