jobatkin 's review for:

In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente

4.0

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Imagination just flies off the page in these stories within stories. The storyteller is a mysterious girl with tattooed eyes, who enthralls a young boy by telling him the stories hidden in her tattoos. These stories feature all kinds of magical and fantastical beings, like living stars, sorcerers, talking animals, princes, pirates and noble quests. It's often hard to keep track of the deeply nested thread of stories, as the girl tells the story of a prince who tells a story about a crone who tells a story about a goose who tells a story about a firebird ... eventually working its way back up the chain and coming full circle, having created a rich and layered epic in the process. Definitely worth spending time losing yourself in the complex and vivid world of these grown-up fairy stories.