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3.5/5
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The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo (Short Stories from the Grishaverse)
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Rating: 4/5
Started: 2 May 2022
Finished: 3 May 2022
Summary:
Deep in the woods lives a beast. A witch. A too-clever fox. But it is in the houses and the castles where true monsters live. In this collection of tales from all over the Grishaverse, good, evil, and magic are explored--along with the darkness that should only be spoken of when the sun is bright overhead.
Thoughts:
It's Leigh Bardugo. It's short stories. They're gruesome, There's magic; there's death. What more can a person ask for? These stories are stunning. The word choice is exquisite; it creates such specific impressions. The stories feel like poetry, but I could also imagine them being told around a campfire in Ravka, in Fjerda. The details make worlds feel real, and the details of this collection are impeccable.
"Ayama and the Thorn Wood" reimagines the relatively trite story of Beauty and the Beast that embraces new endings in a way that's dark truthful and refreshing.
"The Too-Clever Fox" reminds me of Nikolai, of course, and not only is that fitting, but the ending is a brilliant twist.
"The Witch of Duva" also has an amazing twist, but my favorite part about that is the fact that the witch is actually Sankta Magda.
"Little Knife" is a little less satisfying of a story, but I appreciate it's non-traditional ending, as well as the fact that, when the princess (who seems to be uninterested in men) is given to the river, the river is depicted as female, which I think is endlessly cooler than another man taking possession of a woman.
"The Soldier Prince" is super cool, and left me feeling decidedly uneasy. Actually, it reminded me for some reason of the book Splendors and Glooms, despite my having no memory of that book's plot.
"When Water Sang Fire" is my favorite, though. It's the longest, and therefore the most in-depth, but it's also such a gorgeous villain origin story. The protagonist sings and sacrifices her way into a broken siren (Ursula from The Little Mermaid). I love the betrayal, and the protagonists power, both when whole and when broken but equally strong. I have a theory, that may be totally false, but: there's a dark-haired apprentice who has strong magic and tells the main character that she's his sister. He claims his mother is traveling with the Suli, and controls the protagonist with a bell. What if he's the darkling, though. Young, dark-haired. Ageless, restless. He could have rebelled, left Baghra behind, researched, lied to the main character for power. I'm not sure how true this theory is, but it's certainly possible, and I quite like the idea.
I'm very glad I finally bought this book. It's too pretty--both words and cover--to not have.
Words:
Avarice (n) extreme greed for wealth or material gain
Strop (n) a device, typically a strip of leather, for sharpening straight razors
Carapace (n) the hard upper shell of a turtle, crustacean, or arachnid
Crenellated (adj) (of a wall or building) having battlements
Conflagration (n) an extensive fire which destroys a great deal of land or property