From National Book Award finalist Laini Taylor comes an epic fantasy about a mythic lost city and its dark past.
The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around--and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was just five years old, he's been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the form of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.
What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? And who is the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo's dreams?
In this sweeping and breathtaking novel by National Book Award finalist Laini Taylor, author of the New York Times bestselling Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy, the shadow of the past is as real as the ghosts who haunt the citadel of murdered gods. Fall into a mythical world of dread and wonder, moths and nightmares, love and carnage.
The answers await in Weep.
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"A NPR Best Book A Goodreads Best YA Fantasy and Science Fiction NomineeA Boston Globe Best YA BookA Popcrush Best Young Adult BookA Popsugar Best Book for Women A Booklist Editors' Choice An A.V. Club Favorite Book A Tor Top Young Adult SFF BookA Christian Science Monitor Best Book A B&N Teen Blog Best Young Adult Book A Forever Young Adult Best Book"
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“Steve West, tasked with giving life to Strange the Dreamer’s protagonists—human librarian Lazlo Strange and goddess Sarai—acquits himself with the gravitas and grace Taylor’s poetry demands. This is a performance and a book you’ll never want to end.”
— Paste magazine (audio review)“Narrator Steve West’s British accent and measured pacing lend a feeling of gravitas to this fantasy. West creates voices for each character, starting with the open, curious tones of the main character, Lazlo…[and] harsher voices for Weep’s residents…To Sarai, the half-god teen who has been living in hiding and whom Laslo falls in love with, West brings a softer tone. Epic in scope but intimate in details, this production will leave listeners waiting for the next installment.”
— AudioFile“Momentum and tension build as love blossoms between two young people from warring factions, mysteries of identity develop, and critical events unfold in dreams…Gorgeously written in language simultaneously dark, lush, and enchanting, the book will leave readers eager for the next.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Has all the rich, evocative imagery and complex world-building typical of Taylor’s best work. This outstanding fantasy is a must-purchase for all YA collections.
— School Library Journal (starred review)“Characters are carefully, exquisitely crafted, the writing is achingly lovely, and the world is utterly real…This is a thing to be savored.”
— Booklist (starred review)“Taylor examines slavery, trauma, memory, and appropriation, ending this first installment with a cliffhanger that leaves readers wondering if healing is even remotely possible. Lovers of intricate worldbuilding and feverish romance will find this enthralling.”
— Kirkus Reviews“Poetic prose, finely crafted fantasy and oodles of adventure, peril, romance, redemption, gods, royals, and warriors. It’s a fantasy lover’s delight, with ever-higher flights of fancy brought crashing to earth and then soaring anew as the pages turn and the characters journey on.”
— BookPage“Told from alternating points of view, this is complex but satisfying, a story about cultures meeting and clashing. The cliffhanger ending will leave readers frantic for the next installment.”
— VOYALaini Taylor is so damn good and like no other.
— Leigh Bardugo, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Six of Crows and Crooked KingdomLaini Taylor set my imagination on fire so hard that it spontaneously combusted...This is the kind of story that paves dreams.
— p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Times}Roshani Chokshi, author of The Star Touched Queen[A] must-read YA!
— p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Times}USA TodayPart adventure novel, part romance and part exercise in epic myth-building, it's gorgeously written and full of surprises.
— NPR[One of] our favorite books of the year!
— p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Times}PopsugarAn epic world of gods, moths and nightmares; a world where the dream chooses the dreamer.
— p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Times}Justine MagazineWeighty as a nightmare and as transportive as the finest of fantasy, Laini Taylor's new novel will leave readers with miracles on their minds.
— p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Times}Hypable* "Gorgeously written in language simultaneously dark, lush, and enchanting, the book will leave readers eager for the next.
— Publishers Weekly, starred review* "...Characters are carefully, exquisitely crafted, the writing is achingly lovely, and the world is utterly real...This is a thing to be savored.
— Booklist, starred review* "[Strange the Dreamer] has all the rich, evocative imagery and complex world-building typical of Taylor's best work. This outstanding fantasy is a must-purchase for all YA collections.
— School Library Journal, starred review* "The luxurious prose and complex world building invites and rewards slow reading....Here readers will find characters to love and ones to hate and, ultimately, a world to be willingly lost in.
— Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books* [Readers] will dive into Taylor's gorgeous prose and brilliant imagery and relish this story about dreams, love, monsters, gods, ghosts, war, and alchemy. Told from alternating points of view, this is complex but satisfying, a story about cultures meeting and clashing.
— VOYA, starred review[Laini Taylor] has spun another mesmerizing tale with captivating twists and turns, an array of intriguing characters, strange and beautiful language, and baroque flourishes of the imagination.
— Horn BookLovers of intricate worldbuilding and feverish romance will find this enthralling.
— Kirkus ReviewsBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Laini Taylor is the author of several novels, including the multiple award-winning Strange the Dreamer and the National Book Award finalist Lips Touch: Three Times as well as the New York Times bestseller Days of Blood & Starlight, among others.
Steve West, the winner of multiple Earphones Awards for narration, is an international actor who has starred on London’s prestigious West End stage, including productions of Mamma Mia! and Oh, What a Night! He is widely known for his television and film work in both the United States and the UK, and he has performed for Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. He hosts his own television show for the UK live from Los Angeles.