Strange the Dreamer

Strange the Dreamer is a 2017 high fantasy young adult novel by veteran fantasy writer Laini Taylor. It is the first book in the Strange the Dreamer duology and is followed by Muse of Nightmares (2019). Taylor is known for her 2011 trilogy Daughter of Smoke and Bone, which follows a 17-year-old art student in Prague who becomes involved in a war between demons and angels.

Strange the Dreamer tells the story of Lazlo Strange, an orphan-turned-librarian with an insatiable thirst for knowledge about the mythical lost city of Weep. When he is offered an opportunity to journey to Weep itself, Lazlo enters a world where magic and fairy tales exist alongside horror and violence and finds answers to questions about his identity. Meanwhile, above the city of Weep, Sarai, the daughter of a slaughtered god, questions what it means to be a monster and wonders if having empathy for the humans who slaughtered her family is an act of mercy or betrayal. When Lazlo’s world collides with Sarai’s, the two find that love can be a powerful force for transforming even the most deep-seated wounds.

Strange the Dreamer covers multiple perspectives and discourses on the consequences of war, violence, oppression, and trauma and turns the typical hero’s trope on its head by examining the consequences of pursuing violent means to achieve heroic ends. Through its primary protagonist, Lazlo, the novel explores the power of fairy tales and stories, and through the story of Sarai, daughter of slaughtered gods, the novel explores the generational consequences of trauma and memory, along with the power of empathy and love to transform and heal.

This guide references the Little, Brown and Company 2017 First Edition Hardcover.

Content warning: This source text discusses sexual assault.

Plot Summary

The novel opens with a prologue that depicts a nameless, blue-skinned girl falling from the sky before being impaled on the finial of a wrought-iron gate against a backdrop of catastrophe. The ghost of the blue-skinned girl rises up and vanishes into the sky. Chapter 1 then describes the childhood of the primary protagonist, Lazlo Strange, who is orphaned and placed under the care of monks. Lazlo does not feel at home in the abbey and finds refuge in stories about a lost mythic city. When some force of magic erases the city’s name in the collective consciousness and replaces it with “Weep,” Lazlo dedicates himself to resolving the mystery of the lost city.

Now 20, Lazlo is a librarian in the Great Library of Zosma, a role that fits him much better than life at the abbey. Lazlo remains obsessed with Weep and spends all his time reading fairy tales and pursuing his research. Because the other scholars and librarians do not consider fairy tales to be a serious intellectual pursuit, Lazlo is often the target of scorn. However, a clue Lazlo gleans from a fairy tale leads to a major alchemical breakthrough, though none but Lazlo and the alchemist in question know it. Thyon Nero, an alchemist who is talented and arrogant in equal measure, learns the secret to creating gold thanks to a tip from Lazlo.

Lazlo’s hard study of Weep pays off when a band of human warriors from Weep itself arrives in Zosma to solicit help rebuilding their city. Lazlo is selected to join the band of accomplished delegates because of his extensive familiarity with the city’s history and language. The other delegates are all distinguished scholars with particular skills, and their number includes Thyon Nero. Eril-Fane, leader and hero of Weep furnished with the epithet “Godslayer,” has selected this delegation to resolve a situation in Weep, although he gives no further details as to what the situation might be.

Meanwhile, the children of the former gods of Weep hide in the citadel that floats above the city, where the gods once resided. Two hundred years ago, a pantheon of six gods descended upon the city of Weep and terrorized its citizens, abducting them and abusing them. To free his city, Eril-Fane slaughtered all the gods and their children. However, Sarai and four others—Minya, Feral, Sparrow, and Ruby—survived the Carnage. Now, they keep their existence a secret because they know that revealing their existence to the humans would mean instant death. Minya is the only one of the children old enough to remember the Carnage; a deep hate festers within her, and she tries to keep it alive in the other children by sharing her memories of the massacre with them. In spite of this, none of the other children, who were only infants during the Carnage and have no memory of it themselves, harbor quite the enmity that Minya does.

Each of the “godspawn,” as they are called, possesses a unique gift. Minya can bind ghosts to her will, and Sarai can disperse her consciousness as a flock of black moths that she uses to enter and manipulate the humans’ dreams. In service of her agenda for vengeance, Minya orders Sarai to terrorize the citizens every night in their sleep. Sarai, who gains a unique understanding of the human condition through her ability, develops empathy for the humans. However, Sarai is subject to Minya’s commands and can do nothing to contradict her.

Lazlo gradually learns of Eril-Fane’s tragic past. Weep is not a place of wonder for Eril-Fane, but one of trauma and horror, for he carries internal turmoil for the actions he took on the day of the Carnage, although he knows that his actions ultimately freed his people. Eril-Fane reveals the problem he has brought the delegation to solve. Although he purged Weep of the gods many years ago, their citadel remains in the shape of a giant floating angel that takes up the entire sky, trapping Weep in its shadow. Eril-Fane wants the delegates’ help in freeing Weep from that shadow. However, once Eril-Fane learns of the surviving godspawn, he knows they must be dealt with too.

When Minya and the other godspawn children realize that the Godslayer has returned, Minya immediately makes plans to retaliate. Sarai is hesitant; she does not think the humans deserve destruction, particularly because Sarai knows through the humans’ dreamt memories that they were the gods’ victims before the Carnage. Nonetheless, Sarai obeys Minya’s command to enter the delegation’s dreams and uncover their plans. During this task, Sarai encounters Lazlo for the first time.

Lazlo and Sarai form a connection when Sarai enters one of Lazlo’s dreams and realizes that he can see her (something no other human has been able to do), and he does not look at her with disgust, but awe. An attraction forms between them, and they become romantically involved. Lazlo’s open admiration and acceptance of Sarai encourages her that there is hope that she and her family can co-exist peacefully with the humans. Lazlo’s love for Sarai motivates him to persuade Eril-Fane to try and find a peaceful solution to the godspawn’s existence.

Everything comes to a head when one member of Eril-Fane’s delegation attempts to blow up the citadel. Lazlo moves the citadel by manipulating the magical metal from which the citadel is constructed, an ability that reveals Lazlo himself as godspawn. After witnessing Lazlo, a cherished friend to the Weep citizens, act on behalf of humans and save their city, Eril-Fane and the others set aside their old hatreds of the gods and thank Lazlo for what he has done.

In the tumult from the explosion, Sarai topples from the citadel and falls to the city below, dying when she is impaled on a wrought-iron fence—just as in the scene from the prologue. Lazlo, distraught over her loss, begs Minya to resurrect Sarai’s soul as a ghost. Minya, still bitter with hatred, obeys; but she will only keep Sarai’s ghost alive if Lazlo swears to do everything she says. Lazlo agrees, knowing that his story has only just begun.