Tag: January

The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo: A Review

“Love speaks in flowers. Truth requires thorns.” – Leigh Bardugo, The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic

Readers, do you believe in fairy tales? Not the Disney version with the pretty princesses and the sweet little birds and the happily ever after. You remember the ones – the kind where it is dark and the woods might be haunted; something is coming and you are alone. If you like the old fairy tales, before they were tamed and made gentle for little ears, if the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen is more to your taste, then I think you will like Bardugo’s collection. Originally approached by her publisher to write a prequel to her series, the Grisha Chronicles, she ended up writing the kinds of fairy tales that she thought her characters would have grown up listening to around the fire in the cold of winter. The result is a collection of stories that borrows a little here and there from traditional folk and fairy tales, but is also representative of Bardugo’s style. Things are rarely what they seem and each story is like a little treat to be devoured in a single sitting.

I read these at night and at times I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck rising. They are definitely not stories for little ones, but they capture everything compelling about the old tales while reinventing them in new ways that keep them fresh and interesting. The text is accompanied by beautiful illustrations that contribute to the growing sense of tension Bardugo’s writing evokes. Characteristic of her novels, the line between heroes and villains is seldom clear in these stories, and characters should be very careful what they wish for.

I really loved this book. Bardugo strikes a perfect balance between the familiar and the novel. Each story builds tension and suspense to keep you turning pages late into the night. So, reader, to return to where I began: if you like fairy tales, this is a collection worth picking up.

If you read The Language of Thorns, let me know what you thought! Have you read any other modern fairy tales that captured your imagination? I would love to hear about them. Until next time, happy reading!

Melmoth by Sarah Perry: A Review

“No librarians yet at their post, the ranks of desks miserably empty, like sockets from which teeth had been pulled.” – Sarah Perry, Melmoth

Well everyone, it finally happened. I wondered when I started this little project when I would start a book I couldn’t finish. This was the one. I was so excited to read Melmoth. The reviews were outstanding and I loved the idea behind the story but readers, I have to be honest, I could not get through this book. I debated making myself finish it since I chose it for the blog, but years ago a wise librarian convinced me that life is too short to make yourself finish reading books you don’t like. So I didn’t. Besides, I decided that explaining why I couldn’t get through it is a review of a sort, so here were go:

Keeping in mind I only made it as far as page 80, I have to say I had a really hard time connecting to this novel. The narrative style is overly wordy in a way that seems like Perry is trying to mimic earlier Gothic writers (think Poe: words, words, words) but to me it felt artificial. The novel is set in modern times so at best it was unnecessary but at worst it felt like Perry was trying too hard to evoke Gothic tropes. The characters were really flat. They seldom express much emotion and when they do, they are kind of awful – one of the characters longs to get away from his wife because she has been paralyzed by a stroke and looking after her depresses him; another rejects other children who try to befriend him because they are nice. I am not kidding. I have read books before where the characters are purposefully unlikable but these ones were also oddly devoid of interesting traits. Even in their pettiness or jealousy or cruelty, they failed to elicit enough of a reaction for me to even care if Melmoth the Witness came and devoured them all in the end (or whatever it is Melmoth does, I guess I’ll never know). I couldn’t like them enough to worry for them or hate them enough to root for their destruction. Characters the reader doesn’t care about is never a good sign.

Before giving up entirely, I went back and read some reviews. I thought there had to be something I was missing. Certainly in the past, I have had to take a couple of running starts at a book before I really got into it and I was hoping the reviews would spur me into action. But as a I scrolled down past all the 5 star reviews that called Perry’s work “sublime” or “masterful”, I found my people. The 1 star reviews that said what I was thinking. The characters in this book are not people I would ever want to sit next to at a dinner party. The writing, while beautiful in places is also really boring at times. And according to the intrepid reviewers who made it all the way to the end, that doesn’t change. There was one common descriptor: depressing.

And with that, suspicions confirmed, I firmly shut the book. There are too many other books I want to read.

Have you ever given up on a book or do you finish whatever you start? I know readers tend to fall into one category or the other so I would love to hear from you. And if you read and loved (or hated) Melmoth, I would be interested to hear that too. Until next time, happy reading!