I was on a definite book high when I finished this. I believe I used the word “ensorcelled” when I talked about what it was like to read the first book in this duology, Strange the Dreamer. I wasn’t quite ensorcelled here, but that’s only because I was so damn stressed out! And I knew that was going to happen. I almost didn’t give the last book five stars because the ending of it stressed me out so much, and I knew if it went […]
Do all monsters need to be killed?
In the sequel to Strange the Dreamer, Sarai and Lazlo are left with little to hold onto but their love for one another. The great citadel in the sky had almost fallen, and with it went a blue skinned girl. Facing off against Minya, the little girl god that holds Sarai’s very being in her hands, Lazlo must make a choice. Save her or the entirety of Weep down below them. But Minya is not their only foe. Entwined with the story of Lazlo and […]
YA sequel that holds up to the first
Unfortunately, it seems to have become a bit of a given in publishing that sequels are generally a let-down. Maybe it’s a function of the first being more popular than anticipated and the second being rushed, but there seems to be taken for granted a drop in quality. Fortunately, in her latest series Strange the Dreamer, Laini Taylor holds ground. Another unfortunate reality of modern publishing is that anything with a teenage protagonist becomes “young adult”. There are definitely some themes in here that are too […]
Hooray for Good Sequels!
Sequels don’t always do justice to their original books, especially in YA trilogies, and I must admit I was wary going into this one as I had just finished reading all of the “Daughter of Smoke and Bone” trilogy, three books in a row, and found that they faltered as the series went on. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the trilogy, but I was worried that I’d get the same feeling from those books of hoping that Taylor would stop adding other plot […]