Muse of Nightmares

Strange the Dreamer was a beautiful book that we could not put down and discussed at length. Muse of nightmares has its own unique appeal. Strange the Dreamer ended with some major revelations about Lazlo’s identity and the questions about Weep, the story of the gods and more become paramount in Muse of Nightmares. We learn about the history of the world, meet some new characters and dive deeper into characters we had already met. Take a look at the synopsis:

In the wake of tragedy, neither Lazlo nor Sarai are who they were before. One a god, the other a ghost, they struggle to grasp the new boundaries of their selves as dark-minded Minya holds them hostage, intent on vengeance against Weep.

Lazlo faces an unthinkable choice—save the woman he loves, or everyone else?—while Sarai feels more helpless than ever. But is she? Sometimes, only the direst need can teach us our own depths, and Sarai, the Muse of Nightmares, has not yet discovered what she’s capable of.

As humans and godspawn reel in the aftermath of the citadel’s near fall, a new foe shatters their fragile hopes, and the mysteries of the Mesarthim are resurrected: Where did the gods come from, and why? What was done with thousands of children born in the citadel nursery? And most important of all, as forgotten doors are opened and new worlds revealed: Must heroes always slay monsters, or is it possible to save them instead?

Love and hate, revenge and redemption, destruction and salvation all clash in this astonishing and heart-stopping sequel to the New York Times bestseller, Strange the Dreamer.

Content Notes: Past sexual trauma, descriptions of suicide and violence.

First Impressions

Erynn: I think we agreed pretty early on that the entire tone of Muse of Nightmares was very different from Strange the Dreamer. Because of how book one ended, naturally there would be a shift as the story evolved. I typically enjoy books that take a darker turn, but it was a strange experience going from the wonder and beauty to the imminent darkness growing in Muse of Nightmares. How did you feel about the tone or the shift in the narrative tone in general?

Yes, we saw that coming from the end of book one. The change was still equally engaging but on a whole other level. In Strange the Dreamer, we were always rooting for Lazlo and the things that situations he was presented affected his life only. With Sarai and the godspawn playing a much bigger role in Muse of Nightmares, the stakes were much much higher. There were clashes of wills, the fate of Weep and Sarai dependent on people that could not be reasoned with easily.

Muse of Nightmares – the Reading Discussion

I am starting to see the appeal in darker plots because compared to Strange the Dreamer, this one was harder for me to put down. While in Strange the Dreamer, we mostly had two points of views – Lazlo and Sarai – Muse of Nightmares had a bigger cast of characters. I was invested in some more than others and at one point, I felt like doing what I had done with Game of Thrones – skipped ahead to the person whose story I wanted to know. 

Ok, I did not really go ahead and read their complete storyline. I felt some relief to browse ahead and know when I would recounter them next. 

I’m guilty of doing this with Game of Thrones as well! When we started reading Muse of Nightmares we were taking it slow and keeping pace with each other, but as soon as we hit a certain point of the novel, you just couldn’t put it down! I expected to be a little more reserved, but to be honest, when I got to the same part as you I finished something like 60% of the book in a day. The intensity and the darkness just kept piling up and putting it down instead of figuring out what happened next was the equivalent of an olympic feat.

We learned about Nova and Kora, sisters born in another world who had a fateful encounter with Skathis. That added a whole other dimension of mystery to the plot and the world that we had no inkling of in Strange the Dreamer. What did you think of Nova and Kora, Erynn?

I enjoyed their story quite a bit, actually. Despite everything that happened between them and the main characters, their story was heart-wrenching and devastating. I’m not afraid to admit I teared up in multiple scenes involving Kora. Their story could have been a book in itself. But those feelings of how complex their story became also left me somewhat conflicted about their role in Muse of Nightmares as a whole, it took a lot of focus away from the other aspects of the world and characters that I loved. In a way, their involvement felt rushed, and I wished they could have been eased into the story a little better.

What I loved about Muse of Nightmares was how well developed the characters were. Their journey, their decisions, and sometimes, circumstances they had no control over, led them to pursue missions that broke their heart, and ours on the way. I found many parallels between Minya, the Godslayer Eril-Fane, and Nova. I understood where each of them was coming from and felt trapped that I could not say anything to make them see reason. I don’t think I have felt as helpless in a story before.

Yes! The parallels between Eril-Fane, Nova, and Minya were really well done. Without knowing it, each of them shared the others’ suffering, and the intertwining of their stories shows perfectly how multifaceted brutality and oppression really is. I can’t say much in-depth about that here without spoilers, but Skathis and his ruthlessness was the source of their pain, but all for completely different reasons. Muse of Nightmares did an excellent job of showing how systematic violence affects everyone, not just the direct victims.

I am glad you mentioned that! Stories can teach us so much! When Ariel and I were reading Woven in Moonlight, a fantasy world inspired by real world issues, we did not find that it did justice to the history. But, through Muse of Nightmares, a story that is not even set on Earth, can still teach us and educate us about our own historical struggles is quite amazing.

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I believe Muse of Nightmares is not Sarai’s story, even though she has that title. I think it points to the things in life that we do not control and that make us into who we are, especially if those are bad things that perpetuate darkness within us. So many of the characters in this book were Muses of Nightmares at some point in the plot, Sarai being the least of them.

I agree. In the grand scheme of things, Sarai and (unfortunately) Lazlo didn’t play as large of a role in the book as I would have expected. Thematically, however, their stories were just as important as the other characters because, like you said, everything in Strange the Dreamer and Muse of Nightmares is more or less a cumulation of everything these characters couldn’t control, and being forced to work together to overcome their differences in face of unexpected challenges.

Overall, the whole series was quite fantastic and I am glad that we read it together. This was our first buddy read and I really enjoyed chatting as we read and sharing our thoughts and reactions!

I look forward to many more buddy reads together. Our list is ever-growing!

** Muse of Nightmares is available in stores so get a copy and let me know what you think! **
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If you have already read it, do tell us your thoughts in the comments!

Cover image: Photo by Jayme McColgan on Unsplash