Hey everyone!

A few weeks ago I finished this book and have been waiting to talk about it on this blog ever since.

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor is a young adult high fantasy novel. The story follows the story loving Lazlo Strange, an orphan who dreams of one day seeing the lost city of Weep. Nobody knows the city’s true name, nobody knows where its magic comes from and where its magic has gone but Lazlo still dreams. Even though he is surrounded by scholars and academics in the royal library he works at, Lazlo has never been interested in the science of the real world. This book follows a lover of other worlds and other stories.

I don’t think I could have written a summary that does this book enough justice. Strange the Dreamer deserves an unquantifiable amount of magic justice. That is, this book is the most magical I have read in a long long while.

I have always been interested in what lies just beyond the everyday and so I was delighted to find, when reading this book, that Laini Taylor is just as fascinated too. Strange the Dreamer is a truly strange and beautiful book. Taylor constructs a visually decadent world and weaves a cast of stunningly unique characters into a vibrant narrative. Until reading this novel I didn’t realise how much I enjoyed Taylor’s writing style. I would describe it as a cross between magical-realism and pure poetry. The language itself is a magic in this book.

Lazlo oozes with quirks, he is the perfectly whimsical anti hero, but what I found most lovable about his character was his unwavering belief in his dreams. It is a lesson to all of us to not only be ambitious in the goals we set but also be authentic in the dreams we pursue. I imagine that if I were to be adventuring alongside Lazlo to the lost city of Weep (no spoilers!) then we could both just spend hours geeking out about fantasy books.

This was a brief but hopefully interesting review of a book that is quite literally out of this world. I highly recommend reading Strange the Dreamer if not for the language then for the escape itself.

I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars.

Keep on reading!

And thanks again Beth.