Laini Taylor returns to the city of Weep in this sequel to her 2018 Printz Honor book, Strange the Dreamer. Muse of Nightmares starts the moment Strange the Dreamer ends, with many characters facing new circumstances and others continuing to struggle against old problems. Minya, tamer of ghosts, remains ever vigilant; Eril-Fane, both hero and villain, remains trapped in his inability to love. Meanwhile, Lazlo and Sarai face beginnings and endings of their own.
Minya is determined to destroy Weep, but her fellow godspawn want to break the cycle of violence. As the godspawn argue—and as Sarai mines Minya’s dreams, seeking ways to calm her appetite for vengeance—a second plot is introduced. In this new time and place, two sisters are separated by the whim of a powerful young metalsmith with godly ambitions. As the two plots converge, the world of the story expands, eventually answering the core question from Strange the Dreamer: Why have the gods spent 200 years raping human women to breed half-god children, and where have all the godspawn babies gone?
Not everything is serious, though. Feral and Ruby continue their romantic squabbles, while the untouchably princely Thyon is teased for the first time, making a friend and possibly more. Observant readers will also notice a reference to Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone series.
Overflowing with the luscious language, moral ambiguity and detailed fantasy world-building characteristic of Taylor’s writing, Muse of Nightmares brings the story of Weep to a satisfying conclusion.
