“I think you’re a fairy tale. I think you’re magical, and brave, and exquisite. And I hope you’ll let me be in your story.”
Recently, I read Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor.
Immediately following that, I reread Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor.
Then I realized that it was one of the best books that I’ve ever read.
Strange the Dreamer follows twenty-year-old librarian and orphan Lazlo Strange, and seventeen-year-old Sarai. Lazlo has a fascination with the long-forgotten city of Weep. A city where the women wore their hair down to the lapis lazuli tiled streets and the children ran along ribbons connecting the domes of the buildings and where cakes were placed on windowsills waiting to be eaten. That is, until it was cut off from the world. Two hundred years ago everything ceased. No caravans crossed the great desert that separates Weep from the rest of the world. No word was heard of the forgotten city.
But Lazlo didn’t forget. Even though he was ridiculed for his obsession with finding a city most believed to be nothing more than fantasy and legend, Lazlo never forgot. He never even forgot the moment when, fifteen years ago, the city’s name was stolen from his mind and instead replaced with the word Weep. Even after everyone decided that this must have always been the city’s name and nothing else, for what could explain the fact that everyone only remembers “Weep”?
Lazlo knew it was the work of magic. He felt it the moment the city’s true name was stripped from his mind. After that, he spent all of his time searching for clues of Weep. He never gave up, and his dream came to fruition when he was given the opportunity to go to Weep, the Unseen City.
The adventure that ensues is one that is full of magic and wonderment. Laini crafts characters that are unlike any I have ever read. Lazlo is kind, and sometimes shy. He doesn’t always say what’s o n his mind, though he should, because what is on his mind is usually something that would bring great wisdom to any situation.
Sarai, though to tell you who she is (or what) would be to spoil, know that she, like Lazlo, is kind, and wise beyond her years. She loves people fiercely and brings out the best in whoever she is around. Though she has faced heartache and has gone through things no one should ever have to, she chooses to love, not hate.
Laini Taylor’s writing can only be described as magic. Every word is so meticulously chosen that it feels like a song. It never gets boring, or drags. Even when there is hardly any action, you keep reading and stay on the edge of your seat just from the sheer beauty of her words. The whole book feels like a dream that you can let yourself fall into.
A+ story. A+ writing. A+(+++++++++++++) characters. I loved everything about it.
