Book Review: MUSE OF NIGHTMARES (Strange the Dreamer # 2) by Laini Taylor

Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"Once upon a time there was a silence that dreamed of becoming a song, and then I found you, and now everything is music."

I'm so glad to have had the mental space and energy to finish a book, after a six week drought. I've nearly forgotten how therapeutic it can be, to be lost in one's own world, shared only by the author.

"We're not free! How can we be free if justice isn't done?"

I read this on the day we celebrate my Motherland's independence. And yet as I type this, I realize we are not truly free. The mere fact that we are so careful now of what we post is a testament to how unfree we are.

And this is where books come in. Their stories and truths paint the atrocities of this world ever brighter, reminding us of what ought to be, releasing us from any doubt or false illusions that social media and politicians paint on the blank canvas of non-readers.

Laini Taylor's second book in the series starts immediately after the terrible, heart-wrenching cliffhanger scene in Book 1, the one that I was shoving around in the faces of my book club friends because IT WAS THAT GOOD (see: http://teachergabi.blogspot.com/2020/...).

Taylor takes the old YA formula : two superhuman beings from warring worlds torn apart by cruel Fate, and adds a flair for story telling all her own. It's a strange mix (get it? Strange? haha) of scifi, fantasy, and myth, and it's one hell of a ride.

I loved that the bad guys were multidimensional and sympathetic characters, it made the tragic parts more soul-crushing. And this is something Taylor does particularly well... she highlights the redemptive power of choice, of choosing love over hate. Of transcending one's upbringing.

"You can't save everyone... you know that, don't you?"
"I know... but we can try. And... maybe that's how we save ourselves."

The fight continues. Thank goodness for books, for the small freedoms we still enjoy. May we derive strength from them to go on.

Because that's what stories do. They go on.

Here's to brighter chapters and more hopeful tomorrows!!



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