Strange the Booknerd

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Laini Taylor is one of my most favorite authors. I really loved her Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy, so I was really excited to read Strange the Dreamer. Since I enjoyed her previous books, I was amazed again by her gift in telling stories. I really loved how she created such wonders with only the use of words. Her descriptions were so vivid, and it was amazing how I could easily imagine the world she created. Her writing style appealed to all of my senses – I could see, hear, smell, feel, and taste like I was a part of the story, and that alone, was magic.

This book is somehow similar to her previous books – full of magic, mystery, and wonder. Laini Taylor yet again created another fantastic world with fascinating people and other creatures. Myths, monsters, magic, gods and goddesses, plot twists and a nerdy protagonist… all that good stuff, you can find it here!

The main character, Lazlo Strange, as the title would say, is a dreamer, but I would call him a booknerd. He loves to read books, and he is obsessed with this mysterious, magical city. As readers, we can all relate to him. We love discovering new worlds hidden in the pages of a book, wishing that they really exist. We devour stories like they are food that we need to survive. At times, stories are escape pods from reality, and as far as I can tell, Lazlo feels the same way.

While I really enjoyed reading this book, there were some parts that I found a little bit slow. If I compare these parts to an electrocardiogram, they would be the flat, horizontal lines. It took me 2 months to finish the book because I often got bored and lost interest when I reached those flat lines.

The last few chapters made up for the slow parts of the book though. The climax was an emotional roller coaster. So much stuff was happening, and it was overwhelming! I couldn’t believe that I felt so many emotions – happiness, excitement, anxiety, sadness, grief, dread, anger – in just a few chapters! I devoured these chapters as fast as I could, always wanting to know what would happen next…until I’ve reached the end, and my heart stopped beating.

I still want to talk more about this book because there are so many things to talk about, but it’s best to dive into this book without knowing a lot to maintain the “mysterious vibes” that it wants the readers to experience. I really enjoyed Strange the Dreamer even though it took me a very long time to finish it. I highly recommend it!