I’m sitting here, staring at the blank screen, unsure of where to start. Beauty sometimes leaves you stunned into silence.

If you’ve read anything by Laini Taylor, you know exactly what I mean.

Honestly, she is an auto-buy author for me (in other words, I will buy anything she writes without needing to know what it is about or read a review). Her Daughter of Smoke & Bone series walloped me (“These books are full of some of the most beautiful prose available in YA lit! The world-building, the characters, the humor, the beautiful imagery: this was the fantasy series I’ve been waiting for.”) and the short story collection she wrote, illustrated by her husband Jim DiBartolo, was “fantastic, full of the powerful, literary prose you’d expect from Laini Taylor.”

I’m convinced she is the most creative fantasy writer in YA right now. Mind-blowing.

So, what is Strange the Dreamer about?

A librarian named Lazlo. A lost city. Blue-skinned children of the gods. A citadel in the sky that blocks out the sun.

Moths. Dreams. Justice and vengeance. Forgiveness. Ghosts. Heroes wracked with guilt.

I just realized it’s better for me to not describe it.

Instead, let me just tell you: read it. Please. Here are five good reasons:

1. Prose like poetry.
2. Complicated characters with more layers than an onion.
3. Romance you believe in.
4. Sheer creativity.
5. Everything.