Strange The Dreamer (Strange The Dreamer #1) by Laini Taylor
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Goodreads 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?

The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? And if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?

Welcome to Weep.
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Review: "Inside a dream. 
Within a lost city.
In the shadow of an angel.
At the brink of calamity."

Lazlo Strange is an orphan. While working as a Librarian the Godslayer Eril-Fane shows up and Lazlo's dream becomes an adventure. Learning the language of Weep, Lazlo attempts to solve the problems of Weep, a city with hidden mysteries. As for the answers? They lie buried in the past.

There was a man who loved the moon, but whenever he tried to embrace her, she broke into a thousand pieces and left him drenched, with empty arms.

Many characters get a say in Strange The Dreamer, including one cinnamon haired beauty Lazlo sees in his dreams. As the nights pass they revel in each other's company, experimenting and testing the limits of their dreamscape. Their love is unique, and I believe it mirrors the quote above. It is a sad story, one which may or may not have met its end. There's a subtle magic in this romance, although it took me awhile to believe it was real and not just an insta-love scenario.

"That's how you go on. You lay laughter over the dark parts, the more dark parts, the more you have to laugh. With defiance, with abandon, with hysteria, any way you can."

The city of Weep is only a flawed place hiding behind a mask of perfection and the illusion of glory, which Lazlo soon discovers. Those hidden facts lying beneath the surface mean more than most realise, the very definition of a dark past. Strange The Dreamer has a lot of world building and introductions made in the first part of the book, but once that is over there is a great story to enjoy reading.
Purchase Location: ~I received a copy from Hachette NZ and willingly reviewed it~
Edition: Paperback
Buy the book: Book Depository
Recommended for: Fans of fantasy and adventure books.

Title: Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy #3)
Author: Laini Taylor
Goodreads Summary: By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her, if there can even be a future for the chimaera in war-ravaged Eretz.

Common enemy, common cause.

When Jael's brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.

And, perhaps, for themselves. Toward a new way of living, and maybe even love.

But there are bigger threats than Jael in the offing. A vicious queen is hunting Akiva, and, in the skies of Eretz ... something is happening. Massive stains are spreading like bruises from horizon to horizon; the great winged stormhunters are gathering as if summoned, ceaselessly circling, and a deep sense of wrong pervades the world.

What power can bruise the sky?

From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy.

At the very barriers of space and time, what do gods and monsters dream of? And does anything else matter?
Rating: 5+ Stars
Review: In my years of reading, I have discovered that writing comes with a power; some authors abuse it; some are unsure of what to do with it; and some, like Laini Taylor use it to it's fullest.

I don't have much to say about Dreams of Gods and Monsters except that I kind of hate that I loved it so much. So many different emotions passed through me while I read, and my heart leapt every time Karou and Akiva were together.

Dreams of Gods and Monsters was both a conclusion to the Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy as well as introduction to what comes after a series finishes, what is left to the reader's imagination. I will never forget the journey I went through with Karou and Akiva, and their world will not be forgotten. Laini Taylor concluded the trilogy in he most perfect way possible and still let a door open for what ifs. I will definitely be looking out for Laini Taylor in the future.
Purchase: Amazon
Recommended for: Fans of YA Paranormal Romance to do with Angels and Demons (The Angel Trilogy by Lee Weatherston).