Reviews with content warning for Violence - Strange the Dreamer

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Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

51 reviews

kathrynleereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

As a human, mysteries intrigue me. As a person who devoted years to the study of anthropology, mysteries of culture consume me.

So a story about a city, mysterious from the beginning, but suddenly lost, disappeared from the world? It felt like magic to have stumbled upon it.

Right from the prologue, Strange the Dreamer grabbed my attention and refused to let go.

The story, the characters, the settings, the dreams, they all just kept getting better and better.

Watching the history of Weep unfold bit by bit in tiny little shards of knowledge was mesmerizing.

Other than the gods themselves, there were no characters that I didn’t like.

The only two who came close were Minya and Thyon, but even the two of them weren’t evil, they just lacked compassion.

And the dreams.

Laini Taylor’s writing truly encompasses and deserves the word “art.”

I have long wished that I could dive into the worlds I read about, and then there I was, reading about a world I wanted to dive into, and within that world they were doing the same thing.

The connection I felt to Lazlo and Sarai as they dove into dreams together and made their stories was one of the strongest I’ve ever felt with a character (or characters in this case).

I’m both excited and terrified to learn where the story, and the unseen city of Weep itself, go from here.

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grets_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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stripedstone's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes

4.5

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takarakei's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book gave me Miyazaki vibes and I say that as someone who strongly dislikes the comparison of almost any book to his movies because I rarely agree. I was specifically thinking about Laputa a lot, but also bits of Howl's and Spirited Away.

Just really beautiful writing, very descriptive imagery that built a very lush and intriguing world. I am very excited to read the sequel.

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lifeonasofa's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Strange the Dreamer 🦋

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 Stars

I adored this book 😭 I was so worried at the start as I went in blind. The descriptive writing, whilst beautiful, had me doubting if I could make it through this chonk of a book. But I needn’t have worried 🥰

Laini creates such a clear picture of the world. The premise of the book, the plot itself - so original. Books opening with the promise of adventure, aren’t usually my thing but I was absorbed completely once we met Sarai and her fellow blues 👀

The characters are the reason this book won my heart. They were really well developed, I felt I knew each and every one of them. The whole romance thing was done in such a delicate way, I didn’t mind it. 💕

And that ending! How dare you!! I’ll never recover 🤯

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carolined314's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Enjoyed this one a lot, and also it really missed the mark with racism allegories and some odd depictions of trauma. I am also soooo tired of the magical orphan saving the day by being fancy.

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nyree42's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

4.0

Beautifully written, magical and hopeful yet challenging and dark story about mysterious people with otherworldly and dangerous powers, and the city who fears them. Glad I read it when the second book is available to pick up immediately, since it ends on a cliffhanger.

On the negative side:

Note that the adult/minor relationship tag refers to a 20-year-old in a romantic relationship with a 17-year-old, which I personally think is close enough in age to be acceptable in the world of this story, although other readers may not agree, as in our real world it seems rather sus for a 3rd year college student to be dating an 11th grader in high school.

There are also descriptions of a sexually active 15-year-old with their teenage lover, plus mentions of another young couple who are sleeping together. All the teenage sex, despite not being graphically described but only alluded to artistically, was rather off-putting because an adult writer should not be encouraging her adolescent readers to engage in sex - it leads to consequences like STDs/STIs, unwanted pregnancies, and emotions that are too complicated for most young people to understand.

This inevitably results in broken hearts and emotional trauma in the majority of cases, which then leads to some (or many) people having difficulty finding love as adults because their teen romances ripped a hole in their heart they've not been able to repair so far. For real, I know people in their 50s who still haven't recovered from their adolescent entanglements and that's why they are single today... and that's why their would-be partner is also single. These are consequences that resulted in the unhappiness of two people (much like Eril-Fane and Azareen in this book, although in their case they had no choice in the matter).

So if you're a teenager reading this review - don't be inspired by the exploits of the young lovers in this book, and instead wait until you're older to chase... "that." You'll have more of a chance to mature and develop so that you also meet somebody mature who can give you the true love you'll want to receive and give in return.

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