Dreams of gods and lost cities cometrue
A s he progresses from war orphan at a strict monastery to apprentice librarian at the beck and call of arrogant academics, the humble Lazlo Strange seems the most unlikely of heroes, obsessed with fairy tales and folk stories, a man content to live in his own imagination and eschew the mundane of the material world.
But when Lazlo is presented with the chance to turn those dreams into reality, he falls into an adventure to rival anything in his beloved books. As she draws us into Lazlo’s journey, Laini Taylor crafts a fantastical story with beautiful skill, slowly colouring a world of wonder set within its own logic. She reveals this with subtle sentences and hints, avoiding clunky background tangents, which plague lesser works of swords and sorcery.
It is a world you will happily want to spend time in. Taylor, who already has the best- selling Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy to her credit, is at her best as a weaver of tales. The characters are complex and charismatic yet morally compromised; this adds to the relentlessly escalating suspense as Lazlo gropes his way forward, in the company of a true warrior hero, the Godslayer. They aim to save the legendary city of Weep, lost to the world for 200 years and tormented by its blue- skinned goddesses.
There’s a universal tale of hate, cultivated and brooded upon, so it becomes all- consuming and sustaining, set at odds with the only pathway to peace, the compassion of forgiveness. It is also a love story, woven sensuously and evocatively by Taylor, of two classic, star- crossed lovers divided by fear and facing perilous consequences if they should ever overcome the odds and be together. Because, for every dream, there is a nightmare. This is the first instalment of a promised duology and while Strange
the Dreamer leads to the conclusion of one great challenge, it will leave you cursing that you don’t have the sequel immediately to hand, to plunge onwards.