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Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor Series: Strange the Dreamer #2
on October 2, 2018
ISBN: 0316341711
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 514
Format: Hardcover
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Reading the end of Strange the Dreamer left me mildly traumatized, in shock, and in need of a hug. The end of Muse of Nightmares wrapped me in that hug.
I’m more fortunate that many. I stalled listening to the audiobook of Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor so I had a shorter wait for the sequel, Muse of Nightmares. And that wait was more than long enough.
Muse of Nightmares continues where Strange the Dreamer ended. Now blue, Lazlo has delivered Sarai’s body to the citadel and met the other godspawn. Eril-Fane discovered his daughter survived his massacre of the gods and godspawn, is in love with his prodigy, Lazlo, then watched her die. Minya is continuing her angry mission to destroy Eril-Fane, and all of Weep.
Just a little drama. So much happens and there is so much character development I’m not sure what I can say without further spoilers. I want everyone to read these stories and love them as much as I do. I want to discuss Minya’s redemption, and Thyron’s new discovery (and an upcoming romance he’s only just discovering). The Strange the Dreamer series has the potential to dominate my bookish discussions, but I have met no one else who has read them yet. Even though Muse of Nightmares left me with a hug, Laini hints at further adventures.
As with Strange the Dreamer, Muse of Nightmares has beautiful language. Sentences that make you pause in awe.
My Favorite Muse of Nightmares Quotes
“Once upon a time there was a silence that dreamed of becoming a song, and then I found you, and now everything is music.”
“There comes a certain point with a hope or a dream, when you either give it up or give up everything else. And if you choose the dream, if you keep on going, then you can never quit, because it’s all you are.”
“It’s the mind. It’s the most complex and astonishing thing there is, that there’s a world inside each of us that no one else can ever know or see or visit.”
“I would have chosen you, if they had let me choose.”
“There comes a certain point with a hope or a dream, when you either give it up or give up everything else.”
“Can we leave the past behind us?” she asked. Could they? The question was everything. “That’s an excellent place for the past,” said Suheyla. “If you don’t leave it there, it clutters everything up and you just keep tripping over it.”
“His smiles had been pickled things, as though they’d been preserved in vinegar on some earlier occasion, to be pulled out to act as garnish to his artfully plated expressions.”
And my all-time favorite:
“Wishes don’t just come true. They’re only the target you paint around what you want. You still have to hit the bull’s-eye yourself.”
Aren’t these gorgeous phrases? If you haven’t read Strange the Dreamer or Muse of Nightmares, please do. Then we need to talk.
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I just finished reading Muse of Nightmares last week! (I panic-bought book two while I was halfway through Strange the Dreamer.) I felt the same way after reading Strange the Dreamer (i.e. in need of a hug) and I was so happy with the way things were resolved in the second book. I’m in love with Laini Taylor’s writing—it’s so beautiful!
I’m so excited about the way she linked this duology with her Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy! Have you read those? They’re amazing! I have to say I loved the Strange the Dreamer duology more, though both are fantastic.
I haven’t read them yet but your comment has boosted them up my TBR.
Haha, I had a similar “drama” with Muse of Nightmares. I was determined to wait and buy the Australian copy next year so waited for the library ebook. But then the loan expired before I could finish it. It was five weeks for the next copy, but I stumbled upon a signed copy. Sigh, now I have another book to transport.