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3 stars! This review will be spoiler-free!
Synopsis:
Lazlo Strange got the short end of the stick when he was born into the world of monks. Orphaned while still a babe, he was raised into a society where he was meant to serve those greater than him. Lazlo, however, has always had a dream. Being told stories of the great city of Weep at a young age, he became obsessed with anything and everything Weep and becoming a junior librarian helped him in finding the information he wanted. Lazlo had a dream to go to the city itself one day and when the Godslayer arrives at his library door step, he either has to take his dream into his own hands or let his superiors trample all over him.
That's one side of the story. Weep, the "unseen city," has produced the Godslayer. What could have happened in Weep over 200 years ago to cause such a being to come forth? Lazlo has made many discoveries of Weep, but there are many mysteries still left to unravel including a very pretty and very blue Goddess.
Initial thoughts:
This is my first Laini Taylor book, but I can already tell she has a creative mind. I felt like this story was original, wistful, and fun. The world building was incredible. Already in the first book did this world seem expansive. We get to see monk temples, the library and city that Lazlo moves to, and then Weep. There were also a variety of imaginative characters each with their great qualities and flaws. Who would've thought that the female love interest would be BLUE. Of all skin tones, I thought that was so cool! I love that the gods/goddesses are so human, yet unhuman at the same time.
The one very important aspect of this book that I found lacking was... the plot. And you know in a series, the plot is absolutely everything! Often I felt like I was being dragged through infodumps and extra stuff that was just kinda boring. Despite Laini’s occasionally dreamy-poetic writing, it felt long-winded. And not long-winded where I want it to be, like the instalove that we had going on. Thankfully, the whole last 25% of the book made it worth pushing through. That ending was so TWISTED. Like, not only such a twist of events, but torturous to my soul. What a cliffhanger. I'm not sure if I'll continue this series at the moment, but that alone made me slighty curious for the sequel.
Altogether, I enjoyed mostly the end of the book and random parts of excitement in between. The magic was really intriguing and the characters/world was unique. Will I continue? I haven't decided.
“Good people do all the thing bad people do, Lazlo.
It’s just that when they do them, they call it justice.”
Plot: The good! And then all the bad.
This world is already so BIG. We get to see monk temples, the library and city that Lazlo moves to, and then Weep. I love how Weep itself, is thought to be an amazing and beautiful place, but we find out it has quite a gory history. I do like that Laini does a lot of contrasting in many aspects of this book. The world is gorgeous, but has a dark history. The magic, so powerful, but has it's drawbacks. The magic was described intricately as well.
What made this most story interesting? Lazlo. Lazlo and Thyon when they finally started to butt heads. I'm sure I'm not the only one who actually ships them. Like that would be cute af. The real OTP. Lazlo's interactions with anyone were very funny. Lazlo and Calixte with their inside jokes on the way to Weep. I mean Calixte along had some great one-liners. I wish there was more of her.
Pacing was such an issue for me. Now in my synopsis I did not reveal anything that wasn't already in the actual synopsis on the back of the book, but that introduction right there is a summary of the first 25% of the book. My goodness. The foundation being laid down in the beginning of the book took so long because of the amount of unnecessary filler. Also, lack of plot twists? Yeah I'd say so.
Let me explain my prior statement of "Laini's long-winded writing." To me its like when you have to reach a word minimum for a writing assignment, so you add a bunch of extra sentences and words that mean exactly the same thing. Sometimes her writing just didn’t even make sense like she was trying to overly poetic? I guess her writing just isn't for me?
Now, she managed to take her time explaining a lot of aspects of this book like the world and the magic and I extremely appreciate that! But she did not do the same with the development of the romantic relationship between Lazlo and Sarai. It felt like instalove. Like super instalove. Considering Laini takes her time with explain so much, I was surprised to find that anything was "instant" rather than developed, especially the romance. Two dreams was all it took? Sadly that just was not enough time for me to really believe in their relationship. The real and tragically great romance in this book was between Azareen and Eril-Fane. We get to know them through side stories mostly and their romance is down right heart breaking.
Thankfully things start to spice up in the last 15% of the book. Much excitement and much heart break! A certain aspect of the ending is hinted at constantly, kind of too much actually, throughout the book making it pretty predictable. Still I was happy when my expectation was revealed. Almost wish this was one aspect that could have been drawn out/explained some more (seems to be a common theme for me). That cliffhanger has be at a cross roads though. I don’t know if I want to continue or not yet?!
Characters:
LAZLO is the young and naive piece of cuteness I thought he was going to be from page one. I really liked the innocence that cloaked him and his dream. Oh how the world is going to try to break him. I love how Laini doesn't even try to make this character attractive. Not your typical drop dead gorgeous male protagonist. He's got a broken nose, fierce eyebrows, and un-stunning grey eyes. Yet, his inner self is so vibrant and wonderful, it trumps all else. Lazlo has infectious feelings towards Weep. Before you even see the unseen city you love it for all it means to him. "Lazlo couldn't have belonged at the library more if he were a book himself." I mean... SAME.
SARAI was also very interesting! Blue! I wonder how she decided on blue! I thought that was a very nice touch. It's possible to be beautiful in all colors.
THYON, of course there has to be at least one typical very gorgeous and very self-absorbed man who is absolutely deplorable. Will he ever have redeeming qualities? I have yet to see. I have no idea how Lazlo could have ever wanted to help this man no matter what he experienced.
ERIL-FANE the tortured soul! I kept forgetting that he was waaaaaay older than Lazlo, pretty much father age to someone who's Lazlo's ago. I don't know why, but he just seemed so young sometimes. Poor guy, I really hope he has a developing character arc in the works. I can see him becoming someone I like. Unlike this next person I'm going to mention.
MINYA is someone I wouldn't mind slapping maybe during every single page she appeared. There's no talking to her. There's no reasoning. I have a feeling I am going to hate her even more in the next book.
Overall:
I feel like even though this book didn't blow me away because it was slow, I didn't hate it by any means. I've continued to second books at 3 star ratings before and end up liking the series as a whole so... To continue or not to continue? We shall see! On another note, I still secretly (not so secretly) want the UK hardback edition of this book because it's so much prettier than the US one.
*I read this book using Audible once again! I highly recommend this audio book if you find yourself struggling to make it through this book. I think If I didn't have the audio book I may not have finished. Steve West is an amazing narrator!*
LOOK AT THIS BEAUTIFUL ART!
