Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

58 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, and Blood

Minor: Homophobia

djierie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious relaxing sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping

grets_reads's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death of parent

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape and Pregnancy

benmilo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I didn't expect to like this as much as I did. Laini Taylor's writing style feels like "calligraphy written in honey". It captured me instantly. The story feels like sitting at a campfire and being told old tales. I was also impressed by the nuance with which Taylor described her characters. At first sight there were heroes and monsters, but after looking closer that distinction wasn't clear anymore. Only thing I didn't like was the cliffhanger at the end,  made the ending feel very sudden. 
I loved this, gonna go buy Muse of Nightmares now. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Rape, Slavery, and Kidnapping

metaphorsandmisc's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Kidnapping, and War

kylemhaggerty's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Colonisation

elodiethefangirl's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Rape, Slavery, and Kidnapping

stripedstone's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

brindlecat's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Rape, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

takarakei's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Rape, Slavery, Violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

rape/SA:

nothing descriptive or on page, but it is discussed as something that happened regularly in the past of this society under the gods