Strange the Dreamer

Taylor builds a fascinating world filled with enduring characters. Lazlo Strange is a man who grew up not being wanted, building a life within the words and pages of stories about a real city turned legend filled with magic and monsters that no one has had contact with in over 200 years. He was abused and discarded his entire life, but still maintained an innocence and compassion not usually seen in abused orphans. Something happens one day that, of course, changes his fate and he finds himself actually (finally) in the world he's read about and imagined his entire life.
At first, the writing felt over-saturated with weird metaphor and flowery language use but once I got to know the characters and the world, it fit and was a really enjoyable read. The ending, however, was a bit rushed and obviously tailored for a sequel with some character development (mainly Ruby's mentality and Sarai's fate) I can see many female readers not enjoying.