Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer, #1) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Mar 07, 2018 Anita Reads rated it liked it

Shelves: read-2018, fantasy, young-adult

3 stars is after some thinking what I'll end up giving this book.

I didn't connect very much to the characters, and the insta love story was not my cup of tea. I found myself cringing when she started spending what felt like pages about their first kiss. It just didn't seem necessary. I'm happy so many enjoy this book, but it was just not for me, and I'm not sure if I want to continue, even though the ending was pretty interesting.

I also just have to remind myself that athough so many seems to l ...more

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Feb 11, 2021 Elle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-star-reads

I'm calling it now. This is going to be in my top reads for this year. I loved this book so freaking much! Laini Taylor's writing is beautiful and gripping. I get sucked right in. It is so wonderfully lyrical and makes everything feel like it has some kind of dreamlike quality to it. The story just floats and feels unavoidably connecting. This is what I commonly refer to as a "huggable book"--one that I need to be able to have and love forever.

The character development and interactions nearly h I'm calling it now. This is going to be in my top reads for this year. I loved this book so freaking much! Laini Taylor's writing is beautiful and gripping. I get sucked right in. It is so wonderfully lyrical and makes everything feel like it has some kind of dreamlike quality to it. The story just floats and feels unavoidably connecting. This is what I commonly refer to as a "huggable book"--one that I need to be able to have and love forever.

The character development and interactions nearly had me in tears. Lazlo and Sarai are both such great characters. Lazlo is so gentle and yet so brilliant. He manages to balance being amazingly decent to all those around him (regardless of how they treat him in return) with a sheer determination and will that are unbending. He is so focused on his goals, yet so aware and understanding of his surroundings. He is genuine and wonderful and such a little cinnamon roll of a protagonist.

Sarai I adored as well, though admittedly not quite as much as Lazlo. She is innocent, but at the same time understands the balance of the two world better than any of the other characters presented. She is compassionate and willing to admit that she does not yet know or understand everything. She is able to consider the situation from the viewpoints of others and truly wishes for a balance. She is a great teenage protagonist.

The plot was continuously interesting and peppered with new pieces of understanding in a stealthy, masterful way. Things just slip in quietly in small increments and then effectively take everything you thought you knew and twist it into knots. I was constantly on the edge of my seat both excited and apprehensive about where things would go.

The world is beautiful, curious, and unique (in true Laini Taylor fashion). I loved so much of it. There is a masterful balance of light and dark and the use of grand metaphor is marvelous. The fairytale quality of the narrative and the city of Weep also just had me swooning. Magical indeed.

The pacing did have some weak moments and inconsistencies, but these felt negligible. Additionally, instalove usually drives me crazy and turns me off of a story in a fairly big way. But something about this matchup just felt right. I was rooting for it. Rarely do I feel a case of OTP syndrome, but this one...yep. Nailed it.

Also, can I just address the use of relevant social constructs? Placing two races inherently at odds based solely on looks and judging others by the sins of their ancestors speak to such grander and more powerful messages. This is somehow subtlely, but at once also obviously done that it just seeps into your soul. Gah. I loved this book.

I'm usually terrible about continuing a series in a timely fashion, but this one I am chomping at the bit for. I don't know that I'll be able to avoid sliding Muse of Nightmares into my already burgeoning TBR for very long. ...more

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Jul 10, 2018 Desiree M ~*~*~ LiveReadCollect rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult, witches-wizards-magic-users, fantasy, ghosts-and-spirits, 2-star-reads, pre-ordered-books, favorite-covers, hero-beta, books-i-sold-or-donated, listened-to-audiobook

2 stars.

First half: 1.5 stars. Second half: 2.5 stars. Narrator: 4 stars (loved his voice but I kept zoning out)

Let me start off by saying that I'm surprised at how low I've rated this. I loved the Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy. I loved Night of Cake and Puppets. So I was, while not completely interested in the plot of this story, excited to get started on another Laini Taylor read.

When I first started this, I couldn't get past page 60-ish. The pacing was so slow, for some reason I wasn't ...more

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Aug 01, 2017 Alex rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, fiction, fantasy, young-adult, 5-stars, authors-t, library, read-2017

Laini Taylor could write a shopping list and I would probably want to read it.

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Aug 21, 2018 Jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: d-favorites, d-own, d-re-read, ya-all-recs, audiobook, ya-recs-males, ya-recs-fantasy, ya-recs-paranormal, ya-ya, ya-recs-romance

3.5 rounded up to 4.

Entertaining epic high fantasy. It could have been edited down a little.

Some sexual content.

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Sep 28, 2017 Athena Macmillan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: cultural-issues, social-perceptions, ya-fiction, romance, favourites, gut-wrencher, action-packed, mystery, fantastic-writing, engaging-plot

How am I expected to read and enjoy any other book as I wait, heart in throat, for the conclusion of this duology?

There are very few books that manage to completely sweep me away and lose me in another world, the skepticism is strong in me. But I am absolutely blown away with how much I completely invested myself in the characters and world created in this book, and how disappointed I am that reality is still waiting for me on the other side.

The worldbuilding is completely original from anything ...more

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