Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor is a transportive sequel to the magic of Strange the Dreamer.

There comes a point while reading just about anything by Laini Taylor when the scope of her skill becomes almost frustrating to contemplate. Muse of Nightmares, the concluding sequel to the bestselling Strange the Dreamer, is no exception.

In Muse of Nightmares, that point is one of breathtaking confluence near the middle of a story that begins perhaps slightly too slowly. But by this central point, characters new and old have swept together on the tide of fate; ideas and prejudices, loves and hates ricochet and reproduce with incredible consequences. It is devastating and beautiful at once, and a fitting encapsulation of a book that tackles almost incomprehensibly great problems with the intimacy and care of… well, a dream.

This kind of confluence is where Taylor again proves her status as one of the strongest, most fluid, and best emotionally-tuned writers working in speculative fiction today. All of these qualities are brilliantly on display in Muse of Nightmares, a story both more intimate and more enormously grand than Strange the Dreamer, but with every drop of its intricate magic.

Muse of Nightmares picks up where Strange the Dreamer so cruelly concluded, with Taylor bringing in her patented tide of triumph and tragedy. The irrepressible former librarian Lazlo Strange has been revealed as a Godspawn, a bastard child of the god-like Mesarthim who lived in a floating citadel and terrorized the human city of Weep for centuries. Counterweighting this marvel is the death of his fellow Godspawn Sarai, Lazlo’s love and the titular muse of nightmares.

Fortunately, Sarai’s soul has been saved by Minya, a vengeful Godspawn who can seize the spirits of the dead. Unfortunately, though this returns Sarai to an almost-physical life, it also means that she is constantly at Minya’s mercy, and her previous powers as a dreamwalker now seem out of reach.

And there are still more gears in motion as Muse of Nightmares begins. Sarai’s tormented human father, slayer of the gods, suffers back in Weep along with his estranged wife. Thyon Nero, genius alchemist and total asshole, finds himself at a crossroads. And across time and space, two sisters battle destiny to return to each other’s side.

In her fearless composition, Taylor manages to equally weight both the grandest universal movements and the detailed intimacies for which she is so well known. Sarai and Lazlo’s every glance is significant, as are the looming tides of much greater and more terrible worlds. (Suffice to say that readers who thrilled at parallels between Strange the Dreamer and The Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy will find particular enjoyment in Muse of Nightmares.)

Taylor balances intensely layered characters with a multitude of detailed realities, little squabbles and the conflicts of generations, and yet somehow never seems to feel the strain. The villainy of antagonists like Minya spills from profound and scarring pain, while the goodness of heroes like Sarai and Lazlo is balanced by self-doubt and even ineffectiveness. Nova, a new character whose story threads its own way through Muse of Nightmares, contains facets of all of these elements, even as she serves to reveal the true scale of Taylor’s tale.

As I say, the skill involved borders on frustrating. Certainly, one could pick at a few quibbles in Muse of Nightmares; a somewhat ponderous beginning, a few overly-long romantic interludes, some characters who never quite pull their weight. But none of this lessens any of Taylor’s gorgeously tactile and deeply emotional imagination, or how well-crafted its realization.

In the end, all is feeling, and all is felt in Muse of Nightmares. Not all of those feelings are good feelings — this is, after all, a novel with a recently-deceased protagonist — but somehow, every choice seems fitting. And even more telling, the conclusion to the brief saga of Strange the Dreamer feels less like an ending, and more like a tantalizing opportunity.

After all, Taylor is something of a muse of dreams herself, and what is not possible in a dream?

Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor is available on Oct. 2 from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and your local independent bookseller.