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A review by megancperry
The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo
4.0
This was AMAZING!!! There were so many twists and turns that I did not see coming; the subtle retellings were so well written!
My order of preference for the short stories:
1. The Too-Clever Fox
2. Ayama and the Thorn Wood
3. The Witch of Duva
4. When Water Sang Fire (although the ending was one of my favourites - I was very slow at realising which fairytale it retold, so the ultimate reveal had even more effect - this was the longest tale and for the mostpart I was fairly bored, until the action amped up towards the finale)
5. The Soldier Prince (I'm not well versed in the tale of the Nutcracker, so I didn't see the retelling side of this novella, nor did I love the ending; overall I simply wasn't a big fan of this one)
6. Little Knife (I really don't understand what this story was even trying to say, I would've happily not had this in the bindup)
When I first heard about this novella collection, I'd hoped to be reading more about the characters from [b:Six of Crows|23437156|Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)|Leigh Bardugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1459349344s/23437156.jpg|42077459] that I adore, and upon realising that this was not the case, I was doubtful. However, I'm glad this was a collection of fairytales that the Crows would've grown up with; it gives insight into the world of the Grisha, into their history and background. Overall, I was very happy with this novella bindup.
PS: the illustrations in this were also fabulous and I adored them.
My order of preference for the short stories:
1. The Too-Clever Fox
2. Ayama and the Thorn Wood
3. The Witch of Duva
4. When Water Sang Fire (although the ending was one of my favourites - I was very slow at realising which fairytale it retold, so the ultimate reveal had even more effect - this was the longest tale and for the mostpart I was fairly bored, until the action amped up towards the finale)
5. The Soldier Prince (I'm not well versed in the tale of the Nutcracker, so I didn't see the retelling side of this novella, nor did I love the ending; overall I simply wasn't a big fan of this one)
6. Little Knife (I really don't understand what this story was even trying to say, I would've happily not had this in the bindup)
When I first heard about this novella collection, I'd hoped to be reading more about the characters from [b:Six of Crows|23437156|Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)|Leigh Bardugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1459349344s/23437156.jpg|42077459] that I adore, and upon realising that this was not the case, I was doubtful. However, I'm glad this was a collection of fairytales that the Crows would've grown up with; it gives insight into the world of the Grisha, into their history and background. Overall, I was very happy with this novella bindup.
PS: the illustrations in this were also fabulous and I adored them.