Sarai is dead. Lazlo
is blue. The world has been turned upside down. Thankfully, Minya has used her
strange gift to keep ahold of Sarai’s ghost, so that she and Lazlo are finally,
despite the circumstances, together. Yet Minya’s gesture is steeped in ulterior
motives – with Sarai as a plaything, she can control Lazlo Strange and force
her way along a path of bloody retribution. Unless Minya can be stopped, Strange
and Sarai can never have their happy ending, corporeal body or not.
However, Minya’s games
are not the only concern the young lovers have – Strange’s discovery of his
powers and reawakening of the citadel means that, as doorways are reopened, so
are secrets revealed. The inhabitants of the citadel are suddenly made aware of
their history, with age-old questions answered, but not the answers the
godspawn anticipated. With the knowledge come greater foes and far-reaching
threats which span not just the world, but worlds.
I am no doubt not alone
in my slight hesitancy to read a sequel; often, they do not live up to the
first book, yet Laini Taylor has surpassed my expectations and asserted herself
as a force to be reckoned with. Taylor has taken a solid foundation created in Strange the Dreamer and expanded it to
create an immense world that, dare I say, allows this book to outshine its
predecessor. Kicking off sheer moments after the final moments of the last
book, no time is wasted in welcoming the reader back to the city of Weep.
Muse of Nightmares is a superb book – the imagery exceeded my
expectations, the plot was intricate and so cleverly put together, the
characters evolved into mature versions of their past selves, and the lore was
breath-taking and imaginative. Taylor’s talent is evident on every page of this
book, and is a gift for the reader, to be cherished and marveled at. With this book,
you hold the universe in your hand; don’t let it pass you by.
Muse of Nightmares by Laini
Taylor is published by Hodder & Stoughton and is available in South Africa
from Jonathan Ball Publishers.
