Testing the Hype: Laini Taylor's "Strange the Dreamer" and "Muse of Nightmares"

Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone showed a promising style, so I skipped to her newer books: Strange the Dreamer and its sequel Muse of Nightmares. The writing didn't disappoint:

"There were two mysteries, actually: one old, one new. The old one opened his mind, but it was the new one that climbed inside, turned several circles, and settled in with a grunt - like a satisfied dragon in a cozy new lair."

Taylor has a knack for metaphors, and in Strange the Dreamer she proves to know how to craft a gripping story. On the first page, a girls falls to her death. For hundreds of pages the author ramps up the tension by making us wonder which of four girls will fall, and what her death will mean for a city that lost its name.

Right from the start we can identify with the main characters Lazlo Strange and Sarai. Out of the supporting cast, some fascinate us with many-layered personalities and growth. Others supply atmosphere and comic relief. The first half of Strange the Dreamer had me breathless. Only when Lazlo and Sarai meet, things got too lovey-dovey for my taste. The ending made up for it. I ran straight on to volume 2.

Spoilers ahead: In order to review Muse fo Nightmares, I have to tell you the ending of Strange the Dreamer and several plot twists from the second book.

Muse of Nightmares starts with Sarai dead, but not gone: Minya, an ambiguous character, has the power to catch the souls of the recently deceased, holding them in the world but binding them to her will. She holds Sarai's ghost hostage to control Lazlo Strange and his newfound demi-god powers. She wants to take revenge on the people who killed the gods in self-defense and her demi-god siblings in overkill. Will Lazlo help her slaughter a city or will she let Sarai's soul dissolve and vanish from the world? Or can Lazlo, Sarai and their friends find a different way? That's the tension Muse of Nightmares begins with.

I understand that Laini Taylor needs to show us what's at stake for Lazlo and Sarai. Still, the kissing and swooning got too much for me. Supporting characters trick Minya into drinking a sleeping potion, buying time. Time for trying out solutions, but also time for more cloying romance. The tension resolves when Laini Taylor brings in an outside foe who forces Minya to decide between her revenge and her family. The book ends with four (!) lovey-dovey couples, and not a single good guy dies to make up for it. On the contrary, Laini Taylor keeps giving her demi-god characters more power in order to save others from lethal wounds. Muse of Nightmares starts out promising, but spirals into easy victories and a cheap happy ending. The writing stays remarkable. I'll read another book by Laini Taylor when she learns to commit to a death.

Yours sincerely

Christina Widmann de Fran

Strange the Dreamer and Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor were published in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

Both are available on Amazon.co.uk.