Scan barcode
antigonish's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
catz853's review against another edition
Got tangled in about the 7th layer of stories and just couldn’t pick up the threads again. Too bad because I really do like her writing…
missbookiverse's review against another edition
4.0
Ich kann eigentlich nur meine Schwärmerei über Band 1 ([b:In the Night Garden|202769|In the Night Garden (The Orphan's Tales, #1)|Catherynne M. Valente|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320548374s/202769.jpg|196179]) wiederholen: es ist unglaublich wie clever und vielschichtig Valente ihre Orphan's Tales aufgebaut hat. In der Manier von Tausendundeine Nacht stellt sie das berühmte Vorbild in den Schatten, denn so viele Ebenen und geschickte Verstrickungen gibt es dort lange nicht. Außerdem erweitert Valente das arabische Spektrum um Märchen, Mythen und Folklore aus diversen Kulturkreisen, denen sie neben dem feministischen Neuanstrich immer ihre eigene Note verpasst. Von einem Einhorn über einen manticore bis zu einem aus Teeblättern geformten Mädchen, sprechenden Leoparden und skrupellosen Dschinn gibt es unendlich viel zu entdecken (einer meiner Favoriten ist der Goldfisch, der ein Drache werden möchte). Manchmal beinahe zu viel. Da ich den Überblick behalten und möglichst viele Verknüpfungen unterhalb der Geschichten (auch zu Volume 1) erkennen wollte, war das Lesen mitunter ganz schön anstrengend und eine Art Glossar, Stammbaum oder Figurenverzeichnis hätte mir wirklich geholfen. Nichtsdestotrotz hege ich den größten Respekt für diese Meisterleistung der Verschachtelung.
theangrystackrat's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
jhd016's review against another edition
3.0
In the Cities of Coin and Spice left me with complicated feelings. As a direct continuation of In the Night Garden, Valente's decadent prose and winding tales are kept intact. Like the first book, this one is essentially split into two overarching stories with one end at the halfway point and the other starting there. Overall that means you can split the books into quarters.
For me, the first half of In the Cities of Coin and Spice was a slog. I didn't connect with the characters from the start and my ability to connect the relations between the interwoven stories became tenuous as the plot dipped between stories and became more or less abstract. I had a nagging feeling that I was constantly missing some key plot point and it became frustrating to read. Valente's style here became a hindrance to me as it can become very plodding and plot threads can take a long time to resolve satisfactorily.
Thankfully due to the structure of the books, there is a refresh halfway through and the second half was much more manageable as it was told around a central location and had much clearer relations between the stories (to me at least). Characters do chance through from past parts of the books from time to time but it was hard to piece together any overall plot until the last thirty or so pages where most everything is finally wrapped up.
The Arabian Nights structure is interesting as a device but it leads to the world feeling fragmented to me. I can't quite piece together the overall puzzle of the world, it feels left unresolved, a partial mystery. There is an air of oral storytelling to this that leaves the reader to fill in the gaps where its outcomes are not directly told or elaborated upon. In a way, that style can be liberating but it can also make a book feel very claustrophobic.
For me, the first half of In the Cities of Coin and Spice was a slog. I didn't connect with the characters from the start and my ability to connect the relations between the interwoven stories became tenuous as the plot dipped between stories and became more or less abstract. I had a nagging feeling that I was constantly missing some key plot point and it became frustrating to read. Valente's style here became a hindrance to me as it can become very plodding and plot threads can take a long time to resolve satisfactorily.
Thankfully due to the structure of the books, there is a refresh halfway through and the second half was much more manageable as it was told around a central location and had much clearer relations between the stories (to me at least). Characters do chance through from past parts of the books from time to time but it was hard to piece together any overall plot until the last thirty or so pages where most everything is finally wrapped up.
The Arabian Nights structure is interesting as a device but it leads to the world feeling fragmented to me. I can't quite piece together the overall puzzle of the world, it feels left unresolved, a partial mystery. There is an air of oral storytelling to this that leaves the reader to fill in the gaps where its outcomes are not directly told or elaborated upon. In a way, that style can be liberating but it can also make a book feel very claustrophobic.
judaroo's review against another edition
5.0
An enchanting, satisfying end to the story of the girl in the garden. I always enjoy nested storytelling and these two books are an example of the form at its finest and most original. Steeped in richness and global inspiration, it was just the perfect, satisfying read to take me away from the stresses of the present.
moviebuffkt's review against another edition
3.0
For as much as I loved In The Night Garden, I could not get in to this book. The first few stories were intruiging, and Valente is such a skilled and imaginative writer, but I found myself skipping stories to get to the end.
kaatiba's review against another edition
5.0
This book is masterful, it spins you a tale that is a globe is a web is a river back to the ocean is your blood in your veins back to your heart. I couldn't put it down, I went to sleep thinking and dreaming of the stories that began in it and went on and on, like grass in a plain. Clearly, Valente has me waxing poetic, but I've been eating this and the sequel for two days straight, and nothing else. For fans of The Arabian Nights and other tales within tales, and fans of fairytales and folktales and mythology and scripture. And if you've read Deathless, it's not as sad or as harrowing, although it does have Sorrow (pun intended, you'll see if you read it), and is just as poetically written.
fallingletters's review against another edition
4.0
Review originally published 1 December 2012 at Falling Letters.
Taking a break of essay writing to jot down a few thoughts on this book…my writing skills suffer at this time of year (all my effort goes into the school essays :P) so bear with me! I just took a peak at my review of In the Night Garden, the volume of stories preceding in this one. I enjoyed that volume a little more than this one, so I’m interested in comparing what I thought about the two. (Read my review of the first volume here..) My explanation of the difference between 4.5 and 5 stars definitely applies here. My one ‘complaint’ is that I had more difficulty with this volume in keeping the stories straight – but who knows, that may be my own fault! I feel as though the connections between the stories were far more subtle. I didn’t recognize any overarching connector, such as Eyvind in the first volume, though I know there was one the story’s conclusion. I recognized bits and pieces, from tales within this volume (there were a few references to the girl with pearls falling out of her mouth) and tales within the other volume (such as the Selkie reference), but I couldn’t recall how the stories connected. Because of this, I did tire a little of the format and I found the ending a little frustrating. I didn’t have an ‘Aha!’ moment where I realized how all the stories connected. At the end of the book I still wasn’t sure how everything clicked together, even though I recognized all the characters and sort of understood what they were explaining. But even without this great realization, I still thought the ending was sweet and just right
Taking a break of essay writing to jot down a few thoughts on this book…my writing skills suffer at this time of year (all my effort goes into the school essays :P) so bear with me! I just took a peak at my review of In the Night Garden, the volume of stories preceding in this one. I enjoyed that volume a little more than this one, so I’m interested in comparing what I thought about the two. (Read my review of the first volume here..) My explanation of the difference between 4.5 and 5 stars definitely applies here. My one ‘complaint’ is that I had more difficulty with this volume in keeping the stories straight – but who knows, that may be my own fault! I feel as though the connections between the stories were far more subtle. I didn’t recognize any overarching connector, such as Eyvind in the first volume, though I know there was one the story’s conclusion. I recognized bits and pieces, from tales within this volume (there were a few references to the girl with pearls falling out of her mouth) and tales within the other volume (such as the Selkie reference), but I couldn’t recall how the stories connected. Because of this, I did tire a little of the format and I found the ending a little frustrating. I didn’t have an ‘Aha!’ moment where I realized how all the stories connected. At the end of the book I still wasn’t sure how everything clicked together, even though I recognized all the characters and sort of understood what they were explaining. But even without this great realization, I still thought the ending was sweet and just right