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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Where is all the hoopla for this book? I demand hoopla!!
"Thorn" is a beautiful fairy tale, a retelling of Grimm's "The Goose Girl," which admittedly I was not familiar with. But in Intisar Khanani's hands, what is a simple story has morphed into a complex world filled with thieving rogues, a magical villainess, talking horses, and found family. Our princess, Alyrra, takes on a new persona, Thorn, and in the act of losing herself, she finds herself.
The book has so much symmetry! Good versus evil, the law of the land versus the law of rule, ostentatious wealth versus the plight of the poor. I cannot help gushing over everything but I don't want to reveal anything. I'm just going to force this book onto every reader that I know. I was so excited to discover that it's the first in a series and I cannot wait to continue Alyrra's story.
"Thorn" is a beautiful fairy tale, a retelling of Grimm's "The Goose Girl," which admittedly I was not familiar with. But in Intisar Khanani's hands, what is a simple story has morphed into a complex world filled with thieving rogues, a magical villainess, talking horses, and found family. Our princess, Alyrra, takes on a new persona, Thorn, and in the act of losing herself, she finds herself.
The book has so much symmetry! Good versus evil, the law of the land versus the law of rule, ostentatious wealth versus the plight of the poor. I cannot help gushing over everything but I don't want to reveal anything. I'm just going to force this book onto every reader that I know. I was so excited to discover that it's the first in a series and I cannot wait to continue Alyrra's story.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Good gravy.
Retelling of the Goose Girl. Had to look up original German fairytale as I was reading and it is So. Dark (nothing like your fav talking horse getting murdered, it's head being mounted, and it still talking to you...sleep tight!!). Thought [a:Intisar Khanani|5780445|Intisar Khanani|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1520258584p2/5780445.jpg] did a great job making the story her own. Enjoyed it!
Retelling of the Goose Girl. Had to look up original German fairytale as I was reading and it is So. Dark (nothing like your fav talking horse getting murdered, it's head being mounted, and it still talking to you...sleep tight!!). Thought [a:Intisar Khanani|5780445|Intisar Khanani|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1520258584p2/5780445.jpg] did a great job making the story her own. Enjoyed it!
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is a tough review to write, mostly because I'm left with mixed feelings. The beginning of the story is choppy and took some getting used to, but the ending left me with so much to think about.
Possibly because I read Thorn on a laptop, it was difficult to get swept up in the writing. It didn't flow at first, but began to smooth out toward the middle/end and gripped me so hard I had to keep reading.
The retelling of the Goose Girl was finely done, but what I really appreciated were the darker philosophical tones. Abuse, rape, murder, betrayal, justice... the world that Thorn lives in is not a fluffy, happy place. It's gritty and scary and needs a lot of help. That's why I really like Thorn's character. She saw all the suffering in the world and wanted to help the people who had no options, even though she suffered herself. I love a compassionate hero. The darker tones added a lot of depth to the story, and although I thought some of the character interactions were a bit unnatural, the ideas dealt with added so much to the book that I liked it a lot.
Possibly because I read Thorn on a laptop, it was difficult to get swept up in the writing. It didn't flow at first, but began to smooth out toward the middle/end and gripped me so hard I had to keep reading.
The retelling of the Goose Girl was finely done, but what I really appreciated were the darker philosophical tones. Abuse, rape, murder, betrayal, justice... the world that Thorn lives in is not a fluffy, happy place. It's gritty and scary and needs a lot of help. That's why I really like Thorn's character. She saw all the suffering in the world and wanted to help the people who had no options, even though she suffered herself. I love a compassionate hero. The darker tones added a lot of depth to the story, and although I thought some of the character interactions were a bit unnatural, the ideas dealt with added so much to the book that I liked it a lot.
Absolutely loved this and I hope there’s a sequel.
so this was great and it's super underrated and I think everyone needs to read it!
On a surface level, its a retelling of The Goose Girl (The Books of Bayern does another good retelling of the same fairytale). But I did not expect it to be so deep and thought-provoking. There were discussions about forgiveness, justice and revenge with some profound insights that gave me food for thought.
The characters were amazing too. I loved our main girl, Alyrra, the most. There is such major character growth from the frightened, closed-off princess to a brave and compassionate heroine. I also loved the intentionality in making each other characters unique and imperfect. Injections of societal critique about law enforcement and the king's justice vs. the theives' justice also added a little extra depth.
5 stars!
(Okay it's definately not a perfect perfect read, I can still see some flaws, but it will definately stick with me for a long long time)
On a surface level, its a retelling of The Goose Girl (The Books of Bayern does another good retelling of the same fairytale). But I did not expect it to be so deep and thought-provoking. There were discussions about forgiveness, justice and revenge with some profound insights that gave me food for thought.
The characters were amazing too. I loved our main girl, Alyrra, the most. There is such major character growth from the frightened, closed-off princess to a brave and compassionate heroine. I also loved the intentionality in making each other characters unique and imperfect. Injections of societal critique about law enforcement and the king's justice vs. the theives' justice also added a little extra depth.
5 stars!
(Okay it's definately not a perfect perfect read, I can still see some flaws, but it will definately stick with me for a long long time)
I found I had to be in the right state of mind to get started with this tale. Once I was mentally there the story gripped me until the end. The imagery was fantastic and even the minor characters became my friends.