Review: STRANGE THE DREAMER by Laini Taylor

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I started listening to this book on a whim when I was in the mood for an audiobook, and I’m so glad that I did. The audiobook is excellent, the story is absolutely wonderful, and my heart is full of compassion for these characters.

At first, I was a little confused about what was happening. The timeline was jumping around and all the descriptions felt very abstract. But then about an hour into the book I started focusing better and fell in love with the story.

Lazlo Strange is a librarian, hungry for any knowledge about the “mythical” city of Weep. When Lazlo was a child, he dreamed of going to Weep. Then one day the true name of the city disappeared from his mind and he has been forever enthralled with trying to discover why that happened.

What’s interesting is that the story is written in a third-person omniscient voice, which is rather unusual, I think. There would be two sentences in the same paragraph about two people who don’t know each other doing two different things in two different locations. It was very different, and I think it might have added to some of the confusion, but I’m glad to have read a book like this anyway.

Unfortunately, I felt detached from all the characters in the book except for Lazlo and, eventually, Sarai. I don’t know if that was because of the omnipresent voice or because I listened to the audiobook, but it made me a little sad that I didn’t connect with more of the characters. However, Lazlo and Sarai are so precious and I love them so much.

This book made me think about what it means to be a god. If a god can be killed and controlled by humans, is he or she really even a god? Is a god someone with an unnatural ability? What happens then when an ordinary human develops or discovers an unnatural ability, do they become a god? Is it someone who lives away from the rest and looks over the people? What happens then when they come to earth? What does a human have to do to become a god? There are godchildren in this book, but I can’t really tell why they’re considered “gods,” or what even makes a god. I see this issue quite a bit in fantastical literature, so it’d be interesting to research it more.

Laini Taylor’s descriptions of the ethereal dreamscapes are so vivid and lush. I’ve never read a book before in which the main character spends half the book sleeping, yet I found myself looking forward to the chapters when Lazlo would lie down in bed each night. It made me so happy to see Sarai and Lazlo together in his dreams.

Strange the Dreamer is about dreams and books and libraries and alchemy and fairy tales and magic. It’s turning out to be quite difficult to fully describe or review this book, but it was such a beautiful story. I’m so glad I listened to it, and now I’m ready to devour Muse of Nightmares when it comes out in a few days!

Review: THE BANDS OF MOURNING by Brandon Sanderson

Rating: 5/5 stars

Even though I love this complex world and all these dynamic characters and the intricate magic system, and I wanted to read this book so badly, I struggled to pick it up. I kept procrastinating reading it for some reason, and I could focus only for a short amount of time before I had to put the book down and come back to it later.

I think this is partially my own fault and partially the book’s fault. If I had read The Bands of Mourning two years ago when I finished Shadows of Self, I think I would have been much more engaged in the story. (I did have to do about two hours of research into the world, the characters, and the three magic systems, including rereading the last three chapters of Shadows of Self, before starting this book so I would remember what was going on.) I cannot tell you why I waited two years to read this book, only that it happened and I wish it didn’t. Alas, here we are and that’s how it is.

Why I think the book is partially at fault is because of the general story. Being a western on top of an epic fantasy, I struggled with the book for that reason because I do not really care for westerns (this series excluded), and I’m still fairly new to epic fantasy. Plus, this book had about five separate main plot lines going on at the same time, not to mention the many minor plot lines happening in the background, and I think I was just very skeptical that everything would go well by the end.

Obviously, everything did end well and I had no reason to be worried. This is Brandon Sanderson we’re talking about, and he can do no wrong. I wish I didn’t struggle with the beginning of the book, but it did not lessen my enjoyment of the whole story (as you can see, I still gave this book five well-deserved stars).

I cannot stop thinking about the six pages when the crew gets to the hotel in New Seran because it is the absolute funniest and most entertaining part of the entire book. I read it twice and I could not stop laughing like a maniac at this scene because it was just that good.

Wayne is hilarious as usual, and it’s no surprise he’s the most interesting character in this series. Even though I think I like Wax more as a technicality, Wayne has the better personality. His chapters are always so entertaining, and his personality is so specific that I never know what to expect with him except that he’ll always come up with something clever to say.

I really like Marasi. I love that she makes use of her Allomantic ability in this book after feeling mostly useless in that regard. She’s really the brains of the group, and that might be why I’ve always liked her the best. However, that might be changing now. . . .

Steris really steps up her game in this book. Her character development blew me away, and I didn’t know I could like her this much. I love how she is always prepared for even the worst situations, and I think she’s become a great asset to the team. She’s funny in subtle ways. I love her banter with Wax, and I think they’re actually becoming close despite their arranged situation, which makes me very happy.

Wax is great in this book, as usual. His fight scenes are highly entertaining and I kept wondering how he was going to pull himself out of each next fight. I liked that we got to see some of his internal struggles as he tried to decide what pathway to pursue since there were about five things happening that each could have easily become their own plot line in their own book.

I don’t remember if MeLaan was a significant character in the previous books, but she was definitely pertinent to this one. She was just as funny as Wayne, which surprised me, and always lightened the situation with some Kandra humor. She’s a new favorite for sure.

I’m glad this book didn’t become convoluted with too much happening because after all the possibilities for main plot lines were established (around the 30% mark), I was worried that they were trying to do too much in too short a book and the ending would either be rushed or not everything would be resolved. Luckily, the book stuck to the one main storyline with a few side plot lines, which actually answered a lot of questions surrounding the other possible plot lines, so that worked out nicely. Leave it to Sanderson to accomplish something like that; no other author could introduce so many problems and ideas and quests and tie them up in the end so satisfactorily without leaving out important details.

The Bands of Mourning is the only Mistborn book I’ve reviewed so far (as I got into reviewing books after I had already read the rest of the series), but I do plan to go back and reread the first five books and review each of them at some point, although probably not for a few years. This is one of my favorite series of all time, and each of its books deserves a glowing review.

What I love most about this series is how unique and dynamic it is. There are not one, not two, but three magic systems in this world, each of which is unique to this series alone. I love the concept behind metal magic, and seeing all the ways Sanderson plays with that system is phenomenal. It is deep and advanced, and there are endless possibilities for what to do with Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Hemalurgy, especially when you start to mix them together.

Another reason I’m so in love with this series is how it blends genres so well. The first era of three books is no doubt an epic fantasy in a typical historical-type setting, but it’s not dense or difficult to understand at all. It’s a very approachable world with enjoyable characters. Then the second era is a western fantasy. I never thought I would read a western, but here we are, and I love this era (not as much as the original trilogy but it’s still quite good). It is so cool to see the world that we came to love now a few centuries into the future with new characters and new ways to use the same old magic systems to fit with modern technology. I love that the first era is like the origin story that is usually only told as background to the main story, but here it is the main story and then we get to see how it influences the future of the world. And era three, coming way in the future, will be a 1980s spy-thriller setting (according to Sanderson himself on his website). I love so much that he has taken this world and its magic systems and is placing them in vastly different time periods with different technologies, and then experimenting with it to see what it would be like to use Allomancy or Feruchemy in these differing settings.

This series has cemented Sanderson as one of my favorite authors of all time. I need to read everything else he wrote, and I am genuinely so excited to immerse myself in more of his insanely cool and intricate worlds. I also think I like him even more than I do other authors because I got to meet him and take the writing class he taught at my college. It’s crazy to see the behind-the-scenes of how an author’s mind works to create their stories. I’m so glad I discovered him and his books because they have made such a difference in my reading tastes and are some I know I’ll read again and again for the rest of my life.

Review: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee

Rating: 3/5 stars

I had to read this book for school in the fourth grade, and it was the only school-assigned reading that I never finished, believe it or not. I always read the assigned books in school because I’ve always loved reading, but I just hated this book so much that I could not bring myself to continue. (I think I reached about 30% before I gave up and watched the movie, which I also didn’t like.)

My life and views and understanding of the world have changed quite a bit in the last fourteen years since I first read this book at eight years old, so I wanted to give it another chance because it is such a beloved classic that I simply feel like I read too early in life.

I originally decided I wanted to reread To Kill a Mockingbird back when I read Beautiful Creatures and learned that Lena’s favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird and her dog’s name is Boo Radley (after finishing this book, I realized there are a ton of references to it in Beautiful Creatures that I had never noticed before). I liked Lena so much that I knew I needed to reread this book to know why it was her favorite. That’s probably a superficial reason but I don’t care because it was the reason that led me to not completely shun this book for the rest of my life. It has been nine years since I first read Beautiful Creatures, but at least I did finally pick up To Kill a Mockingbird again.

Let’s talk about the characters.

Miss Caroline is a deplorable teacher. She’s such a minor character that barely makes an appearance but she still frustrated me. What kind of teacher refuses to let her students excel when they are able? She won’t allow Scout to read or write in the first (and second) grade and gets angry that she already knows how to do so. Early literacy is something to celebrate! (And in today’s era, first grade isn’t even early to be reading or writing anymore.) I just have to remind myself that this book was written sixty years ago and leave it at that.

Atticus is a nice man and a good father, and I like the values he stands for, but he is a bit one-dimensional in this notion because his entire characterization is who he is from Scout’s point of view. He is the wise figure of the story and teaches Jem and Scout many lessons that any reader could benefit from. If only all men of this era could view equality the same way that Atticus does.

Scout is my favorite character. I like the innocence about her and how outspoken and determined she is.

Jem is another nice character who I totally forgot existed. I like that he is Scout’s friend and not just her brother, and that he protects her.

Dill is okay but I really only see him as a troublemaker. Did he really serve a purpose other than to be a random friend?

Boo Radley is kind of the central focus of the story, even though he’s really not. He’s an interesting character that you think you know everything about until he actually shows up at the end. I’m glad that Scout did eventually get to meet him.

I don’t have much to say about any of the other characters except that Bob Ewell got what he deserved and Tom Robinson deserved more than he got.

This story was eons more interesting now than I remember it being in the fourth grade. It might have helped that I listened to the audiobook this time, though. I actually don’t think I would’ve gotten through the book if it wasn’t for the audiobook because it made the slang and southern dialect much easier to digest. I am also glad that the narrator was enjoyable to listen to and didn’t have a heavy southern accent. I know that I would have had no desire to pick up this book and keep reading if it weren’t for the audio version.

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.”
I think this quote encapsulates a lot of what this book is about. There are a lot of valuable lessons and morals taught herein, and I think that’s why it’s such a beloved story.

Well, my rating increased from a 1.5 to a 3, so I’d say this was a worthwhile read that I’m glad I gave another chance to, but To Kill a Mockingbird still isn’t a book that I loved. I think my initial reading experience influenced my view of this book too much because when I think about this book I immediately think about how much I hated it when I was eight (and then how I spent fourteen years continually thinking it was a terrible book until now). While I don’t think it’s a terrible book anymore, I also don’t think it’s the best thing ever. I might reread it again one day in the very distant future, but it won’t ever become a beloved classic for me.

Side note: I have no desire to read Go Set a Watchman. That book is supposedly the early rough draft of To Kill a Mockingbird, not its sequel. It was written before To Kill a Mockingbird and supposedly couldn’t sell to a publisher initially. Lee found an editor to help her with the story, and they crafted it into what we know at To Kill a Mockingbird. I don’t want to read Go Set a Watchman because A) I wasn’t interested in the story enough to want to read more about the characters, B) I have no interest in reading an unedited rough draft of Mockingbird because I’ve already had enough of that story, C) I’m aware that the characterization of key characters is vastly different in Watchman than it is in Mockingbird, and I do not want my view of the characters to be tainted (I’ve heard that Atticus is very racist in Go Set a Watchman, but I’m struggling to see how that’s possible after everything he did in To Kill a Mockingbird. That seems very inconsistent to me.), and D) I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t like the book anyway, so reading it would only be a waste of my time.