UPDATE: I MADE FANART GUYS 
 http://s347.photobucket.com/user/emma... 
 This is one of the most beautiful and creative books I've ever read, and I needed to try to get some of its gorgeous imagery onto paper. 
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 I was extremely skeptical of the hype before reading thisaEUR"IaEUR(tm)d read Daughter of Smoke and Bone and didnaEUR(tm)t care for it, and honestly expected this to go the same way. I could not have been more wrong. Strange the Dreamer is a beautiful story, but the word beautiful doesnaEUR(tm)t even seem to do it justice. It reads like a fairy tale and an ancient myth all swirled into one, and itaEUR(tm)s utterly unlike any book IaEUR(tm)ve read in a long time. My heart is both full and broken, and IaEUR(tm)m left with no idea of where to even begin this review. 
 Do you remember what it was like to read fairy tales as a kid, how it felt to uncover that world of wonder and awe and excitement you could find between the pages of a book? (IaEUR(tm)m assuming most of your childhoods were as bookish and full of stories as mine was.) Do you know how feels to sit by a fire at night, listening to the sound of legends and adventures and ghost stories taking shape in that circle of flickering darkness? This book is all of those feelings and so much more. ItaEUR(tm)s the kind of story that feels both new and old at the same time: heartwarmingly nostalgic and impossibly inventive. 
 This is not a book to be read in one sitting. This book is like a large mug of cinnamon apple cider on a crisp fall day, like honey drizzling over the most delicious dessert you've ever tasted. Like something you can't help but savor because you don't know when you'll next come across something quite so exquisite. 
 One of the only other books that I can remember leaving me feeling this way is The Night CircusaEUR"another favorite, and one that I highly recommend if you enjoyed this. Both TayloraEUR(tm)s and MorgensternaEUR(tm)s writing styles are so incredibly atmospheric, bursting with such beauty and darkness. 
 The only way I feel I can properly sum it up is this: reading this book feels like magic. 
 There is so much cool shit in this book, allow me to list just a few things: 
 candy made out of blood 
 a boy who steals rain 
 imaginary cities where people leave free cakes on windows 
 a goddess who screams nightmares 
 a nerdy librarian MC 
 Speaking of said nerdy librarian MCaEUR|.allow me to introduce you to the new love of your life, Lazlo Strange. I honestly don't think I've ever read a book with a character who was so astoundingly good and yet still incredibly compelling and relatable. This is a boy who has spent his life dreaming of lost cities and accidentally getting his nose broken by falling books, who has grown up with neither love nor friendship and yet manages to be so tirelessly and effortlessly kind. 
 Sarai, the other main character, is more morally ambiguous, and makes for an interesting contrast to Lazlo. This is a spoiler-free review so I wonaEUR(tm)t go into more detail, but I loved her gradual introduction and the mysterious feel to her chapters as we learned her full story. ThereaEUR(tm)s so much goodness in her as well, even though the circumstances sheaEUR(tm)s lived in have done their best to turn her into a monster. 
 Now, IaEUR(tm)m usually pretty much allergic to instalove......but for once it didn't bother me at all???? I think what I liked about the relationship in this book was that although the characters were drawn to each other from their first meeting, it was more of an emotional bond than one of those "omg you're hot and I wanna rip your clothes off" scenes that most romance plots begin with. I loved that Lazlo and Sarai were just so open and understanding with each other, and my heart ached for these two people who have always had so much love to give but who never got the chance. 
 The plot moves slowly, which is actually one of my favorite things about this book. It unravels the mysteries of Weep in such mysterious and fascinating ways, lingering on all of the beautiful and terrible details of its dark history and the characters who get caught up in trying to save it. I took me more than a week to finish this; I was stretching it out simply because I did not want it to end. 
 One of the most powerful parts of this story was how it deals with hate, and how such a strong feeling can gradually become so deeply and tragically rooted in a societyaEUR(tm)s collective consciousness. Lazlo wants to see the good in everything, but meeting Sarai forces him to confront the fact that so many of the people he admires have bitter prejudices carved into their hearts, and have committed unspeakable acts of violence in the name of peace. This complexity is the reason why despite all of the mysterious, magical elements, this story still feels heartbreakingly real and grounded. Terrible things have happened in Weep, atrocities have been carried out by both of the sides involved, and it is not easy to untangle good from evil. (IaEUR(tm)m a sucker for anything with good moral gray areas, and this book did not disappoint.) Sarai, the Godslayer, and even Minya were especially fascinating characters in that regard. 
 The only thing I didnaEUR(tm)t particularly care for in this book was all the drama that went on with Ruby and Feral and Sparrow. I just didnaEUR(tm)t care enough about them to take much of an interest in those chapters. None of those three ever seemed relevant to anything that was happening, and it kinda felt like they were just there to fill space. The only godspawn I cared about were Sarai (because I love her, obviously) and Minya (because she is one fascinatingly Fucked Upa,,C/ evil six-year-old). 
 AlsoaEUR"side note that is entirely unrelated to my enjoyment of the book itself: how is the US cover so ugly and the UK cover so fucking gorgeous?????? I feel cheatedaEUR|.. (@ all my friends in the UK will someone buy and mail me a copy please and thank you) 
 Anyway, if you havenaEUR(tm)t read this yet idk what youaEUR(tm)re doing with your life, but you should drop whatever it is now and acquaint yourselves with the glorious human specimen that is Lazlo Strange and the (literal) goddess that is Sarai and also the evil little fuck that is Minya. This book was everything I wanted and sososo much more. I donaEUR(tm)t think anything I can say can really do it justice, so just go read it. 
 Favorite quotes (IaEUR(tm)m sorry there are so many but I couldnaEUR(tm)t choose, everything is gorgeous from page one. Also, these may be mildly spoiler-y so read at your own risk): 
 He was thinking of war, and the people the last one stole from him before he could know them, and all the children the next one would orphan and all the names that would die like songs. 
 Without his books, his room felt like a body with its hearts cut out. 
 Here, captured between covers, was the history of the human imagination, and nothing had ever been more beautiful, or fearsome, or bizarre. Here were spells and curses and myths and legends, and Strange the dreamer had for so long fed his mind on them that if one could wander into it they would discover a fantasia. 
 It was his manneraEUR"the warmth of him, like steam rising from tea. 
 "Beautiful and full of monsters?" 
 "All the best stories are." 
 Vengeance ought to be spoken through gritted teeth, spittle flying, the cords of oneaEUR(tm)s soul so entangled in it that you canaEUR(tm)t let it go, even if you try. If you feel itaEUR"if you really feel itaEUR"then you speak it like itaEUR(tm)s a still-beating heart clenched in your fist and thereaEUR(tm)s blood running down your arm, dripping off your elbow, and you canaEUR(tm)t let go. 
 It danced over her senses the way the dream sun danced over the domes. Every color was deeper, richer than the real, and there were so many of them. If the weaver of the world itself had kept the chipped ends of every thread sheaEUR(tm)d ever used, her basket might look something like this. There were awnings over market stalls, and rows of spice shaped into cones. Rose and russet, scarlet and sienna. Old men blew colored smoke through long painted flutes, etching the air with soundless music.