"Strange the Dreamer" Discuss Everything *Spoilers*

[SFFBC, Ancillary Mod]

Come share all your thoughts on the fantasy book of the month for May!

A few questions to get us started:

1. What did you think of the writing style?
2. What did you think of the world?
3. What did you think were some of the themes of this book?
4. Overall thoughts?

First Impressions thread here.

[Hank, Hankenstein's Modster]

I really enjoyed the first 75%, I thought Taylors writing flowed well and was evocative emotionally. I liked the romance but thought it went a bit too in depth at the end and I also thought that Eril-Fane's internal conflict was overdone.

I definitely enjoyed it and thought it had 5 star potential with a bit of trimming but certainly that is only my opinion.

[Tracy]

I loved this book! Loved the characters, especially Strange. I immediately read the sequel.

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

The writing style was very evocative, and the imagery was striking. The world is mind-boggling. I have now read several recent fantasy novels with “gods” - these books have all been amazingly inventive! I keep wondering where the ideas are coming from! The themes of them all is basically an overlord with outrageous powers is an overlord who becomes or is outrageously corrupt in time. A cubic zirconia looks the same as a diamond, but most definitely is not the same. Overwhelming power is not the same as overwhelming Good.

[Morganne]

I'm really glad I read this book. It is precisely what I want to read when I say I want a fantasy book. I was a bit intimidated by the size at first but I ended up reading it so fast because it was quite enjoyable.
The writing style caught me up at first because I'm used to very matter-of-fact writing, and this very different than that, but in the greatest way possible. Once I got into the flow of it, it was fantastic.
(view spoiler)[ The world building in this book had me enthralled. I feel like there was a good balance between things that were explained in great detail and things that were left to the imagination. I loved the visuals of the gods, and how they are implied to be from another world. I also love that they are just super flawed humans with special powers.
Essentially the book is about a dreamer who achieves all of his dreams, but the dreams always come out sideways. He finds his fabled city, but its in a horrible state. He can save said city, but now he's viewed as a monster. He finally meets the girl of his dreams but oops she's no longer corporeal. He can save her, but now she's forever enslaved. Much like real life, the things you want the most may not really be what is good for you. "be careful what you wish for" on a much larger scale. (hide spoiler)]
I got this book from my library but about halfway through I knew I needed to purchase it and its sequel for my personal collection. I cannot wait to start Muse of Nightmares (but I think I'll read a buffer book in between so I can savor the first a bit more.)

[Roberta]

I’m halfway though and the book is quite amazing. At first the slightly ‘lyrical’ quality of the writing was a bit annoying. But I’ve gotten used to it as the story progresses.

Lazlo is such an extraordinary character. His wonder at everything involving Weep is so sweet.

I know what I’ll be doing the rest of the weekend…

[Kirsi]

Just finished. I enjoyed the prose and loved the world and the characters but thought the romance was painfully juvenile - which, of course, it really was, but reading about it was still a little eyeroll-worthy.

Not quite a five-star read, because I guessed most of the plot twists beforehand and thus wasn't surprised when they actually happened. Still, this was a lovely book and I went and bought the sequel straight away. Even if I'm not enthusiastic about the romance, I want to know what happens to the characters!

[Roberta]

Ok. I just finished. Like several other fellow readers, I give this one 4 stars. Some aspects of the plot were a bit predictable. So much emphasis is placed on Lazlo being 'different' and an orphan with an unknown background it felt it was being set up for something more. Plot was probably the only area where it was a little bit disappointing. Don't get me wrong-'Strange the Dreamer' is a very, very good book. But it could have perhaps been even better with some plot tweaks.

As far as the writing style, I wasn't too crazy about the fairy-tale like quality Taylor starts the book out with. She does wind up moving into a more traditional style of storytelling once she has the reader hooked on the characters. I think characterization is definitely a strong factor in this book and Taylor does it well. There is nothing worse than a novel with no likeable characters in it, and there are plenty of folks to cheer for in 'Strange the Dreamer.' Lazlo is immediately likeable. But who doesn't love the wide-eyed Librarian?

The world building is pretty good, but I anticipate there is more coming in the 2nd book. The origin of the Mesarthim is, of course, the biggest question. Taylor is extremely skilled in her descriptions of setting. If this book was only based on setting and characters, it would have gotten 5 stars from me.

The themes in this book are only subtle because they're woven into such an intense and vibrant setting. Prejudice and hatred based upon skin color, the strong preying on the weak, monsters can dwell in the unlikeliest of places (looking at you, Minya), and the power of love are all well represented.

I wouldn't have found this book if it weren't for this book club, so I'm very grateful for the introduction and chance to read this.

[Tesseract]

well written! I liked the writing style (even if it was wordy at times) and the worldbuilding was very interesting.

Roberta wrote: "The themes in this book are only subtle because they're woven into such an intense and vibrant setting."

I actually thought the themes were too explicitly stated, haha. some of the characters have the same thoughts over and over again, like lazlo not being used to being valued and sarai having empathy for humans. these could have been shown through actions/reactions instead of overtly repeated.