December 2017 Book Club: Strange the Dreamer

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy

 

The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.

What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?

The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries...

Based on the ratings, I went into Strange the Dreamer expecting something spectacular, but I ended up being a bit underwhelmed. This was our book club read and one thing that was discussed was how good Laini Taylor is at creating worlds. Unfortunately she doesn't seem to know exactly what to do with them after she creates them. If you like flowery, lyrical writing then you will certainly appreciate that about this book, and I do to a point, but that is not enough to keep me interested in the story. I need the story to dig deeper into the characters and the world building.

I think most people who read this probably feel a real emotional connection with it and that might be why there are so many high ratings. And you know what, that's ok. I've rated my share of books that way as well. For me though, I just didn't feel that connection this time, even though there were some beautiful moments. This is the first book in a duology and I thought it really didn't need to be. There's a lot of filler here with not a lot actually happening for as long as the book is. There is a huge cliffhanger at the end of this book, so most people who read it are going to want to read the next one, but I think I'm good with ending here.