Muse of Nightmares (Strange the Dreamer, #2)

by Laini Taylor

[Jo]

Second read: I’d forgotten so much about this story. I remembered it was epic, but not exactly how. Such a heartbreaking, beautiful story. I am so, so excited for whatever story Taylor gives us next. Her imagination seems boundless, and I’m really looking forward to it.

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Originally posted on Once Upon a Bookcase.

Trigger Warning: This book features discussion of rape, and graphic, gory violence.

I have been dying to read Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor ever since finishing Strange the Dreamer, and have been patiently waiting for it. Oh my god, was it worth the wait! I knew it was going to be epic, but man, is it epic!

Muse of Nightmares starts where Strange the Dreamer left off, with Minya intent on having her revenfe on the people of Weep, holding Sarai's soul in balance, promising that she'll let her evanesce if Lazlo doesn't do exactly what she says. Because Sarai is now dead, her soul caught by Minya, and Lazlo is now a god himself - one who can manipulate Mesarthium, the strange blue metal the citadel is made of. That is where Strange the Dreamer finished, and it's where Muse of Nightmares begins, and I'm not going to tell you anything more about the plot of the story, because there are spoilers from the very beginning.

But Taylor takes the themes from the first book, and explores them further in a subtler way. Who is a villain and who is a hero? What is evil, and what is right? Minya is absolutely intent on slaughtering every living person in Weep; she is bloodthirsty and full of rage, and genuinely quite scary. But in Muse of Nightmares, we come to understand Minya a whole lot more. What she's been through, what she witnessed, what she heard. What she is still dealing with to this day. It's horrific, and I just wanted to give this little girl the biggest hug. Minya is complicated, and she needs help. As I finally started to understand her, and all she's experienced, my heart just broke for her.

And my heart broke more than once. With Muse of Nightmares, we're introduced to two other new characters, and their story seems just that, a story. Like a fairy tale from Miracles for Breakfast. But it's not; their story is as real as Sarai and Lazlo's. And it is so unbelievably heartbreaking. It was unbearable. And it's a love story to trump all love stories. And it goes back to the themes Taylor explores: what is evil, and what is right? What will you do, how far will you go, for someone you love? What makes a hero, and what makes a villain? Mate, this story is so unbelievably tragic, I can't bear it. But it's through their story, and how it links with Sarai and Lazlo's that we finally get our answers. Who are the Mesarthim? Where did they come from? Why were they here? And what happened to all those children, the godspawn, who were born in the citadel over 200 years?

There's unendurable heartbreak, there's trauma that goes bone-deep, and guilt that is heavier than the citadel itself, but there is also beauty. There is love. There is pure joy and giddiness in that love. Because the changes Lazlo and Sarai have been through has not affected their love one bit. And now they're really in front of each, really right there. And they managed, here and there, to steal moments for themselves. And, my god, it's just so beautiful. It's new, and it's pure, and it's all encompassing. It had my heart fit to burst. But there's isn't the only love story. There are smaller ones, and one that, again, broke my heart. But there's also healing and recovery amidst all the tragedy, and there's hope.

There are some small, tiny elements of the story that made me so, so happy, but I can't talk about them because they are spoilers. But I absolutely have to talk about them, so if you've not read the book yet, do not hit the button below. Seriously, you should really discover these moments yourself.


Ok, so, Taylor had previously mentioned in interviews that the Strange the Dreamer duology is in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone multiverse. I did not know this. But because of the Seraphim, while reading the first book, I did think, "Wouldn't it be cool if this world and the worlds in Daughter of Smoke and Bone were linked?" It was just a little wish, but in Muse of Nightmares, that wish became a theory that ended up not completely off. The Seraphim caused it all! Can we please talk Easter Eggs?! A young queen training chimera to fight the darkness, "but that's another story"?! Can we talk about Suheyla telling Minya that the people of Weep put their teeth under their pillow when they fall out and make a wish! TEETH IN EXCHANGE FOR WISHES, PEOPLE! And Lazlo and Sarai's conversation about whether they could find someone, in all the worlds, who would be able to give her back a body! AND HOW MINYA HAS ALL THEIR BABY TEETH! Oh my god! Oh my god! I am just dying! And Taylor told me herself on Twitter that there are more Easter eggs in the finished edition because of charts in secret alphabets to decode... and I just don't know what to do with myself. (The day this review goes live is the day I will be buying my finished copy of the book, and you bet I'll be pouring over it.)

So! I have thoughts! There is going to be another story, and perhaps another after that, and perhaps maybe more. They will all interlinks, all part of this multiverse. And then at some point, the characters from all these books will meet, and they'll help Karou fight the Darkness! The gang, everyone we love, will be together! We'll get to see them again! And they'll fight together! And I am so excited! I mean, I am ecstatic! Can you imagine?! Of course, this is just a theory. There's nothing in the books that says this will happen, but I think there are a lot of hints, and I don't know how I'm even able to stay still, because I am just joy and delight in human form, and I can't contain my excitement!

There is so much thought and foresight that Taylor brought to this duology. I mean, the planning that must have gone into it. This whole duology is all about consequences, really, but this whole story is a consequence! A consequence of actions taken so many years ago I'm not sure there's even a number, when people with power made a choice, took a step, and chose to oppress, and in doing so, paved the way for others with their own power centuries (millennia?) later to make the lives of the people of Weep a living hell. This story isn't just epic in regards to what happens in the story, but in the span of this story, how it started god knows how many years before Strange the Dreamer. Taylor is just a genius. She is. I've talked before about her beautiful writing and the language, and how it envelopes you and is just a gem in itself, and how she is an expert storyteller, weaving those words to tell something so brilliant. But the depth of her imagination, the scope! I mean, can you imagine if something happened and Taylor decided not to write? To give it up, and take a different path? It's just unimaginable. The joy her books have brought to people, the delight. I do not what to imagine a world in which Taylor's books don't exist, in which Taylor doesn't right, because it would be grim. We need her stories, I need her stories, because in this world that is just so hard sometimes, Taylor's worlds are a flaming torch, a bonfire in the dark. And I am so, so grateful to her for writing them.

Muse of Nightmares is just perfect. Simply perfect. Being a dulogy, and knowing this was the last book, I was worried about finishing it, finishing this story, and having to say goodbye to characters I love and adore again. But the ending was perfect, and there was no sadness on finishing Muse of Nightmares, just unadulterated joy, to the point that I almost cried with happiness. I am so, so excited to see what Taylor brings us next, because I know for a fact it will just be phenomenal. Taylor is incapable of anything but. And I will patiently wait for her next masterpiece, because that's another story.

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for the proof.