 PUBLICATION YEAR:
2017
GENRE: Fantasy
PAGE COUNT: 532
FORMAT: Paperback
AVAILABLE ONLINE
: amazon
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This
book had been in my wish list for so long .This features in the recommended
book list of almost all of my favourite book tubers who have been raving about
it since it released back in 2017. It is
currently on the news due to the release of the second book in the series “The
Muse Of Nightmares”. The premise which revolves around the life of a librarian
who dreams of a world that has mysteriously lost its existence seemed fascinating. Hence I was pretty psyched about it.
Synopsis-
The
story is about a librarian named Lazlo Strange who is obsessed with the
mythical lost city of Weep. He spends most of his time researching and dreaming
about this place. So, One day when a
hero called Godslayer from the city of Weep came looking for recruiting people/
warriors who could protect Weep from some unknown threats, he grabbed this
opportunity with both hands. This story is essentially about this mission
involving these group of warriors trying to help the Godslayer and
simultaneously unravelling the mysteries surrounding Weep.
The
story also follows another character called Sarai who is believed to be a Godspawn
living in a secluded place along with her four other Godspawn friends- Ruby, Sparrow,
Feral and Minya . These are the children
of Gods and hence possess some magical powers.
They had survived the dreadful Carnage where the Godslayer had killed their
parents in order to save humanity many
years ago.
The
story as written in the synopsis at the back of the book doesn’t say anything
about this second perspective which I found quite strange because Sarai seemed
more or less like a main lead to me which
drove the story forward along with Lazlo Strange . May be it was deliberately
done by the author to provide a mysterious aura about this character.
The writing style was extremely poetic which was a
good thing because it helped me visualise this beautiful magical world . I was quite impressed by some of the
descriptions of events. But at the same time , it also hindered my enjoyment
for the book .
Sample
this- “ blood pooling in her eye sockets and dripping down to catch in her lush
mouth”.
I don’t
mind flowery writings in books anymore but I get easily overwhelmed when I see lyrical
writing in epic/high fantasies such as this one . The reason is simple - First of all , I am trying to get acquainted
with this new magical whimsical world setting . Secondly, I am trying to learn and remember the peculiar
names of the characters , places , mythical beings and their vast historical
background . So such ornamental
descriptions of simple events added
extra pressure to my already struggling
reading experience.
As
far as the characters are concerned, they were absolutely lovely and relatable .
The main character Lazlo Strange was one
of the sweetest characters that I have read so far. He was lovely and compassionate.
I loved how he constantly tried to help a certain arrogant character who was rude
to him throughout the story. You cannot help but root for this guy to get
whatever he set out to achieve. The other main character was Sarai who was
interesting and had some really great moments in the story. It was mysterious
and confused at first , but as the story progressed, we got to know her better
. i also loved all her friends who were hilarious . Every time they were in a
chapter, it brought a smile to my face.
I also liked how this book had no stereotypical villains. All the bad
actions/behaviour was somehow justified. It was difficult to actually hate anyone.
I don’t agree with some of the things that the alleged bad guys did , but I
still ended up empathising them.
Pacing
was a big issue with this book . It was
extremely slow and the story did not move for most parts at the beginning. The author took a lot of time introducing the
main leads. The flowery descriptive language made it even slower. However
things started to progress somewhere in the middle . Unfortunately it became
annoyingly slow again as we moved towards the climax.
Plot
was also problematic for me. For the first one fourth of the book, I was
confused and had no idea what the story was. I somehow reached the middle after
much struggle and by this time I had a vague idea of where the story was
heading. At this moment, I felt like it
had the potential to become a favourite fantasy book of mine. Unfortunately,
the story took a different trajectory and somehow became a love story. It was
cute to read but I did not pick this book for romance . I wanted fantasy and
action and something thrilling that would blow my mind, instead I got pages and
pages of romantic scenes in dream sequences.
Funny fact- there was a scene where Lazlo is
on probably his millionth romantic dream sequence and by this time , I was fed
up reading these scenes. I was literally thinking of waking this guy up. My
wishes came true when in the next chapter itself, someone threw a stone to wake
him up. I could not be more GLAD ... LOL 😃
By the time we reached climax, I was praying
for some action so that I could overlook these flaws. Unfortunately the ending
killed all the fun . The climax was disappointing and the few plot twists failed
to deliver the required shock effect.
“ Life won't just happen to you, you have to
happen to it ”
I
really wanted to love this story as I loved the characters and the world setting.
Also, the idea/concept was totally out of the ordinary . I am also in awe of
the author for creating such a beautiful setting with her extraordinary writing
style. But at the end , it turned out to be a mediocre read for me due
to the uneven pacing and the meandering plot
. Although, I don’t regret reading this book , I am
quite certain I am not going ahead with
the series. This just isn’t my cup of
tea.
RATING — 🌕🌕🌕🌗 (3.5/5)
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