I really enjoyed reading this fantasy novel by Laini Taylor, as Strange The Dreamer was a constantly twisting tale from a magical far far away. It’s been a while since I’ve read a fairies and dragons style fantasy novel, as I’ve mostly been sticking to more sci-fi around space and time-travel or teen and tragedy romance.

The blurb on the back of this book was somewhat vague, which made it all the more exciting to get into. Beginning with the orphan boy Lazlo Strange, we begin to understand his character as a quiet and common resident of small, not spectacular city he has always known. As a junior librarian and someone who will supposedly never amount to the equivalent of the Queen’s nephew, it comes as a surprise when Lazlo’s frowned upon love for the long lost city of Weep grants him a place alongside warriors fighting for the recovery of the city so many people didn’t believe existed. Lazlo’s knowledge of Weep and his determination to do great things leads him to become something a lot larger than he ever thought he’d be. As Lazlo realises his task in fixing Weep, he also meets a blue girl who will change his entire existence forever.

I was completely engrossed in this book from beginning to end, following a quiet orphan that slowly(and predictably as books make them) developed into the story’s biggest hero. This novel was magical and enchanting, as the author built a beautiful mythical landscape in the form of a lost city. The characters  in Strange The Dreamer, in my mind, are a wonderful mix between something from Avatar and Percy Jackson, a new breed of both enemies and friends in the form of ‘Gods’ or ‘Godslayers’. The time scale of the story makes it feel like a very long book, something I really like. As for the overall adventure of Lazlo The strange, I found this a wonderfully gripping fantasy novel well worth a read, that I highly recommend as a summer novel.