Muse of Nightmares

Muse of Nightmares is the sequel to Strange the Dreamer and therefore this review may contain spoilers for the previous book.

After saving the city of Weep from the falling citadel in the sky, Strange and Sarai find themselves at the hands of a small angry godspawn. Will Strange turn on the people who welcomed him in order to save the ghost of the woman he loves?

It’s the mind. It’s the most complex and astonishing thing there is, that there’s a world inside each of us that no one else can ever know or see or visit.

I loved Strange the Dreamer and after that ending was eager to read the sequel (apparently these things are called duologies these days, it’s not a series or a trilogy, just two books). It took me a while to really get into Muse of Nightmares, it lingered a little too long on Sarai and Strange’s unfulfilled desire for each other and how they can’t act on it. However the reason they can’t do anything is more interesting; Minya’s total control over Sarai’s existence.

Ahhh Minya, I loved her character development, it would be so easy just to make her power hungry and evil but her backstory is so sad, and in the end, she really does care. There is something revealed which completely explains how she got to the point where she felt she could use Sarai’s soul as a bargaining chip.

We’re all on the same side. Even her. You can be on the same side and have different ideas.

The story also uses an alternate timeline to explain how the Godspawn came to be and the history of their conquered lands. You finally understand what that nursery was all about.

My least favourite bit was definitely the romance, but the rich world building totally made up for that. I would love to read further adventures in this world, or other worlds as the case may be.

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Book Source: Purchased