Strange the Dreamer

Hello everyone! It's Shani here today with another book review! Today - if you hadn't guessed from the title - I will be reviewing Laini Taylor's Strange the Dreamer.

Published: 28th March 2017
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Author: Laini Taylor
Length: 532 pages
My Rating: 5/5

Brief Summary: The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.

What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?

I have many things to say about this book. One of the things I will say is that it has the best book I have read in 2017 so far. The plot is fantastic, though at times a lot to get your head around as a majority of fantasy books are, and Taylor's language is exquisite. I think it's amazing how Taylor manages to craft this completely new world which is very different and yet in certain aspects very similar to our own. Fantasy is my go to genre, it always has been since I was a child, and Laini Taylor's Strange the Dreamer has captured everything which I look for in the genre such as magic, distant lands, gods and goddesses, a sprinkle of romance, and excellent world building. 

The first few chapters of the novel can be slightly slow placed which was a bit off putting at times but this was also needed to introduce certain concepts about Taylor's world and mostly importantly build a foundation for the city of Weep where the majority of the story takes place. Taylor's world building is wonderful and her descriptive language really gives the reader a clear image of what the fantastical world of Zosma and Weep look like. I especially loved reading about Zosma's library where the protagonist, Lazlo Strange, lives as a librarian. It was so wonderful to read about books being written about in such a lovely manner and Lazlo's deep love for books captured my own, and many other readers, deep infatuation with reading which I thought was lovely coming from a male protagonist. 

This leads me on to my next point: Lazlo Strange. I adored Lazlo as one of the protagonists so much. He isn't your typical male protagonist, he is shy, overly polite, not very physically strong, and lives in a fantasy world. Lazlo is also abused a lot as a child, he is brought up in an Abbey for the first thirteen years of his life, and sometimes this sort of abuse can make a character turn guarded and nasty. Not Lazlo Strange my dear readers. Oh no, Lazlo takes what happened to him as a child and is nice to everyone because of what happened to him, which I loved about his characterisation. He doesn't act like a victim, even though he has suffered a great deal during his early childhood, and he still treats everyone, even those who do not deserve to be treated with kindness, with a gentle manner and this sort of attitude is so inspiring. To be nice to people even if they aren't necessarily nice to you. It's a motto I live by (Lazlo is a total hufflepuff) and it was lovely to see Lazlo's attitude towards people being unaffected despite what happened to him as a child. He is also obsessed with stories. Stories about the lost city of Weep in particular. I was able to connect with Lazlo for a number of reasons and this made me love his character from the moment Taylor introduces him to the reader. If anything Lazlo is one of the most atypical male characters I've read about in long while and it was refreshing to have a male perspective in YA literature because the majority of protagonists in the genre now are female. Especially since Lazlo is the least brooding, mysterious male character ever unlike the majority of the YA genre. 

Whilst this book is in the YA fantasy genre I didn't feel like I was reading YA fiction. Maybe it's due to Taylor's beautiful language or the complexity of her world, but I didn't feel like I was reading YA fiction especially because the amount of dark themes in the novel such as enslavement, torture, death, rape and imprisonment. Some of these dark themes aren't mentioned but rather subtly implied by the writer but even so the Gods in this book are not very nice people and they have done a lot of terrible things to the citizens of Weep, as has the 'Godslayer' otherwise none as Eril-Fane the man who destroys all the Gods to the children of the gods. I won't relay any spoilers but lets just say Eril-Fane does some appalling things as well and that the point of this novel is that the citizens of Weep and the masochistic Gods are just as bad as one and other. 

Another aspect which I adored was the relationship between Lazlo and Sarai. There was something so beautiful and yet fragile about their relationship, their entire worlds were coming apart at the seams and they only cared about making sure the other one was safe. It was so sweet to watch how their relationship grows... but the ending. The plot twist - sort of plot twist? - at the end of the novel tore me to pieces. Now, I don't tend to cry when I'm reading. Normally I'm very good at not crying even if the books is very emotional. That seemed to go straight out the window when I got to the end of Strange the Dreamer because I was crying so much! I'm not even sure why because everything... Well the majority of things gets resolved, but I need the next book now! It's killing me I need to know what's going to happen!

So, if you're interested in the fantasy genre then I would recommend Strange the Dreamer. It's honestly so beautiful and needs more love. 

Fangirl

Hello, it's Shani here! Today I wanted to discuss one of my favourite books, which I was able to reread again! I'm back once again to discuss another Rainbow Rowell book, Fangirl! I hope you all enjoy this review and if you haven't read Fangirl, I would definitely suggest you pop to your local bookshop and purchase it!

Author: Rainbow Rowell
Published: 10 September 2013
Publisher: St Martin's Press
Length: 479
My Rating: 4.5/5

Fangirl, written by Rainbow Rowell, is about an eighteen year old girl named Cather Avery who is attempting to survive her first year of College (or University), however she finds herself struggling due to her obsession with writing Fan Fiction for the Simon Snow universe.

In a sense, I have never related to a book character quite like I have to Cather's. Cath lives and breathes through her reading and writing, it is the only way she is able to make it through her everyday life. Her anxiety about starting a new chapter in her life, going to University and moving away from her family home, make her a very realistic character and I have found that a lot of people my age have found themselves being able to relate to her. Cath's obsession with the Simon Snow universe, which is a series made up entirely by Rowell but in the novel is written by Gemma T. Leslie, has numerous elements of Harry Potter by J.K.Rowling. I found this interesting because I had never seen a Young Adult novel acknowledge the fact that Fan Fiction is an active, almost essential part, of a novel's 'hype'. There are over 637,063 Fan Fictions of Harry Potter on the internet alone, and never I have seen a writer such as Rowell acknowledge that Fan Fiction exists. Not only does Rowell acknowledge it, but she encourages it, and many other writers have begun to as well. This was one of the main things I loved about Fangirl so much, it presented the reader with a character who cared deeply for two characters - Simon Snow and Baz - and used them as a coping mechanism in her every day life. It makes the reader realise that caring about fictional characters isn't a bad thing and should be more encouraged rather than disregarded.

The subject of mental health is handled beautifully in this book. Not only does Cath suffer from GAD - General Anxiety Disorder - but her father Arthur, referred to as 'Art', suffers from mental health issues as well. Rowell breaches subjects, such as parental abandonment, without any reluctance whatsoever and presents the reader with Cath's various different emotions throughout the stages of her school year. Though the book is written in third person, the narrative is around Cath throughout the entire novel, and in a sense it almost feels as if it is written from a first person account. Cath's conflicting emotions over the rift with her twin sister, Wren, and her estranged mother, Laura, are written beautifully by Rowell and show the complex emotions that one goes through when faced with challenging circumstances. Rowell is unafraid to show her young adult audience that it is okay to be upset when faced with these type of issues, her writing presents a certain fragility and vulnerability that many young adults go through.

Another aspect which was wonderful about this novel was that at the end of certain chapters, Rowell would include an extract from Cath's Fan Fiction. This was so wonderfully written and added new life to the novel, making it more interesting as the reader went along because you are almost reading two stories at once. I think perhaps my favourite thing about this novel though, was Levi's encouragement of Cath writing Fan Fiction and how blatantly obvious his love for Cath was. Cath first meets Levi when she finds him in her room on the first day of moving into the University dorms. Cath is initially terrified of Levi, she doesn't quite know how to behave around him which I found hilarious. Her awkwardness seems real and Rowell has crafted Cath's anxiety so well that we as readers can feel it ourselves as we read along. Levi is unbelievably supportive of Cath and her Fan Fiction, going so far as to ask her to read it out loud to him. I thought the dynamics between them were unbearably sweet, portraying an accurate depiction of 'first love'.

Other characters such as Wren and Reagan had me laughing uncontrollably at times during Fangirl. Though the novel has serious issues addressed, and has wonderfully written romance, the book is first and foremost a comedy. Rowell's humour is perhaps my favourite thing about this book. The witty and sarcastic language makes the novel an entertaining read which has me returning to read it again, and again!

The Magician's Workshop Review

Hi everyone, it's Shani here today and I'm back with a book review!

Title: The Magician's Workshop
Author: Hansen Fehr
Publisher: Wondertale
Published: November 8th 2016
My rating: 4/5

When my colleagues asked if I wanted to review The Magician's Workshop, a fantasy YA novel, I was extremely excited to read it. I love reading fantasy novels. They've always been a major part of my reading, and I tend to lean towards the fantasy side of fiction more than anything. Fehr's novel had all the magical elements I was looking for and actually reminded me a lot of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series - which is one of my favourite children's fiction series, and I am unashamed to say I still read when I'm feeling down.

The plot was interesting. It focuses around a young girl named Layauna, who's characterisation I adored, who is aspiring to become a great magician. Her magic - or projections as they are known - is very high in skill, and she, like many other sixteen year old people, is attempting to win her colour which allows her to become a magician. Many people are born without colour, which is what sets the magician's and the regular people apart. It was intriguing to see this social hierarchy that Fehr had set up, with the magician's being deemed as 'better' than the regular people who could also create strong projections. Layauna was a character I connected strongly with, she had a very sarcastic attitude throughout the novel, despite working extremely hard for what she wants. She reminded me of myself, when I was sixteen and it was nice to be able to connect with her so strongly.

Another aspect of the novel which I thoroughly enjoyed was introducing Kai as another main protagonist. Kai is deemed as an outcast through out the novel. He is one of the strongest projectors on his island, but people stay away from him because of his father's legacy. Kai was another character I grew to like a lot, and his band of friends Talia, Weston, Luge and Snap. Their dynamics as friends was sweet and I enjoyed watching how their friendship shifted throughout the novel as well.

Whilst I really enjoyed the plot of this novel, and the numerous characters it presented, what did irk me slightly was the multiple P.O.V. chapters. The reader first starts from Layauna, and then jumps to Kai, Talia, Kai's grandmother Jade, and numerous other characters which I felt were at times completely irrelevant to the story. This made me lose some connection with my favourite characters. I also felt that the novel should be aimed at children rather than YA fiction.

Overall, I really enjoyed the novel and I would definitely consider reading the next volume in the series at a later date! If you're interested in reading The Magician's Workshop the link for it is here: https://www.amazon.com/Magicians-Workshop-One-Christopher-Hansen-ebook/dp/B01MQGHGBH