Scan barcode
A review by thea
Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor
5.0
Once upon a time there was a silence that dreamed of becoming
a song, and then I found you, and now everything is music.
This book was everything I expected and more. After reading and falling in love with Strange the Dreamer, I knew that I had to get my hands on Muse of Nightmares as soon as possible. When I saw others with an arc, I was seething with ache and jealousy because I wanted it so badly. But — now that I have it, now that I can know what happens after the chaotic events that ended [b:Strange the Dreamer|28449207|Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer, #1)|Laini Taylor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1519915549s/28449207.jpg|48158509], I can proudly and safely say that this book was worth it. It was so worth it.
Going into this book, I had a checklist of the things I wanted to read about. But the number one thing on my checklist was this: Sarai and Eril-Fane finally meet.
And needless to say... I loved it. My heart was bursting with hope for Sarai and her father to be on the same page and to accept one another. When I knew that scene was coming, I started to scream and jump in my seat and then I tried to calm myself down (didn't work). You know that feeling when you've been waiting for something you've desperately ached for and it's coming soon and you believe you're ready but you're also not ready because you don't know what to expect and so your whole body is tingling with excitement? Yeah, that was me.
But! I'm getting wayyy ahead of myself here, so let's start at the beginning. Or maybe the end. Or maybe — you know what? I'll just go with the flow. Let's start with the thing I most wanted to talk to you guys about.
✨ THE WORLDS ✨
I'll say this as many times as you need me to: Laini Taylor is a weaver of words, a smith of stories, and a gifted genius. Now, I have to warn you! Spoilers ahead for the [b:Daughter of Smoke & Bone|8490112|Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #1)|Laini Taylor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1461353773s/8490112.jpg|13355552] series -- if you have not read Laini Taylor's other (brilliant) series, then you might not want to read what I have to say next for fear of spoilers. If you have read it, great! We're on the same page, and we're all freaking out.
We know that when we open books, magic spills out. So when our good bud, Ruza, opened that book that Thyon wanted to show Lazlo (despite his protesting that it wasn't for Lazlo), and Ruza said Meliz, my alarms went off. Thyon's scalp began to tingle and so did mine. I haven't read the DOSAB series in a while so I looked it up and there it said that Meliz is the homeworld of the seraphim. I got tingles all over my body. And then it gets even crazier.
"Meliz," he said again. His eyes were bright. "That's the seraph home world.
It's where they began." He read off the next several: "'Eretz. Earth. Kyzoi. Lir.'"
BOOM.
A bold young queen in that distant world was even now training a legion of angels
and chimaera to battle the darkness and hopefully destroy it. But that's another story.
BOOM.
As for the other Six, led by Thakra — who knows? Perhaps they died long ago, or perhaps
they're still going, far, far out in the infinity of the great All. That's another story, too.
BOOM.
Laini Taylor did that. She did that. If it was any other author, I would hesitate, but this is Laini Taylor we're talking about — of course she could pull this off, and she will pull this off. And I'm so ready for it. I'm ready for the day when all of these threads are finally put together and woven into a grand tapestry of a story. I am so ready.
Also, the diagrams at the beginning and at the end? You best believe that I spent at least 30 minutes sitting down and trying to decode their meanings (it's in one of my notebooks). The first diagram had more archaic vibes while the second had more modern alien vibes. In the first diagram, there are 18 worlds — there's originally supposed to be 19 shown, but Laini pointed out how they forgot to put Eretz between Meliz and Earth on her Instagram. But we'll count Eretz in there. In the second diagram, there are 19 worlds as well, totaling it up to 38 worlds. But there's possibly more (!) since:
As for the other Six, led by Thakra — who knows? Perhaps they died long ago, or perhaps
they’re still going, far, far out in the infinity of the great All.
Disclaimer: Even though I'm confident that I got the translations right, these are my translations, so they might still be wrong (different lettering, etc.)
EL-MALIZ — AWAY FROM MELIZ
The cut in the sky over Weep was Zeru's ez-Meliz portal. The world on the other side was
called Var Elient [...].
The origin point here is Zeru. Therefore, the worlds listed are going away from Meliz: Var Elient, Chokshi, Myali, Antholm-Re, Ilip, Sfvada, Erianthikaias, Bardugo, Heno, Vyncis, Priha Abrach, Arden, Mek-Qaliya, Shveta, The Empty Realm, Sinit, Aliette, and Yemos (possibly more).
(I grinned when I translated Bardugo. If you haven't read [a:Leigh Bardugo|4575289|Leigh Bardugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1534446099p2/4575289.jpg]'s books, I highly suggest you do for an amazing reading experience.) This is the path the Crew embarks on at the end, which kinda made me sad because then it'd be a while before they met the DOSAB peeps.
AL-MELIZ — TOWARD MELIZ
I'm guessing Zeru is in the middle because Var Elient is away and Alyteris-Xenaste is towards, but that's just my guess! I would love to see an official map/ diagram of this because that would set my mind at ease on where Zeru really is, not to mention how awesome it would be.
The worlds going toward Meliz from Zeru: Alyteris-Xenaste, Zendaya, Zhou, Pacat, Sha-Amat, Urnubial, Mahidena Amiraman, Sabaa, Eth, Hajnalka, Anazzas, Vepha-Deval, Almhjell, Irem, Lir, Kyzoi, Earth, Eretz, and finally Meliz.
I just want to highlight one last time (probably not the last time) how purely creative Laini Taylor is. I want to visit her mind; it's a kind of magic.
✨ THE PLOT ✨
I was pleasantly surprised at how Laini dealt with the problems she set up in the previous book. None of my predictions came true, but I'm not mad or sad. I'm too enamored with this series to feel anything other than appreciation for how Laini wove this plot.
First of all, I'm glad that Laini didn't kill Minya. Killing seemed like the easiest option for the characters to do (Azareen seemed to think so), but it's also a hard and heavy act because in the end, none of what happened was Minya's fault. She was a child when she saw murder and enacted it herself. She was born in trauma. Laini highlights this so prominently so the readers do not forget it and just believe that Minya is the Villain™. She's not the Villain™. And neither is Nova. Laini Taylor made sure that out of all the ways to solve the problems the protagonists are facing, killing their problems isn't going to be one of them.
She even expresses this in a Goodreads interview: "Laini Taylor Reveals the Allure of Forbidden Love". She said: "I think all of us have had the experience (especially in recent years) of arguing with someone who is unmoved by reason, whose mind is so fixed that there's no hope of changing it. It's not just maddening, it's terrifying, especially when that person is in a position of power. So that's what Sarai and Lazlo are up against: a mind that cannot be changed and an antagonist they cannot kill."
Also, I love how at the end, when Nova's wrecking havoc and attacking our precious protagonists, Minya comes in to save the day. And everybody is glad to see her. You need a monster to take down monster, of course.
Who'd ever have thought they'd be so glad to see Minya?
I certainly didn't!
✨ THE CHARACTERS ✨
He moved through his mind with the assuredness of an explorer and the grace of a poet.
Lazlo — the light of my life, the apple of my eye, the fire of my loins, the corn to my cob, the icing on my cake, the sauce on my spaghetti, the paint on my brush, etc. I just want to wander around with Lazlo in a grand 'ol library and talk about books and the stories inside them forever. My precious, sweet boy. He must be protected at all costs. I appreciate how steadfast Lazlo was; despite all that was thrown at him, he was still himself: moral, kind, and compassionate. I think a lot of people needed to see this, especially concerning our world today. Also, I found it super cute how Lazlo naturally accepted Minya as his sister.
Any of them might have carried her — she weighed nothing at all — but Lazlo was the
one to pick her up, and the whole time he held her, he kept thinking with amazement,
This is my sister.
I love it. What a precious boy that embraces the idea of family. Bless his heart and soul. But it's hard to ignore how much Lazlo was pushed to his limits in this book. He got really dark sometimes! And I really worried for him! But through the dark experiences, he still kept his core personality and matured along the way. I love his character so much. The Best Boy™.
Sarai — the sunshine of my days and the moonlight of my nights. One of the most complex main characters I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. She brings a rawness to the table unlike any other character. She's so human. It breaks my heart. It makes me love her more. Sarai has done horrible things, yes, but she does not falter or balk at them. She acknowledges the decisions she has made and accepts the consequences. She is a lesson that many should learn from. In this book, she is a ghost that Minya selfishly holds in her grasp. Before reading, my only thoughts concerning this situation between Minya and Sarai were Oh. Oh no. But after reading, I'm glad we got to delve into their relationship more. These two characters on opposing mentalities tied together by magic add even more depth to this story and to the heartache that surrounds it. I love how Laini Taylor wrote Sarai and Minya's relationship (and the others' relationship with Minya as well). Minya loves them — she tore herself for them because she was the only one who could take care of them. But I digress. We're talking about Sarai here. Sarai plays an incredible
Good little girls don't stab their nurses and drag toddlers over their corpses in order to
save their lives. Good little girls don't kill. They die.
And Minya was not a good little girl.
Minya — It would be a bold-faced lie to say that most of the book does not involve Minya. It involves her from the very beginning. Without her, there would be no story at all. There would be no Sarai, no Feral, no Sparrow, no Ruby, no Great Ellen, and no Lesser Ellen. There wouldn't be anything at all. Yet, despite all that, I was still surprised to read Minya's significant relevance to the plot. I was even more surprised to read Minya's development. I always believed that she would never change and will always be fighting against our protagonists. But — BOY, WAS I WRONG.
——————
a song, and then I found you, and now everything is music.
This book was everything I expected and more. After reading and falling in love with Strange the Dreamer, I knew that I had to get my hands on Muse of Nightmares as soon as possible. When I saw others with an arc, I was seething with ache and jealousy because I wanted it so badly. But — now that I have it, now that I can know what happens after the chaotic events that ended [b:Strange the Dreamer|28449207|Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer, #1)|Laini Taylor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1519915549s/28449207.jpg|48158509], I can proudly and safely say that this book was worth it. It was so worth it.
Going into this book, I had a checklist of the things I wanted to read about. But the number one thing on my checklist was this: Sarai and Eril-Fane finally meet.
And needless to say... I loved it. My heart was bursting with hope for Sarai and her father to be on the same page and to accept one another. When I knew that scene was coming, I started to scream and jump in my seat and then I tried to calm myself down (didn't work). You know that feeling when you've been waiting for something you've desperately ached for and it's coming soon and you believe you're ready but you're also not ready because you don't know what to expect and so your whole body is tingling with excitement? Yeah, that was me.
But! I'm getting wayyy ahead of myself here, so let's start at the beginning. Or maybe the end. Or maybe — you know what? I'll just go with the flow. Let's start with the thing I most wanted to talk to you guys about.
✨ THE WORLDS ✨
I'll say this as many times as you need me to: Laini Taylor is a weaver of words, a smith of stories, and a gifted genius. Now, I have to warn you! Spoilers ahead for the [b:Daughter of Smoke & Bone|8490112|Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #1)|Laini Taylor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1461353773s/8490112.jpg|13355552] series -- if you have not read Laini Taylor's other (brilliant) series, then you might not want to read what I have to say next for fear of spoilers. If you have read it, great! We're on the same page, and we're all freaking out.
We know that when we open books, magic spills out. So when our good bud, Ruza, opened that book that Thyon wanted to show Lazlo (despite his protesting that it wasn't for Lazlo), and Ruza said Meliz, my alarms went off. Thyon's scalp began to tingle and so did mine. I haven't read the DOSAB series in a while so I looked it up and there it said that Meliz is the homeworld of the seraphim. I got tingles all over my body. And then it gets even crazier.
"Meliz," he said again. His eyes were bright. "That's the seraph home world.
It's where they began." He read off the next several: "'Eretz. Earth. Kyzoi. Lir.'"
BOOM.
A bold young queen in that distant world was even now training a legion of angels
and chimaera to battle the darkness and hopefully destroy it. But that's another story.
BOOM.
As for the other Six, led by Thakra — who knows? Perhaps they died long ago, or perhaps
they're still going, far, far out in the infinity of the great All. That's another story, too.
BOOM.
Laini Taylor did that. She did that. If it was any other author, I would hesitate, but this is Laini Taylor we're talking about — of course she could pull this off, and she will pull this off. And I'm so ready for it. I'm ready for the day when all of these threads are finally put together and woven into a grand tapestry of a story. I am so ready.
Also, the diagrams at the beginning and at the end? You best believe that I spent at least 30 minutes sitting down and trying to decode their meanings (it's in one of my notebooks). The first diagram had more archaic vibes while the second had more modern alien vibes. In the first diagram, there are 18 worlds — there's originally supposed to be 19 shown, but Laini pointed out how they forgot to put Eretz between Meliz and Earth on her Instagram. But we'll count Eretz in there. In the second diagram, there are 19 worlds as well, totaling it up to 38 worlds. But there's possibly more (!) since:
As for the other Six, led by Thakra — who knows? Perhaps they died long ago, or perhaps
they’re still going, far, far out in the infinity of the great All.
Disclaimer: Even though I'm confident that I got the translations right, these are my translations, so they might still be wrong (different lettering, etc.)
EL-MALIZ — AWAY FROM MELIZ
The cut in the sky over Weep was Zeru's ez-Meliz portal. The world on the other side was
called Var Elient [...].
The origin point here is Zeru. Therefore, the worlds listed are going away from Meliz: Var Elient, Chokshi, Myali, Antholm-Re, Ilip, Sfvada, Erianthikaias, Bardugo, Heno, Vyncis, Priha Abrach, Arden, Mek-Qaliya, Shveta, The Empty Realm, Sinit, Aliette, and Yemos (possibly more).
(I grinned when I translated Bardugo. If you haven't read [a:Leigh Bardugo|4575289|Leigh Bardugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1534446099p2/4575289.jpg]'s books, I highly suggest you do for an amazing reading experience.) This is the path the Crew embarks on at the end, which kinda made me sad because then it'd be a while before they met the DOSAB peeps.
AL-MELIZ — TOWARD MELIZ
I'm guessing Zeru is in the middle because Var Elient is away and Alyteris-Xenaste is towards, but that's just my guess! I would love to see an official map/ diagram of this because that would set my mind at ease on where Zeru really is, not to mention how awesome it would be.
The worlds going toward Meliz from Zeru: Alyteris-Xenaste, Zendaya, Zhou, Pacat, Sha-Amat, Urnubial, Mahidena Amiraman, Sabaa, Eth, Hajnalka, Anazzas, Vepha-Deval, Almhjell, Irem, Lir, Kyzoi, Earth, Eretz, and finally Meliz.
I just want to highlight one last time (probably not the last time) how purely creative Laini Taylor is. I want to visit her mind; it's a kind of magic.
✨ THE PLOT ✨
I was pleasantly surprised at how Laini dealt with the problems she set up in the previous book. None of my predictions came true, but I'm not mad or sad. I'm too enamored with this series to feel anything other than appreciation for how Laini wove this plot.
First of all, I'm glad that Laini didn't kill Minya. Killing seemed like the easiest option for the characters to do (Azareen seemed to think so), but it's also a hard and heavy act because in the end, none of what happened was Minya's fault. She was a child when she saw murder and enacted it herself. She was born in trauma. Laini highlights this so prominently so the readers do not forget it and just believe that Minya is the Villain™. She's not the Villain™. And neither is Nova. Laini Taylor made sure that out of all the ways to solve the problems the protagonists are facing, killing their problems isn't going to be one of them.
She even expresses this in a Goodreads interview: "Laini Taylor Reveals the Allure of Forbidden Love". She said: "I think all of us have had the experience (especially in recent years) of arguing with someone who is unmoved by reason, whose mind is so fixed that there's no hope of changing it. It's not just maddening, it's terrifying, especially when that person is in a position of power. So that's what Sarai and Lazlo are up against: a mind that cannot be changed and an antagonist they cannot kill."
Also, I love how at the end, when Nova's wrecking havoc and attacking our precious protagonists, Minya comes in to save the day. And everybody is glad to see her. You need a monster to take down monster, of course.
Who'd ever have thought they'd be so glad to see Minya?
I certainly didn't!
✨ THE CHARACTERS ✨
He moved through his mind with the assuredness of an explorer and the grace of a poet.
Lazlo — the light of my life, the apple of my eye, the fire of my loins, the corn to my cob, the icing on my cake, the sauce on my spaghetti, the paint on my brush, etc. I just want to wander around with Lazlo in a grand 'ol library and talk about books and the stories inside them forever. My precious, sweet boy. He must be protected at all costs. I appreciate how steadfast Lazlo was; despite all that was thrown at him, he was still himself: moral, kind, and compassionate. I think a lot of people needed to see this, especially concerning our world today. Also, I found it super cute how Lazlo naturally accepted Minya as his sister.
Any of them might have carried her — she weighed nothing at all — but Lazlo was the
one to pick her up, and the whole time he held her, he kept thinking with amazement,
This is my sister.
I love it. What a precious boy that embraces the idea of family. Bless his heart and soul. But it's hard to ignore how much Lazlo was pushed to his limits in this book. He got really dark sometimes! And I really worried for him! But through the dark experiences, he still kept his core personality and matured along the way. I love his character so much. The Best Boy™.
Sarai — the sunshine of my days and the moonlight of my nights. One of the most complex main characters I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. She brings a rawness to the table unlike any other character. She's so human. It breaks my heart. It makes me love her more. Sarai has done horrible things, yes, but she does not falter or balk at them. She acknowledges the decisions she has made and accepts the consequences. She is a lesson that many should learn from. In this book, she is a ghost that Minya selfishly holds in her grasp. Before reading, my only thoughts concerning this situation between Minya and Sarai were Oh. Oh no. But after reading, I'm glad we got to delve into their relationship more. These two characters on opposing mentalities tied together by magic add even more depth to this story and to the heartache that surrounds it. I love how Laini Taylor wrote Sarai and Minya's relationship (and the others' relationship with Minya as well). Minya loves them — she tore herself for them because she was the only one who could take care of them. But I digress. We're talking about Sarai here. Sarai plays an incredible
Good little girls don't stab their nurses and drag toddlers over their corpses in order to
save their lives. Good little girls don't kill. They die.
And Minya was not a good little girl.
Minya — It would be a bold-faced lie to say that most of the book does not involve Minya. It involves her from the very beginning. Without her, there would be no story at all. There would be no Sarai, no Feral, no Sparrow, no Ruby, no Great Ellen, and no Lesser Ellen. There wouldn't be anything at all. Yet, despite all that, I was still surprised to read Minya's significant relevance to the plot. I was even more surprised to read Minya's development. I always believed that she would never change and will always be fighting against our protagonists. But — BOY, WAS I WRONG.
——————