Muse of Nightmares (Strange the Dreamer, #2)

by Laini Taylor

[empressbrooke]

I probably liked part 1 of this duology better out of the two, but as a whole package taken together (the start of Muse of Nightmares starts up right where Strange the Dreamer left off), it's definitely a 5-star read.

The biggest source of joy for me was how creative Laini Taylor is - every single plot beat that I was anticipating ended up not happening. I'd started off Strange the Dreamer assuming that much of the beginning of the book would be Thyon and Lazlo on an expedition trying to find Weep. And then the Tizerkane showed up looking for people to bring to Weep and I thought, "Welp, who knows now." And I wasn't able to predict how any of it was going to unfold, and the setting and its inhabitants were all so very unique.

I put off reading Muse of Nightmares for a little bit because I thought that I was going to have to spend the first half of the book slogging through Minya forcing Lazlo and Sarai to terrorize Weep and that just made me sad and tired. And of course I should have expected it to veer off in an entirely different direction that I again couldn't predict. I was thrilled that I didn't have to watch the poor people of Weep get terrorized and that I was still being kept on my toes. I read so much that it's very easy to see the typical patterns that plots take, so it's just so wonderful when something can take me by surprise.

I also really liked the development of Thyon and Minya - the author did such an excellent job showing why they are who they are. Despite the conflicts that the story revolves around, it was impossible to consider anyone the antagonist.