Okay, so. Where to begin. Beyond the requisite knuckle cracking and shoulder rolling, this shouldn’t take much of an effort, but I find when trying to do the best by certain authors, it takes a particular sort of effort not to relapse into sheer squealing fangirl jibber jabber.

Maybe I’ve mentioned my love of these books before:

Indeed I have. Daughter of Smoke and Bone remains one of my all-time favourite young adult fantasy titles ever. Laini Taylor remains one of my favourite YA fantasy authors ever. Bar none. Her execution is damned near flawless, she world builds like a muse crawled up her butt, and the lyricism in her description makes me want to bawl; just sit on the floor in a heap and spout tears of utter joy and remorse that I will never write like her. (Understandably, her prose can edge into “too much” on occasion, but two out of three books in the trilogy ain’t bad. Dreams of Gods & Monsters went on a bit of a prosaic binge that felt a bit misplaced given the context, and for me, resulted in a word hangover of epic proportions that I could only cure with a steady diet of super spartan non-fiction. But! This does not dissuade me, for I am the most stalwart of readers, and I continue to purchase the books of authors who occasionally get a little heavy on the description.)

I’ll never churn out a body of work like Stephen King or Neil Gaiman either, but I’ve made amends with those projected future failures. I have not, however, come to terms with the Laini Taylor problem: I want to write like Laini Taylor and Cassandra Clare had a love child that hooked up with the demonic brainspawn of Daniel D. Kraus while eating a burrito.

Sidenote: I had an M4 burrito packed with guacamole that reaffirmed my love for texmex. Just thinking about it makes me salivate… much like the recently announced Laini Taylor book, Strange the Dreamer.

YA Pre-Order: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Prior to the official announcement, Laini Taylor released the following teaser on her blog:

“There was a war between gods and me, and men won. The few surviving children of the gods have grown up in hiding, dreading the day they know must come: when humans find them, and end them.

That day is at hand.”

The official blurb is just as cryptic:

Strange the Dreamer is about:

• the aftermath of a war between gods and men.
• a mysterious city stripped of its name.
• a mythic hero with blood on his hands.
• a young librarian with a singular dream.
• a girl every bit as perilous as she is imperiled.
• alchemy and blood candy, nightmares and godspawn, moths and monsters, friendship and treachery, love and carnage.

Welcome to Weep.

Okay, says I. I’m down with either of these as prospective descriptors for the story. It’s at this point that it sounds eerily similar to Daughter of Smoke and Bone, though its been denounced as having anything to do with the trilogy. This is marked as a duology: two books, presented, possibly, from the perspectives of two different characters. (The second in the series we now know to be titled The Muse of Nightmares.)

The real sell hit the internet this week, however, and I proceeded to lose my mind.

First, the summary of collected resources about the books:

Collected Hints, teasers and treats so far:

The Muse of Nightmares and some clarification on the duology

It’s two books! Oh, sweet babies! Christmas came early. TWO BOOKS. Read it >

Strange the Dreamer announcement

The initial announcement was little more than a tease. Read it >

Strange the Dreamer Preview

And this is where Laini Taylor really shines — she is excellent and writing an atmospheric and compelling hook, and Strange the Dreamer looks like it’s got that good old poetic flavour drenched with blood and magic to see us through. I’m super excited about this book. Read it >

I’ve pre-ordered it already. September isn’t altogether that far. I can hold on until then, I hope. Probably with these other titles to keep me distracted until then.