I'm calling it now. This is going to be in my top reads for this year. I loved this book so freaking much! Laini Taylor's writing is beautiful and gripping. I get sucked right in. It is so wonderfully lyrical and makes everything feel like it has some kind of dreamlike quality to it. The story just floats and feels unavoidably connecting. This is what I commonly refer to as a "huggable book"--one that I need to be able to have and love forever.

The character development and interactions nearly had me in tears. Lazlo and Sarai are both such great characters. Lazlo is so gentle and yet so brilliant. He manages to balance being amazingly decent to all those around him (regardless of how they treat him in return) with a sheer determination and will that are unbending. He is so focused on his goals, yet so aware and understanding of his surroundings. He is genuine and wonderful and such a little cinnamon roll of a protagonist.

Sarai I adored as well, though admittedly not quite as much as Lazlo. She is innocent, but at the same time understands the balance of the two world better than any of the other characters presented. She is compassionate and willing to admit that she does not yet know or understand everything. She is able to consider the situation from the viewpoints of others and truly wishes for a balance. She is a great teenage protagonist.

The plot was continuously interesting and peppered with new pieces of understanding in a stealthy, masterful way. Things just slip in quietly in small increments and then effectively take everything you thought you knew and twist it into knots. I was constantly on the edge of my seat both excited and apprehensive about where things would go.

The world is beautiful, curious, and unique (in true Laini Taylor fashion). I loved so much of it. There is a masterful balance of light and dark and the use of grand metaphor is marvelous. The fairytale quality of the narrative and the city of Weep also just had me swooning. Magical indeed.

The pacing did have some weak moments and inconsistencies, but these felt negligible. Additionally, instalove usually drives me crazy and turns me off of a story in a fairly big way. But something about this matchup just felt right. I was rooting for it. Rarely do I feel a case of OTP syndrome, but this one...yep. Nailed it.

Also, can I just address the use of relevant social constructs? Placing two races inherently at odds based solely on looks and judging others by the sins of their ancestors speak to such grander and more powerful messages. This is somehow subtlely, but at once also obviously done that it just seeps into your soul. Gah. I loved this book.

I'm usually terrible about continuing a series in a timely fashion, but this one I am chomping at the bit for. I don't know that I'll be able to avoid sliding Muse of Nightmares into my already burgeoning TBR for very long.