Review Detail

Reading a Laini Taylor book is always such an experience. I fell in love with her Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy but MUSE OF NIGHTMARES far exceed everything I had expected and hoped for. Writing a review for this one is going to be hard because how do you accurately explain the greatness that is Muse of Nightmares. This review will have slight spoilers so if you haven’t read Strange the Dreamer, what are you doing, and also don’t read ahead.

MUSE OF NIGHTMARES opens with two new characters, Kora and Nova who help tie the past of weep and it’s future together. What I love about Laini’s books is the way she takes all these stories and weaves them together to create this incredible world full of suffering, grief, and pain but also one filled with love, light, and healing. Muse paints this story of horrible sacrifice and the ways in which those who are left behind choose to survive. The characters while deeply flawed are also complex and get to the deepest root of what makes all of us human.

Muse of Nightmares picks up after Strange, but it takes the story to another level. It takes us back and forth from past to present until the two stories collide and you finally learn what happened to the lost city all those years ago. And here is what I love about Laini she takes two different stories, adds new characters and seamlessly ties it all together. Giving us stories that are incredibly hard to stop thinking about and characters that burrow their way into our hearts and souls. Laini, in my opinion, has always been one of the greatest storytellers I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading.

I don’t want to spoil anything either but by the end I loved Thyon and I felt for Minya. Which was surprising but also not that surprising. If anyone can get me to fall in love with a character I previously disliked it would be Laini. In my opinion, I don’t think we got enough of either character and I would love to see them in future stories. And if the ending of Muse is any indication there are more worlds and more stories and I can’t wait to see what Laini does next. Whether in this world or a different I can’t wait to see what brilliance comes out of that mind of hers.

One thing I do want to mention is trigger warnings for abuse, implied rape, death, torture, human trafficking, PTSD, child abuse.

Overall, this is the one time in my life where I wish a duology was longer. Which never happens but I have never gone into a Laini book and come out without taking a piece of her stories with me. Strange the Dreamer and Muse of Nightmares far exceeded anything I had ever thought or hoped for and I wish I could go back in time and be able to read it again for the first time. If you haven’t picked up Strange I highly highly recommend it. It’s a beautiful story that will change every piece of you.