Imagine

Trying to find something to connect to this book was somewhat difficult. The book Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor centers around the aforementioned "dreamer" in Lazlo Strange. He is a war orphan who ends up becoming a junior librarian at the Great Libary of Zosma. An early theme, or topic, in the book, is that a dream chooses the dreamer and not the other way around. Lazlo is worried that his dreams chose poorly and since the age of five has been determined to figure out why the name of the Unseen city was "stolen" from his mind. He is constantly seeking information about the Unseen city when he is a librarian and reads constantly. Dreaming of one day making it to the city of the Unseen. Eventually, this dream becomes a reality when he accompanies Tizerkane warriors on a journey to the city. We learn later as that five half-human children of murdered gods are trapped in the citadel that floats over the Unseen city. This brings us to the character Sarai, the Muse of Nightmares who can even walk into other people’s dreams. She uses this power to enter humans’ dreams and cause nightmares if she wants as she is always invisible. Sarai is one of five kids who escaped the killing of their parents and all other half humans. Leading to important interactions between her and Lazlo throughout the book. He actually dreams of her before he knew she existed and can see her in his dreams when she is supposed to be invisible.

It was difficult to find a way to connect this book to my own personal interests or to really build off of a class discussion of connecting themes. As it is such a book unique book on its own. However, we continuously see both the theme of dreaming and actual dreaming throughout the book as it is a major theme. While the dreaming in this book isn’t necessarily the conventional form that we have seen before in our society. It is still centered around the dreaming for truth and the hope that people feel when trying to uncover this. This sentiment being something that can be seen frequently in current and past culture. Something that comes to mind immediately is the theme of dreaming in music, leading to this playlist of songs centered around “dreaming”.  This Spotify playlist consists of several famous songs about “dreaming” or seeking “truth”.

Spotify Playlist