A review by zabeishumanish
Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

adventurous challenging sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Expect this book to be about 40% sadder than you are initially expecting and that will give you a good sense of this book. The tale is well written and while there are the usual difficulties in following a high fantasy world the plot explains nearly all the questions are reader might have. Something I really liked about the book is how important stories and legends are to Soraya and how her love of legends helped inform the reader about world-building.

I appreciate that the book tackles such a complex issue as compulsive heteronormativity (without calling it that obviously), but by making the villain of the story her heterosexual option he was humanized to the point that he was no longer a fun villain.  It is hard to hate such a dark villain when you can see him as just a broken human, and then I kind of hated myself for not being able to hate such a clearly evil man.

I read the book specifically because I wanted a sapphic fantasy, and while this does technically hit the mark I wanted so much more from this love story. It needed so much more gay.
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