Beautiful and full of monsters

“Beautiful and full of monsters?”
“All the best stories are.”

This exchange from Laini Taylor’s YA Fantasy novel, Strange the Dreamer, could have been written about her latest book which is both beautiful and full of monsters. Now if the words “fantasy” and “YA” put you off, they shouldn’t. This book has the best of both genres, without any of the common pitfalls. The world Taylor creates is richly imagined, wholly original and internally consistent. The youthful characters are full of dreams and yearning, but are also well-drawn with clear histories that drive their actions. The skill and beauty of Taylor’s writing elevates the whole endeavor well-above the typical teenage fantasy novel.

It’s the story of Lazlo, a humble young librarian who spends his time reading fairy tales and researching the fabled lost city of Weep, which no one has heard from for 200 years. When warriors from Weep unexpectedly arrive in his town asking for help he seizes the opportunity to make his dream come true and is shocked when he learns of the fate that has befallen the once magnificent city. There are beautiful blue goddesses, monstrous beasts, and plenty of characters who are a little bit of both.

The thing to remember about a Laini Taylor novel, which applies to this book as well as her Daughter of Bone and Smoke series, is that the actual book is always better than the jacket copy or a plot summary promises. Taylor takes ideas that seem twee or contrived and makes them into nuanced and expansive stories. The love story when it occurs, (because all the best stories are also love stories) is expected, but it also feels authentic. You could argue that as the novel progresses the love story drives a little too much of the action, but think back to your first infatuation. I bet at times wanting to be with that person unreasonably drove your actions.

And as further endorsement of this book, my kids were obsessed with it. In answer to their frequent requests to “tell me a story” I started telling them the tale of Lazlo and Weep and they could not get enough. They demanded I “read faster” so that I could tell them what happened next. I don’t recommend reading this book aloud, because there is violence, discussion of rape and some mild sexual situations that aren’t appropriate for younger children. It’s easy enough to omit these aspects from a verbal telling or just use the more generic term “torture” when describing the history of Weep. But for older teens and adults, these sections help to explain the deep hatred and mistrust of those who have been living under the shadow of oppression for centuries.

Strange the Dreamer is the first of a two book series and while it answers the initial questions about what happened to Weep, the last chapter sets up a lot of questions for the second book. We are looking forward to following the rest of the story and I definitely recommend that other readers check out the series.