Muse of Nightmares

This suffered from the typical sequel syndrome and took me forever to get through. I adored the first book but this one felt a little stretched thin and unnecessary, with nothing really happening until Nova shows up and even then, I wanted them to just get on with it. While this book does conclude some events of the first book and answers some questions, I honestly feel that the first book should have just stood on it's own, with maybe a novella or two, unless another book focused on a different set of characters in the same universe and not so much on Serai and Lazlo again. My favourite parts of the book were the ones focused on the non-“gods” and I wish Thyon's (and Ruza's, gaybaiting and all) story got a lot more time.

“It's the mind. It's the most complex and astonishing thing there is, that there's a world inside each of us that no one else can ever know or see or visit.”

This book makes me glad that I'm a reader. This was my most anticipated read for 2018 considering I had read Strange The Dreamer only a few months ago. I spent my birthday devouring this book and finished it the next day.

This book was everything and more that the first book promised. The conflict had been one of the central themes, and I really wanted to know how the author would chose to resolve it.

SpoilerSo we got two strategies to resolve it,
First - It's easier to find a common ground when you have a common enemy, which is a bigger threat than the other problems.
Second - If you can't beat the odds, change the game. (SOC!)

The tension was palpable since the first page of the book. Also, the way Laini writes and make you care about all the different set of characters is amazing. Till half-way or more, Kora and Nova's story was something like a flashback that I wasn't sure how it would mesh in with ongoing events. But the plot reveals were astonishing and the story was so full of emotions that it made you feel for all of the characters.

This book is the sequel in the Strange the Dreamer series. You should definitely read the first book Strange the Dreamer before picking up Muse of Nightmares. The first leaves the reader with so many questions and this one is the answer key. In fact, this book leaves off right where the first one ends. I'll try to leave this review spoiler free so it is thin on book summary.

What can I say about this book other than it is amazing. It ripped out my heart and then fix it back into my chest and filled it again almost to bursting. I finished reading this book before bed and I couldn't go to sleep because I was just so happy. I feel like I was on a journey right along with the characters feeling everything they feel. Laini is a words smith. She makes the reader understand how characters can be good and bad by creating the clearest, realist picture of people. The magic and the world are huge and detailed but not confusing. Plus, shout out to an epilogue I needed to read. Perfect closure to a story leaving me satisfied and dreamy.

In this book, we follow the same cast of characters but even a few new ones, Nova and Kova, enter the fold becoming a critical point of the story. Lazlo returns but we spend less time in his head. Sarai also returns and as the title of the book leads you to believe, yes this is her book. She is sweet, strong, and instead of breaking people down she is learning to use her magic to help people. Rudy, Feral, and Sparrow are back. I think Sparrow gets a little more magical growth in the story but Rudy and Feral set the perfect teenage tone. Minya is a marvelously complex character. All the pain she holds and knowing every decision made was to protect the others. Even though I disagreed with her so many times, it is so easy to understand her position completely. The character with probably the most unexpected arc is Thyron. I don't want to give anything away but at first, I was a little confused why he was getting page time. Let's be honest he isn't the best person in the first book but it made me so happy to see him develop. (Squeal!) Lastly, Eril-Fane and Azareen. Sigh. So much emotion.

Yes, these books are considered young adult but the themes in this book are ones we are constantly facing throughout life. How grief can be blinding and holding on to pain is such a negative weight. Learning to let go of hurt and learning from mistakes and after all that knowledge, you can still do good. Moving on from the ugliness. Thank you Laini Taylor.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review. Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor will be published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on October 2nd, 2018.

I had big expectations for this book since I loved the first one so much. It was a really good story. I already loved the characters. For some reason, I was expecting more. Yes, it had a lot of action and development over the book! For me, it focused not where I wanted it. Nevertheless, the book is amazing. The characters are captivating. The story is definitely creative!

Beautiful, beautiful book. Laini Taylor has created such a magical and amazing world, I loved everything about it. The characters developed in such a gorgeous way, I liked reading about them and their lives.
I couldn't choose between this book and Strange the Dreamer, they were both really good and very nice and easy reads.

I don't have much to say about this book, just: READ IT, it's really good.

And I have some amazing quotes from this one that I wanted to share with you:

“You don't know yet what you're capable of, but I'm willing to bet it's extraordinary.”
“Once upon a time, there was a silence that dreamed of becoming a song, and then I found you, and now everything is music.”
“Wishes don't just come true. They're only the target you paint around what you want. You still have to hit the bull's-eye yourself.”
“You learn what you want when you think you can't have it.”

Overall I really liked the conclusion of this duology. It was an engaging read with great characters and a really intriguing world. The ending was satisfying, where all of the characters basically go off to have more grand adventures.

The book suffers a bit from being too short and cramming in too many points of view. I loved the world building, but there is so much left unexplored, especially considering the introduction of infinite other dimensions. They also briefly mention that the portals eventually led to some sort of dark world, that almost destroyed the universe? So they should maybe worry about that at some point? On the bright side I loved most of the characters, so the many POV shifts weren't always a negative, but I was often left feeling kind of short changed, I would just get to know and love a character only to switch to someone else.

Minya is consistently annoying through the first half of the book (not helped by how the narrator acts out her yelling)- but I liked how her story arc was resolved.

There were also some missed opportunities. A lot of mysteries (such as how did baby Lazlo escape Weep? What happened to all of the missing children? Where did the citadel and Mesarthim come from?) are revealed in quick info dumps, almost as an aside to the reader, to the point where I'm not even sure if the main characters actually know the answers to these questions. Also, Sparrow discovers she can heal and revive corpses, undoubtedly a highly useful skill. She brings back Eril-Fane and Azareen. It seemed like the natural progression of the story would be for her to then use that gift to ‘fix' Sarai. Imagine a scene where they go back to the Citadel, lay Sarai's body in the garden, and anxiously wait and see if Sparrow's gift is powerful enough to perform this miracle. Imagine Lazlo and Sarai's joy as her body is reawakened. But instead they cremate her body early in the book?

I felt like Lazlo and Sarai's saccharine love scenes were my least favorite parts of the book. I loved Lazlo in the beginning of Strange the Dreamer, he is such an interesting character. But I feel like his personality is subsumed by the romance plot as soon as he meets Sarai.

Also, I thought the reveal that Skathis was interdimensionally selling the children was nonsensical. He has an immensely powerful gift - if he wanted to play god and amass treasures and torture and rape he could do that without a weird nursery and human auction. And in what way were the buyers supposed to control and direct the extremely powerful children they were purchasing?

The storyline picks up where [b:Strange the Dreamer 28449207 Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer, #1) Laini Taylor https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1519915549s/28449207.jpg 48158509] left off, and the author did a great job of putting in enough detail to help me remember exactly how that ended and who was who.There were a couple places where I wasn't sure how the author was going to write herself out of the proverbial corner but the solutions were interesting and satisfying. One scene was gruesomely detailed and seemed to just go on and on with the detailing; it seemed out of character for the rest of the writing style.I found this book wrapped up the storyline of the first book nicely. The author hints there might be another book in the series but I'm on the fence about whether I need to read it or not. Will it tie in to her Daughter of Smoke and Bone series?

Dit was een absoluut verbluffend en wonderbaarlijk vervolg op [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].Ik vond het geweldig hoe we meer over de wereld te weten kwamen en ik was immens onder de indruk toen ik me realiseerde dat deze zoveel groter en mysterieuzer was dan ik had verwacht. Ik heb het gevoel dat de auteur nog duizenden verhalen over deze wereld zou kunnen vertellen en ik voel me een beetje beroofd om te ontdekken dat ze dit nog niet heeft gedaan.Dit boek sleepte me opnieuw mee met zijn sublieme en magische schrijfstijl. Het werd misschien een beetje te bloemig als het ging om de lovey-dovey-dingen, maar dat is slechts een klein puntje van kritiek.Deze serie vond zeer zeker zijn plaats in mijn hart en dit boek was een fantastische afsluiter.Ik kwam erachter dat deze serie blijkbaar verbonden is met haar andere serie [b:Daughter of Smoke & Bone 8490112 Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #1) Laini Taylor https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1461353773l/8490112.SY75.jpg 13355552], dus deze gaat ook meteen op mijn leeslijst!

I knew this book would be great because the first in the Duology was amazing but I did not expect it to be so heart wrenchingly beautiful. “Once upon a time there was a silence that dreamed of becoming song and then I found you, and now everything is music” is just one of the many beautifully poetic quotes from the book that I could see myself getting a tattoo of, and I don't even want tattoos.

The “Strange the Dreamer” duology is the most bewitching and magnificent surprise I have ever come across and I am so thankful to have found it. Laini Taylor has such an engaging and unique style, a real talent for world building, and the ability to crush your heart and repair it over and over again.

I LOVED Strange the Dreamer so my expectations might have been too high for this one, but Muse of Nightmares fell a bit short to me.

The story picks up immediately after the events of the first book, introducing us to two new characters, while diving deeper into our beloved characters' and Weep’s pasts. Liani introduces in this sequel more dimensions to the world as well as connections with her previous series, which I haven’t read yet, keeping the exploration of themes such as love, revenge and redemption.

As in the first book, the writing is absolutely gorgeous and Liani does a stellar job creating emotional depth, complex character arcs, and intricate world-building, leading to an unforgettable read.

So, why didn’t this work as well for me as the first book?

• Muse of Nightmares, as foreshadowed by the title, is more focused on Sarai storyline and on her powers, leaving some of my favorite characters longer in the shadow.

• I probably wouldn't have noticed this if I hadn't read both books in a row, but this sequel was written a bit differently. Although we keep experiencing third-person omnisciente narration, the POV shifts more, resulting in something like internal dialogues, though the characters didn’t really know what the others were thinking. This is a pet peeve of mine because I don’t like to be told what to think and feel.

• Additionally, the story felt rushed, and some events happened in a too convenient way, creating in me the impression that this book was more focused on expanding the story for a future series/ sequel rather than for the sake of this duology.

Still, this was a satisfying end for the duology and I will wait expectantly to be back into this world. Both books were a very emotional read, and my heart was aching for the whole time (there were also many tears along this journey), so I definitely recommend this reading 🙂

Laini Taylor has the most amazing imagination! I love how unique and wild her stories are and how reading her books feels like nothing else I've read or experienced. I do admit that the first half of this second book had me a bit worried. I LOVED Strange the Dreamer because it was lyrical and beautiful and dreamlike and adventurous and unique. At first I thought Muse of Nightmares had lost that as it became a bit of the cliche ‘I love you and can't ever be apart from you' drivel that so much YA belches out and I was finding it hard to keep reading, but then about half way through it started to turn around and the story plunges you into unfathomable directions fast and furiously. Back was this wild and crazy world building that drew me into Strange the Dreamer and yet expanded and growing in strange and wonderful ways, revealing mysteries and explaining how all of it came to be. On top of that is the heart-wrenching characters stories that tugged at my emotions and both broke my heart and gave me hope at the same time. Tragedy and heartbreak alongside hope and change. There were some profound messages if you look for them and I was satisfied with the outcomes on most fronts. Some did feel a bit rushed, leaving some certain characters growth seem less impactful, but overall I enjoyed it and wish and hope for more in this wonderful world Laini Taylor has created.

OH, this series. It's gorgeous and heartbreaking and thrilling and tender. I thought there was no possible way Muse of Nightmares could live up to the wonder that was Strange the Dreamer. And I was right, it didn't. But it was okay, because Muse is it's own perfect, magical thing, and I don't think it could have ended any other way.

But, of course, I still want more. More Strange, and Sarai, and the whole scruffy but salvaged crew. They are fully bound into my heart.

An absolute favorite. Don't miss this one!