After Strange the Dreamer comes The Muse of Nightmares. First, I respect Laini Taylor because there are so many stories that could be told in this world, but she kept it at two so the story stays strong and doesn’t continue it endlessly, watering it down until people who liked the originals are wondering why they’re still here. I hate that about book series.
The Muse of Nightmares picks up immediately but also introduces some deep new characters. (Once again, content warning as the sexual violence in this series remains, albeit generally implied, but a central theme, and many characters are handling their trauma with varying degrees of anger, peace, desires for revenge, and more.)
With the introduction of other worlds, much backstory is added to explain the breadth of the evil that surrounds Weep. And if you didn’t already hate the bad guys, you get a longer list of reasons to hate them.
Neither of these books could be considered “happy” or having an HEA, but they do offer at least a realistic sigh of relief when some of the violence of war ends.
