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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)
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“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
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“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)
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“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)
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“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)
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“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
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“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
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“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.”
— VOYA
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Laini Taylor is so damn good and like no other.
— Leigh Bardugo, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom
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Laini 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
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[A] must-read YA!
— p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Times}USA Today
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Part adventure novel, part romance and part exercise in epic myth-building, it's gorgeously written and full of surprises.
— NPR
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[One of] our favorite books of the year!
— p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Times}Popsugar
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An 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 Magazine
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Weighty 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
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* "Gorgeously written in language simultaneously dark, lush, and enchanting, the book will leave readers eager for the next.
— Publishers Weekly, starred review
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* "...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
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* "[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
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* "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
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* [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
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[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 Book
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Lovers of intricate worldbuilding and feverish romance will find this enthralling.
— Kirkus Reviews