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

Apr 23, 2017 Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) rated it really liked it

Shelves: completed-series, fantastic-hero, great-side-characters, young-adult, look-at-the-pretty-cover, re-read, for-a-challenge, fantasy, 4-and-a-half-stars, paranormal

Read: April 2017
Original rating: ★★★★
Re-read: September 8, 2020
Rating after re-read: ★★★★

4 stars. I’ve had the sequel to this book on my shelf since it came out and I honestly had forgotten everything that happened in this one. This was a necessary re-read. I remember the first time I read this it was hard to get into because it was really slow and it was the same thing again here. There’s just so many slow and dull moments but the middle to the end is where things pick up and really get going. Read: April 2017
Original rating: ★★★★
Re-read: September 8, 2020
Rating after re-read: ★★★★

4 stars. I’ve had the sequel to this book on my shelf since it came out and I honestly had forgotten everything that happened in this one. This was a necessary re-read. I remember the first time I read this it was hard to get into because it was really slow and it was the same thing again here. There’s just so many slow and dull moments but the middle to the end is where things pick up and really get going. The writing is absolutely stunning and I still really love Lazlo’s character. I think this was a good set up book but I feel like I’ll love the sequel even more and that’s where things were really going to get good and interesting.

{Challenges completed:
✔All Challenges All The Time: The Big Bang Theory Challenge
✔All Challenges Group: A Series of Unfortunate Events TV Challenge
✔For Love of a Book: School Supply Shopping Challenge
✔The Challenge Factory: Scooby-Doo Mysteries Challenge
✔YA Buddy Readers’ Corner: Read Whatever You Want Team Challenge (Team Cher)}

Original Review:
“You’re a storyteller. Dream up something wild and improbable," she pleaded. "Something beautiful and full of monsters."

“Beautiful and full of monsters?"

“All the best stories are.”

4 stars. Not going to lie this took a little bit for me to get into, hence the four stars, but once it picked up it got so freaking good.

Laini is an amazing writer and yes, that sounds redundant because everyone says it but I will never not mention this fact. Seriously, her prose and writing is just superb and so beautiful. The world building in this was great and so vivid. I think my main struggle was the plot itself. I was lost in the beginning. For the first hundred or so pages I was just so damn confused but as it went on I started to get it and I must say, it definitely is a unique plot.

I loved Lazlo. I thought he was a great character and I enjoyed reading from his perspective. I enjoyed the other characters as well, but I did find that I wasn't as connected to them like I was to Lazlo.

Overall, this was a great first book to this duology and I cannot wait to see how she will tie it all up in the next book. ...more

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Jan 13, 2018 ☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: menu-reading-is-served

Q:
“You’re a storyteller. Dream up something wild and improbable," she pleaded. "Something beautiful and full of monsters." (c) ...more

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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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