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A review by doctorwithoutboundaries
Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor
5.0
Gods and ghosts, supernatural and science-fiction... [a: Laini Taylor|324620|Laini Taylor|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1224474224p2/324620.jpg] delivers one for the ages again with this series. My first encounter with her was 'Lips Touch: Three Times', a collection of short stories that, despite its corny title and cover, is clever and breathtaking. I knew I had to read more by this lover of the fairy tale.
Rarely do I tell people to read a book just so that they can get to the sequel. But this is a series that is best appreciated in its totality, when you can see what Taylor does with the kernels planted in [b: Strange the Dreamer|28449207|Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer, #1)|Laini Taylor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1519915549l/28449207._SY75_.jpg|48158509], how she nurtures them into something grander. And while the first book is often weighed down by its purple prose and laboured pace, the investment in the characters is worth it and necessary.
Typical of rewarding fantasy series, the painstaking setup and world-building in the first book make way for an intricate yet breathless conclusion here, that expands and implodes in the reader's heart, and is not without growth earned at great cost. We watch characters learn compassion, harness strength, overcome betrayal and trauma, as they come into their own. It's literary fantasy that's brutal and beautiful all at once, buoyed by searing words.
I wanted to read the series all over again when I was done, which is the highest praise. So don't be thrown off by the YA tag; there is something heady about the way this lady writes, filling you with a longing for more... I will end with her own words, that are a better endorsement than my paltry review: “And that's how you go on. You lay laughter over the dark parts. The more dark parts, the more you have to laugh. With defiance, with abandon, with hysteria, any way you can.”
Rarely do I tell people to read a book just so that they can get to the sequel. But this is a series that is best appreciated in its totality, when you can see what Taylor does with the kernels planted in [b: Strange the Dreamer|28449207|Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer, #1)|Laini Taylor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1519915549l/28449207._SY75_.jpg|48158509], how she nurtures them into something grander. And while the first book is often weighed down by its purple prose and laboured pace, the investment in the characters is worth it and necessary.
Typical of rewarding fantasy series, the painstaking setup and world-building in the first book make way for an intricate yet breathless conclusion here, that expands and implodes in the reader's heart, and is not without growth earned at great cost. We watch characters learn compassion, harness strength, overcome betrayal and trauma, as they come into their own. It's literary fantasy that's brutal and beautiful all at once, buoyed by searing words.
I wanted to read the series all over again when I was done, which is the highest praise. So don't be thrown off by the YA tag; there is something heady about the way this lady writes, filling you with a longing for more... I will end with her own words, that are a better endorsement than my paltry review: “And that's how you go on. You lay laughter over the dark parts. The more dark parts, the more you have to laugh. With defiance, with abandon, with hysteria, any way you can.”