Strange the Dreamer

I bow to Laini Taylor. She wrote one of my all time favorite series- Daughter of Smoke and Bone and I anxiously awaited her next series. She did not disappoint. Lazlo Strange is an orphan who works in the library. He is curious, kind and ready to see the world. He is desperate to see Weep, a mystical city that lost it's name one day while he was playing in the woods. He set out to learn all he could about Weep and spent his years writing a history. Sarai is Godspawn. She lives in a floating citadel that overshadows Weep. She lives with four other Godspawn with a variety of powers. They are blue. The town had slaughtered their parents and thought all the children were dead. The Gods were horrible and did horrible things to the townspeople, so the Godspawn have remained hidden high above the city with only each other for company. Sparrow can make things grow, Feral can make it rain, Ruby can start fires and Minya can control the ghosts of the dead. Sarai is the Muse of Nightmares. Each night she unleashes her moths to torment the townspeople so they will stay away from the Citadel. It works. Until the day Lazlo rides into town with the Godslayer. For the first time, Sarai can be seen in someone's dreams. And he doesn't hate her, as a matter of fact, they fall in love. But they can only meet in their dreams. At first. This is a tale of hidden pasts and glorious futures. It is both lovely and heartbreaking at once. It is creative and so beautifully written I had to stop and mark pages to go back and make poster of for my classroom. Lazlo is, in a word, remarkable and a lesson to us all to be kind and open and welcoming to that we don't know. Sarai is a lesson to be willing to see both sides and change accordingly, to have hope. The end has crushed me, but I'm hopeful that Lazlo can will find a way to dream a better end for everyone. This is full of crazy, fantastical characters that make you want to live in Weep- almost. I can't say enough nice things about this book and this author. So I say- when you fall asleep tonight, make your dreams a place of wonder and then see if you can carry that over into the real world. Happy reading and dreaming my friends!