Book Review: The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

12/18/2017

SYNOPSIS

Love speaks in flowers. Truth requires thorns.
Travel to a world of dark bargains struck by moonlight, of haunted towns and hungry woods, of talking beasts and gingerbread golems, where a young mermaid's voice can summon deadly storms and where a river might do a lovestruck boy's bidding but only for a terrible price...

Perfect for new readers and dedicated fans, the tales in The Language of Thorns will transport you to lands both familiar and strange-to a fully realized world of dangerous magic that millions have visited through the novels of the Grishaverse.

This collection of six stories includes three brand-new tales, each of them lavishly illustrated and culminating in stunning full-spread illustrations as rich in detail as the stories themselves.

Synposis from Indigo.ca

PERSONAL REVIEW

I don't often read short stories, but I had such a great time reading these Grishaverse fables and can't believe it's taken me this long to post this review! Because there are so many stories in this book, I've decided to simply talk about the book overall and not story by story.

What I Liked:

Stories from Different Realms: I really loved how Bardugo created fables from each country. It thought it was a brilliant idea and each country really felt like they had different ways of storytelling. As always, Bardugo does a great job speaking from the voice of so many different characters and really making the reader feel like we are reading stories from different realms.

Incredible Drawings: I adored the pictures in this book; every story has specific colours and pictures associated with it that slowly creep up the sides of the pages until they fully encompass the border by the end of the tale. Sara Kipin, the illustrator of the book, did a wonderful job creating stunning drawings for each story that perfectly capture how the tale is progressing. The culminating picture for each fable was always beautiful and I think that the addition of the pictures was simply a brilliant idea.
Every Fable was Dynamic and Interesting: I was incredibly impressed with how every short story was so different from the others. It really felt like we were getting new and exciting stories that had been passed down to different generations in different countries. I don't know how Bardugo is able to create these magical stories that honestly seem like they could have been told to us by our grandparents from their own childhood, but she does it and I love them all.

I took my time reading this because I assumed it would be the last of the Grisha world that Bardugo would give us for a while and I wanted to make it count. Overall, this was a beautiful series of stories that brought readers back into this magical world for a small snippet of time and I'm thrilled that it's another wonderful book to add to my bookshelf.

FINAL RATING: 4.5/5