Reviews with content warning for Cannibalism - The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic

Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo

29 reviews

jaye_birde's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

My favorite book of original and retold fairytales! Gorgeous artwork and stories that will haunt me for quite some time. Appropriate for High school or older readers

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estheralmeida55's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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peggy_racham's review against another edition

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4.5

Six childrens stories that the grishaverse characters probably grew up hearing. They were all unique, interesting and diferent even when taking inspiration from some of our stories.
(TWs are mostly of page and mention only, but these are stories similar to grimm original)

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infjkiki's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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samreadssometimes's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

i really enjoyed the book and the art in it was exquisite. i think i would have enjoyed it if i hadn't read any other grishaverse books, which is a good sign. the stories were good on their own (although slightly disturbing). i would not read these to children.

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poisonenvy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

This is my second anthology of my year of "read one short story a day."

The first thing I have to say about this book is that it's gorgeous. Just breathtaking. The art really brings the stories to life, and it definitely netted this book an extra star or two. It's really very stunning.

This is a collection of myths and fables from various locations in the Grishaverse: Zemini, Kerch, Fjerdan, and, unsurprisingly, Ravkan, which has the most stories. I'm a little disappointed that no stories from the Shu made it into this collection.

Most of the stories are inspired by myths from our own world, either a mix of multiple stories, or just a retelling of others. I had a lot of fun each morning figuring out where the inspirations for each tale came from. So, without further ado, my reviews.

Ayama and the Thorn Wood This was a fun tale, and a mash-up of Greek mythology, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast. It shouldn't work, but it did, and it ended in a far more satisfying manner than I had originally anticipated. The stories that Ayama tells are far more authentic than the ones that she heard, and I can appreciate that, would have appreciated it even as a child.

The Too-Clever Fox I've been looking forward to reading this tale pretty much since Nikolai was first introduced in Shadow and Bone, and I finally snuck it in ahead of time while I was reading Rule of Wolves. While I saw the ending happening fairly early on, I still loved this story a lot, and it really is a tale that suites Nikolai.

The Witch of Duva I actually didn't see the ending coming, and that was a pleasant surprise. This was a retelling of Hansel and Gretel, and it was fun, if not darker than the rest of the stories in the collection.

Little Knife I loved the ending to this story.

I'm all about sapphic water nymphs.

But other than that, I didn't love it as much as the other stories. I still enjoyed it, but it seemed a little route. The final illustration for this story though is probably my favourite out of the whole collection.

Soldier Prince To me, this seemed like a mash-up of The Nutcracker and Pinocchio, but looking at the author's note at the end of the story, I see that the Velveteen Rabbit was the inspiration for this one. It was very well told, with a theme along the lines of "you can't become real without first wishing for something." To be human is to want and to dream, it's true, and the story tells that excellently.

When Water Sang Fire I think this is the longest story in the collection, but I haven't actually confirmed that, so don't quote me on that. I was nearly late for work though, because it was longer than I expected, haha.

But it was really good. It's emotive, and the ending was really well done? I'll confess that I didn't see where the story was going, but once we got there, I was quietly stoked.

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mcynx's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This was a follow-up read for after my partner and I finished our joint read-out-loud-together-at-night-before-bed journey through the Grishaverse. We started with the Shadow and Bone trilogy, then the Six of Crows duology (both rereads for me), then we got through the King of Scars duology for the first time together (I don't have separate reviews for those - they were solid additions to the world and we really enjoyed reading them together, but I didn't have enough feels to warrant the time spent on full reviews). I'd had this book on my shelves for *years,* but hadn't ever gotten to it. And after finishing all the other books, and being fully immersed in the Grishaverse for so long (we watched the first season of the Netflix series too), we decided to finish it all out with this collection of tales from the world. It was a cool enough reading experience that I am going to go ahead and give some quick thoughts on the six stories included, and the overall vibe, in a more official review situation.

Language of Thorns is a collection of fairy tales set in the Grishaverse and, in the same way that that universe is inspired by and has shades of our real world in it, these stories are informed by the mythology and folklore we will find recognizable as well. I will give little blurbs about each tale, of course, but want to start by saying that one of the real gems of this collection is the illustrations. They are on each page of the book, and grow and develop alongside the story they're with. They are simply gorgeous and add so much visually to the way Bardugo's words bring these stories to life. Definitely a reading experience that you'd want the physical copy of the book for.

Ayama and the Thorn Wood -- A combination of a sort of minotaur in the labyrinth and Scheherazade's tales, with a fun letter versus spirit of the law twist on the meaning of "bring me someone’s heart." Looking past skin deep for beauty and connection is always a great message in fairy tales, but this does it in a more subtle/subversive way. Plus, the king as the bad guy, trying to be secretive but not smart enough to be more sneaky about it, is a cool take on the more conventional "power corrupts" theme. “They pray for sons with red eyes and daughters with horns.”

The Too Clever Fox -- Ohhhh that was dark (the good creepy/horror vibes kind, but without going so far as to be too much for me), and took a turn that I guessed *right* before it happened, but was enough of a surprise to sit well with me. This one had shades of Little Red Riding Hood and The Fox and Crow of Aesop’s fables. Some nice (and not as often seen) morals about not judging goodness based on beauty and not being too confident in one’s own cleverness (great encouragement to ask for help when you need it).

The Witch of Duva -- This one took a turn for the dark and gruesome, like pretty hard at the end. It was actually the toughest of all of them to read (kinda cannibalistic and also some very icky implied child sexual abuse aspects). As the story itself goes, it was a lovely flipping of Hansel and Gretel, where the witch/stepmother is blamed for everything (as a superstitious anti-woman evil), to shine a light on the always unsuspected (but usually at fault in reality): man. In this case, the cozy and/or protective vibes of the women, while still trying to provide autonomy for the young girl, were really nice to read. I kept waiting for the hammer to fall in that regard though, but when it did, it was in such an unexpected way and that was great, storytelling-wise.

Little Knife -- I loved this one, a new take on the classic "three tasks to win the bride" story, with the twist of sentient nature and Grisha magic to add some fun and uniqueness. This story has that unique fairy tale story narration style. The free woman finale, allowed to be herself without the gaze of others to tell her what to wear/do and where to go and using her for their own ends, was super uplifting and fulfilling. And the story to get there played out in a creative way.

The Soldier Prince -- This was like the Nutcracker and Pinocchio (kinda), with creepy pedo vibes from the toy maker and a wise-sage rat king. It was super creepy, with the dolls coming to live/people turning into dolls. Probably my least favorite of the bunch (but also my least favorite source/inspirational materials too, so take it with that grain of salt). “I know who I am without anyone there to tell me.”

When Water Sang Fire -- This was far and away the longest tale, but with good reason. There was a really cool magic system introduced (singing magic into being!) and some awesome sapphic mermaid vibes. Also, my partner and I have some suspicions about cameos from The Darkling and Baghra here, though that's mostly unsubstantiated. It felt a little long/slow until the end and OMG was this an Ursula origin story?! Totally redeemed and likely one of my top two of the collection after that ending!

And some wrap-up thoughts... I love the twist on story development/endings to have a fairy tale vibe but still reflect reality more so (with a distinctly femininist anti-patriarchal bent that I was *here for*). I enjoyed them all, though of course I had my favorites, as indicated above. What a fun way to finish out our time in the Grishaverse. If you're looking for a familiar, but also distinct, fairy tale reading experience, this collection is worth your time (and even more so if you can recognize all the easter eggs from the Grishaverse sprinkled throughout).

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green_amaryllis's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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anielabooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

5.0

This book was absolutely beautiful. The cover and illustrations were gorgeous. The stories were captivating and reminiscent of classic fairy tales. I particularly loved “Ayama and the Thorn Wood” and “When Water Sang Fire.” The lessons taught in these books are very relevant and important for kids to learn but please read the content warnings before introducing them because some stories have dark scenes. I thoroughly enjoyed the way it connected to the world of the Grisha, as the S&B books slyly mention some of the folk tales outlined in the book. Overall amazing read and I recommend even those who haven’t read other books from the Grishaverse to explore this one.

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