2:45 no spoilers section 13:28 the good stuff (aka spoilers :P) enjoy! xx

A little late to the game on this video but I LOVED Strange the Dreamer and I was so disappointed by the second book. I completely I agree that the first book could have easily been a standalone and had a beautifully tragic ending. The second books had so much teenage lust that I was rolling my eyes every second page. I was so sad because it felt like it cheapened the whole story. Such a sad sad ending to a beautiful beginning.

I actually really loved this sequel lol. But I can totally understand where you’re coming from about the reasons you disliked it, those things just didn’t bother me. I thought your point about “not all villains need to be redeemed or have tragic backstories” was really interesting because that’s one of my favorite parts about this book. My interpretation was more that Laini Taylor was showing that war is not black and white and that sometimes good people make bad decisions because of their circumstances and what they have been through. But I also agree with you that not all villains need in depth back stories. I don’t think I ever saw any of these characters as villains really, just people put in bad situations and doing what they felt like they had to to survive. Great review! (As always!)

Yea it was awful, such a change and let down from Strange.

This duology is really like marmite - most people prefer one of the other. I enjoyed both but did prefer Muse of Nightmares as I felt there was more plot.

I think the shift in scope was just more in the style of a mystery book. As things were revealed I kind of jumped to conclusions as to what the main conflict was going to be. So in that it was more fun trying figure out what the conflict was going to be. Like at first it's like okay maybe this is where she's going, maybe Minya is going to do something, or the Empire is going to strike back,... so it was fun to keep guessing but it was a relief when the main conflict was explained. I was just reminded of a WWII class I took on, basically, trauma and the like since Europe was a mess of people fighting and every action led to more retaliation so I was the kind of scared she would write it wrong or something but the way she wrote it, such a relief personally. You have no idea how nerve raking it was for me as a history student reading this book written in Laini Taylor flowery-fairytale style about things that are just heartbreaking because it felt like she was walking a tightrope. She might have been able to add more but honestly given the topic maybe it's best this way. Like the Nuremberg Trials and the idea of soldiers' responsibility, or lack of, for atrocities committed when ordered by a superior officer (cough Kora cough). Or the nazi birthing houses (Lebensborn) which I was reminded of by the nursery of the Mesarthim (like one of ABBA's singers' father was a nazi in a way like the godspawns are kids from the nursery). Yeah got to agree on the romance, it's a bit much. Same with the Eril-Fane, but I think it was more of a metaphoric ending because really given the theme of trauma it's sort of the best answer even if the alternative makes more sense for the plot but not the theme. Like after WWII there was a huge population transfer and people either stayed or went back home but either way, there was no going back to how things were before. That class was really hard emotionally honestly, I was really scared of how Laini Taylor would handle this theme because it just kept reminding of, for example, the various infighting in Europe especially the Balkans (that echoed in the 1990s) and Eastern Europe was a mess (the Curzon Line really did not help). Given the amount of tangled thread in those conflicts the duology doesn't necessarily need a hard conflict when it's the relationship of people that is at the centre.

I totally agree with the scope suddenly changing. I don’t know if you’ve read the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy but the ending to this book was basically like “HEY!!! These are connected universes!!! We’re going to have crossovers!!!! DID YOU GET IT???” It was so annoying and weird how it just went from 0 to 100 real quick.

As soon as Lazlo’s bully was like “ooo! Books” I knew he was going to be redeemed lol

I kept waiting for sparrow to bring her back! I was annoyed

I DNF'ed Strange the Dreamer. The writing and pacing just weren't for me so I watched this entire thing. About the referencing other books/book series. One of my favorite authors does that too. But he just puts in book titles of characters that could've come from said books. He doesn't spell it out, not even in his middle grade. I think they're supposed to be easter eggs for the people who've read all of his work. Talking about JD Estrada. He published a cute middle grade this year, in which he inserted a library and some of the mentioned book titles were of his own work (he writes fantasy, non-fiction, and poetry) but there was a character in there that obviously suffered the effects of something that was happening in his book Shadow of a human. You won't see it if you haven't read it and it's not something you need to have done, but it is a fun thing to see IMO. There were also character mentions from his Human Cycle books. I definitely recommend them. They are the most creative spin on urban and paranormal fantasy I've ever seen.

God this video was so validating

From 16:30 to 17:30 I specially AGREE. That's exactly what I thought when I finished the book. Overall I managed to enjoy it, though hahaha

Muse of nightmares is sooo great.

I love you!!

There will be better stories ahead... probably 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♀️? At least there is a weekend to look forward to reading.

I'm so glad you made this review! I was tempted to read this sequel, even though I absolutely hated Strange the Dreamer, but this just proved that it doesn't get better...It gets worse. I really needed to hear that so I could stop myself from being a masochist and picking up the sequel of a book I didn't like. The romance was what made me severely dislike Strange the Dreamer, so the fact that it's more intense in the sequel is a sign to steer clear from it.