Our Dark Duet

Book Title: Our Dark Duet

Author: V.E. Schwab
Series: Monsters of Verity #2

Date Started: June 16th 2017

Date Completed: June 22nd 2017

Genres: Dystopian, Action, Fantasy
Quality Rating: Five Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Star

Final Rating: Five stars

Review:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.; finished in about three sittings. Even more than This Savage Song, I couldn't put it down. I'm a bit gutted it's over, honestly.

Victoria has such well-written action in her books. It's probably one of the smallest praises I can put on her writing - she's talented in a great many ways - but action and physical movement is always something that a lot of writers miss out on. You'd be surprised how many 'epic end battles' I've read that can barely string together two moves in a realistic fashion. But Vic manages whole fight scenes that you can visualise as easy as the characters themselves. There are human touches to the actions and a wordless fist fight can tell you just as much about the people as a dialogue scene.

The triumph of this series is its concept; I think I said a similar thing in my review of This Savage Song. The idea that acts of violence literally create humanoid monsters in their wake is genius, and the relationship those 'sinners' then have with the creatures even more so. The idea wasn't as key to the story as it was in the previous instalment, but gave the book a very solid foundation to work from. Our Dark Duet is more about the characters learning how to deal these monstrous creations and keep their own humanity while they're at it.

Something that struck me personally last time was the parallels between the monsters and mental health, and I was very happy to see it continued in this book. More so through the strength of the protagonists in the face of it than the experiences themselves this time, but it gave me a hand to hold and was actually pretty damn empowering. I'll get onto specifics on characters in a minute, but the narrative of accepting something as part of your existence without letting it take over struck home for me.

I have to say, while I loved the story of Our Dark Duet, there were a few things that were left unanswered or lost; Kate and her connection to this new monster was never really revealed (I don't think? Perhaps I was too caught up in the climax to catch the explanation), and her relationship with the people in Prosperity was somewhat abandoned after the first half. While I don't think these were things that were just 'conveniently missing' to make things easier, I was really interested in their part in the story and so was a bit sad they weren't carried the whole way through.

If there's one thing Victoria knows how to do, it's characters (and action, and story, and magic, and politics etc.). It's always the first thing I latch onto in her books, and it enhances the world she's constructed around them until it feels real.

Praise be (I've been watching The Handmaid's Tale) for kickass girls, and Kate is right at the top of the pile. Seeing her development from the first book is great, and her ability to have humanity but make the cold decisions that need to be made this book interesting. Kate almost goes solo in this book: she's with August of course, but a lot of her actions are her own and isolated from the rest. It was nice to see a female protagonist make her choices solely in her own mind, even if they aren't always the best options. Kate knows what she wants, for better or worse. And she's terrified, but all the braver for it.

August was someone I sorely missed wanting to hug, but he's not kidding when he says he's changed. He's still loveable, but while This Savage Song felt like his story, Our Dark Duet favours Kate. There's a very, very gentle relationship between the two which I appreciated and enjoyed for various reasons, especially from August's darker perspective in this book. Neither have had sheltered lives, but August was thrown into the middle of the chaos at the end of the last book and it's taken its toll. Very well done, of course, but I felt Kate's distress at finding a different August than the one she left behind.

Despite being dubious about the sequel to start with, The Monsters of Verity series works very well as a duology. This Savage Song was great as a stand alone (which is what I was convinced it was when I read it), but I can't complain about getting to follow Kate and August's story just a little further. It didn't feel unnecessary, it felt like a continuation, and it's joined the long list of five stars book from Vic in my library.

The Song Rising

Book Title: The Song Rising

Author: Samantha Shannon
Series: The Bone Season #3

Date Started: June 1st 2017

Date Completed: June 11th 2017

Genres: Fantasy, Dystopian, Romance
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Star

Final Rating: Five stars

Review:

I really enjoyed The Song Rising. Way more than I expected, actually. It's been a while since I read The Mime Order back in early 2015, and the series had somewhat paled in my memory. The Bone Season held the top position on my favourites shelf for a long time, so I don't really know why, but I was quite apprehensive going into this third book in the series well aware that the wait between them is only likely to get longer, and the complexities of the story I have to remember even harder. But you know what, the wait was well worth it.

Shannon is a very good writer. We know this, but her work reestablishes it every time I open a page too. Her grasp on the balance between politics on a lower and upper-class level, relationships and rebellion make these books very engaging to read, not to mention enjoyable. Personally, I love her for the worlds she creates by twisting our own; Shannon uses culture so well to give herself a basis of customs that we're familiar with to build on further. I know we're heading across Europe later in the series, but even just the way she heightens English and Irish culture and locations with her fantastical elements is a joy to read.

Despite reading the last book more than two years ago, I actually remembered a lot of the world building and plot points. And The Bone Season series is a complicated world to say the least; it's magic system to start with has a ridiculous number of variations that I honestly don't know (but hey, doesn't take away from the story so it's all good). This basically means that the whole series much be pretty solid if I can remember where we were both for the government, the rebellion and the protagonist at the end of The Mime Order - not to mention a fair few smaller character roles too.

Something that I get worried with from longer series like this is the ability of each book to be a story within its own right, as well as moving the series plot line on. It's a problem you get a lot in trilogies - filler book syndrome, as I call it - where it only really exists to set the characters and story up for a later book. The Mime Order bordered a little too close to that from what I remember, so approaching The Song Rising I did have that looming in the back of my head. It was a nice surprise then, to find that this novel had a good plot in its own right, as well as in the series as a whole. The characters are given a goal at the beginning, and they work towards that throughout, but new problems have been brought to their attention by the time they have completed their mission.

I'm not really in this for the romance side of the story (though I'm sure some people are), but I'm not going to turn down a pairing that's actually realistic in their behaviour given the circumstances. The whole 'you're a distraction, we can't do this' trope was at least attempted by the characters before they realised it just wasn't going to fly like that - something I'm happy to see people actually realising and not stubbornly continuing anyway. And, I admit, Paige and Warden are enjoyable to read together. It's a nice diversion from the main story for a few pages every now and then.

Oh boy, there's a lot of characters in this series, it feels like Game of Thrones sometimes. Likewise, they're all believable and developed even if I can't keep track of every single one of them. Having said that, there's a lot of people that I was able to remember. Within a few chapters I could place the position of Paige's friends pretty well considering how long it's been.

Paige herself is an awesome protagonist. She's very doubtful and scared of her power and responsibility, but her bravery in the face of it is what makes her a hero. This was the first time we really got to see her in control of her own fate - which can sometimes be the downfall for poorly-written characters - but I felt like I was seeing her at her very best.

I'm so happy that this series is back and kicking. The time in between books definitely made me forget how much I enjoyed the world of Scion London and Paige Mahoney - I mean, The Bone Season was my favourite book for quite a while. I missed it a lot more than I expected and I'm very excited about where the series is heading.

Resurrection

Book Title: Resurrection

Author: Derek Landy
Series: Skulduggery Pleasant #10

Date Started: May 30th 2017

Date Completed: June 1st 2017

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Mystery, Action, Horror
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Star

Final Rating: Five stars

Review:

Of course, the release of Resurrection worried me immensely: what if my beloved series was getting pulled out too far, too thin, what if it wasn't quite the same anymore? But, even though Roarhaven and the magical community is very, very changed from what we left, even though there are new characters and altered favourites, even though the tone is a little different, the heart and soul of the Skulduggery Pleasant series is there. We weren't coming back for the same thing, and Derek knew that. Resurrection is an evolution of the series we know and love that was needed if the story was to carry on. And I'm very glad they did.

I've always been impressed with Derek's style of writing, and each time I read his new book I'm reminded how much he's developed and grown. To fuel his ego even more, we'll call it slick. I especially love how the end and beginning sentences of each chapter often reflect one another; it's like a film where the same word of a sentence has been edited between scenes. It's especially satisfying if you're marathoning the book like I was, so you catch the little jokes between pages.

The political satire is also on point. More than ever, Derek's humour is taking in contextual references which - while not always necessary for a joke to work - makes it all the funnier. It was toeing the boundaries of how far jokes can go at times, but nothing was too much. I just hope it doesn't lean over too far in the future.

The world of Skulduggery Pleasant is pretty broad now, and I think it's wonderful that you can casually teleport around the world and it doesn't feel like a big step. You can have these fantastically crazy magical abilities and people and it fits perfectly well with everything else. Derek is very good with tone and things rarely feel out of place, even if they seem pretty dramatic out of context. Speaking of which, the stakes are raised really high almost immediately in this book. I was smiling, so happy to be back in this world, and then suddenly woah, okay things are already going disastrously wrong. Good old Val and Skulduggery spreading friendly chaos everywhere.

And chaos it definitely it, but not the happy-go-lucky chaos that exists for as long as it's needed and then miraculously gets resolved in a few pages. It's been five years since we left the Ireland of The Dying of the Light, and things have changed because of what happened. Val has changed. We get a proper look at what it's like for an individual to continue after these heroic, but quite frankly terrible things happen, as well as how it makes other people react to them. More on that later. But it's not in the 'oh great everything's really sad now, where's the fun in it.' Don't worry Derek has plenty of wisecracks to keep you smiling.

Now when I heard that Resurrection was going to have a mostly new cast I became a little bit bitter. Little bit. But, I admit, with reluctance, that the new characters are pretty cool too. They're still not Tanith and the others (emphasis on Tanith), but I do admit it took about three/four books for me to warm up to her so I'm willing to give these guys a chance.

Seeing Val again was bizarre considering I grew up with her - like I always say, this series was my Harry Potter. Only my Fantastic Beasts actually features the original protagonist, only five years older and struggling with some dark stuff. Just the way I like it. As a representation of mental illness being featured in a story without it having to be the main plot point, this does pretty damn well. Derek tells the exciting action-adventure story, but he's always taken the effects violence has on people seriously. Val's depression and anxiety are definitely a driving force of some of this book, but they're things that try and test her character along the way, not purely a plot point.

Speaking of, Derek also twisted the 'Chosen One' story in a nice direction. If you've read The Rest of Us Just Live Here, you'll have an idea of what Omen's starting point is like; the painfully ordinary twin of the Chosen One. Ouch. But, of course, Omen becomes a lot more than that. I was really happy, first of all, with the fact that the whole deal of throwing kids into adult wars and fights has been realised to maybe not be the best idea. Not they're just being stubborn and going into it themselves, it seems. But secondly, as much as Omen changes, Derek didn't make it about becoming a hero like his brother. It was about Omen becoming whoever he wanted to be regardless of where he started, and that's just as valuable. You don't have to become the thing that you're not to be important.

All in all, I'm very glad to have some Skulduggery back in my life (not that I've been rereading the series on repeat or anything). It took a series that is very dear to my heart, and quite frankly awesome, and turned it into something a little bit new without losing the feel of the original series. My only criticism: where's my Tanith and when do I get her back?

Neverwhere

Book Title: Neverwhere

Author: Neil Gaiman

Date Started: May 16th 2017

Date Completed: May 30th 2017

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Mystery
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Four stars

Review:

Neverwhere is your typical Neil Gaiman adventure with your typical Neil Gaiman humour and your typical Neil Gaiman imagination. Can't go wrong, right? Obviously, being an adult book, it's quite a bit more mature and - dare I say it - creepy. I think this is the first full novel in the genre of urban fantasy that I've read from Neil, and I'm not 100% on it, but it was an enjoyable experience nonetheless.

One of the reasons that Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite authors - if not top of the list - is his ability to trust in his own imagination. It's no small feat to be able to think up all the whimsical and magical things he does, but something that amazes me every time I read his books is his ability to show them with no holding back. Of course, that's why he's so well known for what he does: because he tells the stories he tells with complete conviction and devotion, however outlandish or bizarre they may be. Speaking of such, Neverwhere is probably the strangest Gaiman story I've read (and I've read How To Talk to Girls at Parties). For me, it toed it a bit far with the urban city elements through in - but I adored the historical magical parts. We see the existing city of London twisted into strange new things, and we saw completely invented nonsense next to it in a wonderful little universe. I think I found it hard to completely fall into because there was such a mix of historical and contemporary creatures and creations; I couldn't quite handle remnants The Great Fire of London alongside businessmen on the tube. The story of Neverwhere is one thing, but what really sticks out is how it's really a love letter to London - all the Londons that have ever existed throughout time. Including it's mysterious and dark parts as well. I liked learning a lot about the history of the city that was integrated into a lot of the adventure.

As I've already said, Neverwhere is your typical Neil Gaiman adventure. Strapping young hero, a bit lost and pursuing the well-trodden path because there doesn't seem like anything else to do (or alternatively, rebelling because how can this possibly be all there is?), who has their escapade thrown upon them and has to navigate through some strange world with pretty much no idea what they're doing and a fair few mistakes piling up behind them. But who is, in the end, a hero because they carry on regardless. I've always loved those kinds of stories, and Neil does not disappoint. The world had me a little bit lost at times, but the plot was always keeping me glued to the page. It also had the nicest ending I've read for a while. Without spoiling anything, it's a little twist on the classical 'nostos' or 'homecoming' resolution, that almost has you thinking everything's back to the way it was before. But then, just in the last few pages, we're given just the hint of something else. This tone shift makes everything almost feel like it's still to play for: the characters will go on on their adventures for a long time to come, and that is immensely satisfying.

This book has some really great characters and relationship dynamics, but I would've liked it if some of the smaller characters had stuck around for longer so I could've actually got to know them. Neil has done his job in telling Richard's story, but I felt like Richard was the only character I really knew properly. Even every minor character has such personality and individuality to them that I just want to hover and learn about all of them before the story moves on.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of Neverwhere. It's not my favourite thing Neil's written - I think I prefer stories that don't involve the tedium of everyday life in general, even if it is to tell a story of a man escaping it - but worth the read.

Release

Book Title: Release

Author: Patrick Ness

Date Started: May 12th 2017

Date Completed: May 14th 2017

Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Mystery, Fantasy
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Star

Final Rating: Five stars

Review:

I've been a big fan of Patrick Ness since picking up The Knife of Never Letting Go (to which I finished in about a day, promptly went straight on to the kindle store and bought The Ask and the Answer so there was less than a minute between me reading the books), and with each novel of his I've fallen more in love with him as a storyteller. Release was no different, and perhaps a unique experience as I got to meet and listen to Patrick on the day I finished it.

The reason Patrick is so successful, I think, is from his understanding of teenagers and his ability to reciprocate their emotions and behaviour. In less pretentious language: there's no talking down in his books, no skipping the hard stuff. Just honest and emotional things happening and being experienced by real people. In The Rest of Us Just Live Here, I was stunned at how he could deal with mental health in such a gentle but blunt way: there was no romanticising the harsh realities, but there was a sense of hope and more to life than just that as well. And now, in Release, Patrick does it all over again. This time, we're looking more at relationships (romantic, platonic, familial, you name it) with the same softness and honesty that shows how even when everybody thinks they're coming from the right place, the result can ultimately be wrong and hurtful. And it's not an entirely happy ending, but there is a revelation and acceptance that that's okay as well.

Getting to see Patrick on his tour for Release really brought my attention to the importance of the diversity and representation shown in this book. We need all the LGBT+ fiction we can get, but we also need more of it that looks at sexuality past the coming-out story. Release is about Adam's life captured in a day and a big part of that is driven by his sexuality, but his life exists and reaches out further as well. Something that probably struck me the most about Patrick's event was that he writes because he couldn't see himself in the books he read, and I think he's given another generation that representation that they need.

Setting the book over one day perfectly captured everything in Adam's life without it being forced. It's not the longest of books; it takes exactly the time it needs to let the story play out. It's just one of those bad days that we all have, but in it we get to see pretty much everything that's weighing on Adam's mind. While the story isn't there to resolve these things, by the end there's closure in the way of knowing that bad days are just that - bad days. It doesn't mean everything's right and fair, but it doesn't mean everything's wrong and hopeless either.

I adore the fantastical elements Patrick has started adding in his books. I thought the comedic snapshots of the typical YA plot lines in The Rest of Us Just Live Here was a stroke of genius, and I loved the supernatural sub-plot going on while Adam went about his day. Patrick writes them almost as separate stories, and this means that the main plot can be its own thing and well developed by itself, but is then elevated at the conclusion where all the little ties are drawn together between the two stories to exaggerate their meaning and resolution.

Patrick doesn't write heroes or villains, he writes people that grapple with good and bad, and right and wrong. I'm happy to say that three-dimensional characters are much more common than they used to be, but few writers I've read have managed to capture that humans can do wrong and bad things without realising or meaning to do wrong or bad things. Which brings in the question, how much can they really be blamed? To which Patrick answers with diplomacy and firmness: your beliefs and intentions are each individual's freedom of choice, but your actions towards others are what you will be help accountable for.

There are always lovely relationships in Patrick's books, especially between friends, but creating Angela topped them all. She's simultaneously the funniest, most kindhearted and blunt 'best friend' character I've come across, and all with such chemistry to Adam that you feel every heartfelt intention. She really cares about him, and seeing that fierce sort of friendship (between a girl and boy as well - shock horror since it's not just trying to be quirky) made me smile time and time again while reading.

Okay, Adam should really get top billing over Angela, but he'd happily step aside to let her be in the limelight for a bit. Because now, I can tell you how great Adam is as a protagonist. He's not necessarily what I'd call a quiet character, but he's someone that throughout the whole of Release is just trying to hold on while everything looks like it's falling to pieces around him. Adam was the best protagonist you could've had for a story like this because he was powerless to all the changes, but he reacted in human ways every time. For me, Release is a lot about understanding that unfortunate things happen - sometimes all at once - but at the end of the day things start again, you just have to keep going. Adam pushes through everything, not always gracefully and never happily, but he keeps going. In role model mode he fits the bill, for representation he ticks the boxes, but past all that his character feels as real and human as if he were standing right next to you as you read.

Release didn't mean as much to me personally as The Rest of Us Just Live Here, but it was of course worth all the time in the world to read, and I'm sure will mean a great deal to many people out there. Meeting Patrick was an honour and only made me appreciate his work and personality more. I wait in anticipation for the next one.

The Glorious Heresies

Book Title: The Glorious Heresies

Author: Lisa McInerney
Series: Ryan Cusack #1

Date Started: May 2nd 2017

Date Completed: May 12th 2017

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Contemporary
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Three stars

Review:

The Glorious Heresies turned out to be not my kind of book, but an interesting read to add to the collection. Like much other literary fiction, finding an actual plot is a little hard but witnessing the experiences of a handful of characters as they go through a host of linked events provides ample opportunity to explore the darker side of Ireland.

Something that drew me to this book (aside from the rather good reviews and awards) was the setting of Ireland. A lot of creative work I love has come out of it and the history fascinates me, so it's a quick way to get me to have a look at something if there's an Irish setting. The look into the grim and darker parts of the nation was interesting, especially in the ways it took into account of religion, poverty and familial structures across the decades. But despite the edgy themes being shown, McInerney owns the Irish culture and identity throughout.

This book isn't really one with a story, but one following people over several years. As much as I love characters over plot, it isn't my thing to have basically no visible driving force leading us along. However, this book did make me notice more than before how much skill has to go into it to keep a pace up without clear plot events making each waypoint. As much as it seems like there's little significance to each point of action, it does all add up. And actually, I would be lying if I called it a book completely without a plot in hindsight. Throughout we're following the consequences of an accidental murder, but for me it worked more at pulling events and people in when they started to drift too far off, as opposed to a string the story was moving down.

McInerney deals with a lot of dark subjects - triggers warnings for pretty much everything - but I didn't feel completely put down by the way it explores these things. There's enough humour and wit in her prose that you can absorb everything and enjoy it as a novel even with these actually very graphic and violent acts. She respects the gravity they have (her story is crafted around them), but she knows how to make them readable too.

As we have multiple 'perspectives' and characters to follow in this book, I wasn't quite sure who I was supposed to be following. We technically have a protagonist who turns up in everyone's stories, but every side characters' stories are just as important and interesting. I wouldn't mark it as a failing, but it did mean I didn't end up latching onto anyone that much. Then again, it's not a story with particularly likeable characters, and for good reason. We're much more in the position of a witness to these tapestry of meddlings and crimes and mistakes that become more and more tangled until the tension is at boiling point.

Since I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book I wasn't really disappointed at the end. I wasn't exactly impressed either. Actually, I don't have any particularly strong feelings about it if I'm honest. If you're into literary fiction following characters running somewhat in circles this might be up your alley, but for me it was a bit unmemorable.

Strange the Dreamer

Book Title: Strange the Dreamer

Author: Laini Taylor
Series: Strange the Dreamer #1

Date Started: April 16th 2017

Date Completed: May 1st 2017

Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four stars

Review:

I've been waiting for another book of Laini Taylor's to sink my teeth into for a long time; was it as beautiful and stunning as I'd hoped it would be? Oh yes, and more. But did it live up to Daughter of Smoke and Bone in all over respects? Sadly, not.

I've always loved Laini's writing; Daughter of Smoke and Bone was my favourite book for a very long time partly because of it. There's so much wonder and magic and beauty in her prose, and she can make even the most boring object seem visceral and real. But I found that in Strange the Dreamer, there was a tone (or I guess attitude) on the edges that got on my nerves a little bit - when Taylor was reminding us of things again and again, despite the fact she'd already shown us their importance. Yes, I already understand the gravity of the situation because you've so compelled me to pay attention and be engaged, please stop putting things in italics to remind me of obvious things, I know they're important you don't have to be so direct about it and pull me out of the story.

Then again, regardless of Laini's desire to make us know what's happening (and overcompensation as a result), it does allow you to take in the stunning world again and again. And, oh, it's beautiful. The imagination, the imagery, the wonder Lazlo feels that of course extends to all of us reading. I was thrown off at the start when I didn't quite know where to place my imagination in terms of time: was it a historical version of our world? They were talking about humans in a seventeenth century sort of cutlure, but we don't hover around long enough to really know, and it was hard to draw a line between the fantastical and the technology of the time.

Strange the Dreamer has a lot of repetition. That's not a great way to start talking about it's story but... it's my lingering impression of it; a lot of repetition. The middle of the book is basically the same thing written five different ways five times over. I get what happened fifteen years ago, you don't ned to tell me again, I get what it means to the people, you don't have to show it again, I get what's happening now, you don't have to remind me. Please, stop telling me the exposition a million times and tell me THIS story. This story is ruch and wonderful and exciting, don't waste it!

In the end I feel kind of cheated. And it breaks my heart to say that - and maybe it's a bit dramatic. I still really enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down, but the end just left me feeling void. Nothing was resolved... at all, and I kind of wonder what was the point of anything that happened past being its own exposition for the next book? It had a bit of Allegiant syndrome: the initial story was abandoned and something else came out of the blue instead. I'm very much of the belief that every book should be able to stand on its own, part of a series or not. It's great to build on themes and plot lines over multiple books, but if you aren't giving me a story in one volume then why is it there? This book had so much potential - and Laini has so much talent and ability - but it fell into the trap of wanting to tease your audience along for book after book after book without any pay off.

There's a nice selection of characters in Strange the Dreamer, though I would've actually liked to get to know some of them. For a moderately long book we don't really get to follow anyone but Lazlo and Sarai. As lovely and interesting as our protagonists are, I was really intersted in some of the faranji. I would've read a small book dedicated just to Nero and his relationship with Lazlo, but the romance definitely dominated time we could've had given to them (the romance and the repetition). Eril-Fane and Azareen and their past fascinated me too, but we barely got to see anything because everything was head first for the romantic storyline since it was really the only thing holding together the progress in the second half of the book.

Lazlo was a lovely protagonist, of course. A book-lover always makes a good protagonist. Maybe I expected more from Laini than to make him stereotypically attractive and more than he seems, but looking back on Daughter of Smoke and Bone it's not exactly spilling with other evidence. It was nice having a peace keeper as a hero though, we don't have enough of those - and a peace keeper who doesn't go to violence as a last resort as well.

Sarai was just as good, though I sensed a fair amount of favouring by Laini towards her. She seemed to get the dramatic moments and affection while Lazlo looked on or helped her. Again, the peace keeper aspect was nice, and Laini demonstrated her vivid imagination by giving her a very unusual gift (that I won't reveal because spoilers). Together, they made a nice pair, but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't give up their romance in order to see other characters more.

I enjoyed it, yes, I thought it was beautiful, but I should feel more than just intrigued after a 500+ page book, and I should have at least had a full arc of a story. Even as a book that depends on sequels go, Strange the Dreamer is more than unfinished without having to read more books - the story has barely started. And yes, that's exciting for the future, but its also really disappointing for now after waiting so long for another Laini Taylor book.