Ironically, words elude me in describing a book that captures them so well. It feels as if the world of storytelling was invented with Strange the Dreamer – a collection of tales interweaved into one story that would rival the collection of any library in existence, and sewn together in the most spectacular fashion that it will have you absorbed in its pages, and regretting that moment when you look up and realise you’re not inside it.
Strange the Dreamer, tells a story savouring in the delights of the fantastical; with azure blue gods; warriors with caged scorpions on their belts; an Adonis who has all the makings of a mad scientist; and a librarian known as Lazlo, who only wants to save an Unseen City told in the folklore of his orphaned years. But there’s also murder, ghosts, pain, trauma and most of all, longing. Whether that’s in the form of comfort, a reprieve from death, or to find a different life – maybe with someone else.
Lazlo Strange, the titular character, has lived in fables, myths and legends, never imagining, dreaming – yes, but never believing he would become a part of them one day. That he would witness with his own eyes the city of Weep, and with it possibly answer the question of what became of the city once famous for its beauty? Of golden-domes and rich stories filled with demons and vanquishers? And why fifteen years ago was its name ripped from the memories of anyone who’d ever heard the tale? Only to be replaced by a name that conjured the rotten salted taste of tears; Weep.
Then there’s Sarai, a beauty as rare as a blue diamond, though she holds a shame within her and a flurry of nightmares that plague both her waking and dreaming life. Forced to live an existence away from the living, and instead a life of hate, Sarai seeks to escape from a path of revenge – one caused by a most blood-curdling tale, and which began and ended with a man known as the Godslayer.
From the opening prologue there’s no quiet moment, the unexplained and the magical working to keep you enthralled as you try to untangle the who, the what, and the where it will lead to? Unpredictable in many regards, Strange the Dreamer does have a trope – that the hero, Lazlo is underestimated, mistreated and ridiculed for not being anything special but a dreamer – but maybe that’s just what’s needed.
There is a caravan of collectable characters in Laini Taylor’s work, whose stories are full of mystery and could be separate books in their own right, but Strange the Dreamer primarily centres around Lazlo and Sarai, which works well in building a strong sense of connection to their adventures, as well as both empathy and hope for what will happen. Where brief perspectives (still told in the third person) are given on the surrounding characters, the reader is given an enjoyable snippet of their history and with it more sorrow. For many of the characters in the book assume a position on either side of the fence, strongly believing what’s right and wrong, and as readers we’re initially join in doing the same. However, Taylor recognises this and goes to great lengths in explaining the reasoning of each side; thereby changing our emotions and viewpoints on a character. It’s a powerful technique that leaves the reader to see the middle ground, and through this you see a life more torn and hurt, where before you felt only anger or disgust.
The book is full of wonderfully inescapable worlds, but more than this there are beautiful little points of prose that having nothing to do with the plot, but pull you in none the less to its magic; ‘The frieze alone boasted a thousand sparrows so lifelike that real birds had been known to while away their lives romancing them in vain.’ This technique of poetry is further added to with a definition of a word being given before each of the book’s four acts. The selected word having in some way a reference to what will happen.
In reading Strange the Dreamer I was left with just one question; please, let me have just five more minutes of sleep? I don’t want this dream to end, and thankfully the witchery entrapment of Taylor’s magical writing doesn’t need to. The tales of Strange The Dreamer being the first in a two-part series of the same name, with the tale concluding in Muse of Nightmares, which without spoilers continues to engross the reader. Although it’s just shy of missing the first book’s pull in excitement, but is still full of intrigue and worlds of adventure. This duo of books leaving you desperately wishing for a set of wings so as to join in with their flight.
Other Notable Works by Laini Taylor:
- Strange the Dreamer:
+ Muse of Nightmares 2018 (2) - Faeries of Dreamdark:
+ Silksinger 2009 (2)
+ Blackbringer 2007 (1) - Daughter of Smoke & Bone Trilogy:
+ Dreams of Gods and Monsters 2014 (3)
+ Night of Cake & Puppets 2013 (2.5)
+ Days of Blood & Starlight 2012 (2)
+ Daughter of Smoke & Bone 2011 (1)
Book Edition Information:
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 9781444788945
Cover Design: Shutterstock
Presented Edition: 2018 Paperback
Background image courtesy of An Tran on Unsplash
