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hiddeninfantasy's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
sarah_cameron's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.75
A slow start but the characters were interesting and well fleshed out. The last quarter was executed really well and brought my attention back to the book, excited to give the sequel a go!
Content Warnings
Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
sadiebreed's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Rape and Sexual violence
Minor: Death of parent
msradiosilence's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
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? No
4.0
Tldr; I hate the age gap between Lazlo and Sarai, because it was entirely unnecessary as the characters speak for themselves. The setting is beautiful.
Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/strange-the-dreamer.
Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/strange-the-dreamer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
anushar's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.0
I’m in a reading slump right now but this book was beautiful. The story itself was not incredibly exciting or as action packed as most fantasies, but the way the author described everything with such care and reverence sucked me in. The prose of this book is incredibly hyped up and for good reason, this reads like a fairy tale but more personal. I honestly adored the characters, they were complex and funny and each relatable in their own way. I feel like this book was great at subtly tackling racism, the effects of war and how those things affect peoples characters. Overall this was very well done, however I struggled a bit while reading it simply because of the slower pace of the book.
4/5 stars!
4/5 stars!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Rape, Xenophobia, and Death of parent
Minor: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
sad
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Death of parent
Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Kidnapping
oddduck's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
This was a reread for me, and I did not remember anything that had happened (because I read this 5 years ago, when it first came out), but as I was reading this time, I was very certain that many of my thoughts were the same ones I had the first time I read this.
For starters, this is a very beautiful book. I love the cover, and the writing itself is also very lovely. I was especially drawn to the way she kept slipping absolutely knockout lines about the nature of humanity in amongst the description and exposition. The first time I read this and got to the part where Sarai tells Lazlo, "Good people do all the things bad people do. It's just that when they do them, they call it justice." I had to stop reading, copy the quote down, and just sit for a minute. And Laini Taylor drops lines like that everywhere in this book! It was quite delightful for me.
I also remembered how much I loved the complexity of this story. The relationship between the citizens of Weep and the surviving godspawn was especially fascinating to me because both sides have very valid feelings about what happened. The mesarthim very much terrorized and traumatized Weep for two centuries, so it's hard to feel bad about Eril-Fane murdering them. It's really the murder of the baby godspawn that is the sticking point. Because I understand why he did it, but I still can't help but wonder how those children might have grown up if they'd been sent somewhere else, where they could be raised with love (because that was never going to happen in Weep and after the trauma those people went through, raising the godspawn would only be inflicting further trauma on them). So I understand Eril-Fane's motivation and don't think he was really wrong in his actions, but we also get Sarai and Minya's views, and their feelings about this situation also make sense and are justified. This whole situation is very complicated and messy and it's one where there is no solution that will make everyone happy, which is very difficult to deal with, but it's handled very adeptly here.
Despite all the things I enjoyed in about this book, I did have a hard time getting into it and staying in it. Part of this, I think, is that I don't really care for full on fantasy worlds, which this is. It's nothing against this book or fantasy in general, it's just hard for me personally to read, and I acknowledge that and read accordingly. Beyond that though, this book was just very slow to me, especially at the beginning. The scene where Thyon Nero requisitions Lazlo's books about Weep spanned far too many chapters, for example, because there was a lot of backstory and exposition that got in the way. It was all interesting, and I know why it was included, but because the writing style itself is very slow, all of these extra scenes in the middle of the the action made parts of this really drag for me. This technique also made it difficult to remember what was happening in the present, even with the narrative clues, purely because there was so much other information I had to absorb. And this continued throughout the book. The last 50 or so pages were probably my favorite, because so much happened, and it all happened in a much faster pace. It was exciting and I wish the rest of the book had been more like that, because the story itself is very interesting.
For starters, this is a very beautiful book. I love the cover, and the writing itself is also very lovely. I was especially drawn to the way she kept slipping absolutely knockout lines about the nature of humanity in amongst the description and exposition. The first time I read this and got to the part where Sarai tells Lazlo, "Good people do all the things bad people do. It's just that when they do them, they call it justice." I had to stop reading, copy the quote down, and just sit for a minute. And Laini Taylor drops lines like that everywhere in this book! It was quite delightful for me.
I also remembered how much I loved the complexity of this story. The relationship between the citizens of Weep and the surviving godspawn was especially fascinating to me because both sides have very valid feelings about what happened. The mesarthim very much terrorized and traumatized Weep for two centuries, so it's hard to feel bad about Eril-Fane murdering them. It's really the murder of the baby godspawn that is the sticking point. Because I understand why he did it, but I still can't help but wonder how those children might have grown up if they'd been sent somewhere else, where they could be raised with love (because that was never going to happen in Weep and after the trauma those people went through, raising the godspawn would only be inflicting further trauma on them). So I understand Eril-Fane's motivation and don't think he was really wrong in his actions, but we also get Sarai and Minya's views, and their feelings about this situation also make sense and are justified. This whole situation is very complicated and messy and it's one where there is no solution that will make everyone happy, which is very difficult to deal with, but it's handled very adeptly here.
Despite all the things I enjoyed in about this book, I did have a hard time getting into it and staying in it. Part of this, I think, is that I don't really care for full on fantasy worlds, which this is. It's nothing against this book or fantasy in general, it's just hard for me personally to read, and I acknowledge that and read accordingly. Beyond that though, this book was just very slow to me, especially at the beginning. The scene where Thyon Nero requisitions Lazlo's books about Weep spanned far too many chapters, for example, because there was a lot of backstory and exposition that got in the way. It was all interesting, and I know why it was included, but because the writing style itself is very slow, all of these extra scenes in the middle of the the action made parts of this really drag for me. This technique also made it difficult to remember what was happening in the present, even with the narrative clues, purely because there was so much other information I had to absorb. And this continued throughout the book. The last 50 or so pages were probably my favorite, because so much happened, and it all happened in a much faster pace. It was exciting and I wish the rest of the book had been more like that, because the story itself is very interesting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Blood, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and War