The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic

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Those who seem innocent are shown to be guilty, one-dimensional characters become more complicated, and mothers who once were absent are given presence and power." -- Mashable AHH. I listened to this one through the audiobook and it was amazing! Holy Crud! A+++ Artwork yet again was amazing. The river carried her all the way to the seashore, and there she stayed. She said her prayers in a tiny chapel where the waves ran right up to the door, and each day she sat by the ocean’s edge and watched the tides come and go. She lived in happy solitude, and grew old, and never worried when her beauty faded, for in her reflection she always saw a free woman.” This was delightfully dark and creepy and was the perfect fairy tale collection for a universe I have come to love. Leigh Bardugo is not only incredible at writing novels, she also writes outstanding shorter pieces. Her writing style is perfect for fairy tales. I'M OBSESSED. I will tell you,” he replied. “When we walk in the wood, the animals will say, ‘Look at that ugly kit with his handsome mother!’ And even when you are old and gray, they will not talk of how you’ve aged, but of how such a beautiful mother gave birth to such an ugly, scrawny son.”

Why do you bring this beast to my door?” the king demanded to know. “I told you to return with his heart.”Magic doesn’t require beauty,” she said. “Easy magic is pretty. Great magic asks that you trouble the waters. It requires a disruption, something new.” The Too-Clever Fox, 4/5: This is a fable about a clever fox, traps, loneliness and friendship - but not in the ways you'd expect. I figured out the twist early on, but I have to admit it was a great twist! In the year that summer stayed too long, the heat lay upon the prairie with the weight of a corpse."

I think we can all agree that this was some sort of “The Little Mermaid” retelling and the longest story out of those six. The relationship between Ulla and Signy was really interesting but if you ask me it was only friendship. I know some people thought they might have a relationship but I doubt it. They both just loved to sing and were connected through their magic and their love for music. The ending didn’t really surprise me and Roffe’s character and his intentions were obvious right from the start. The most interesting piece here was probably the apprentice, which apparently was the Darkling?! I dunno. He was a too little part of this story to actually make assumptions. If the apprentice was the Darkling then this would mean Ulla is his sister. So he’s related to a sea witch? And what about his mother?! I don’t see the connections here, but oh well, might be just me. A beautiful girl’s father is trying to marry her off to the best candidate. He sets 3 tasks to show their worth. A Grisha man is determined he will win her heart with the help of his friend the river. But the river has its own secrets. She considered her options and decided there was nothing for it but to become a writer. She sold her pearl earrings and moved to Ketterdam, where she took a small apartment with a window facing the harbor so that she could watch the ships come and go. There, she wrote fantastical tales that charmed children, and under another name, she penned rather more lurid works that kept her in nougat and sweet cream, which she always took care to share with the mice. (c)

she’d thought on this story quite a long time as she’d walked through the wild lands, and how the ending she’d been told as a child had seemed far more enchanting before she’d actually met and spoken to royalty. (c) A collection of six lavishly illustrated tales that blend folklore with wondrous creativity and a pinch of darkness, The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic is the perfect read for cold weather and thirsty hearts in search of magic. So my original library copy went uncollected. I genuinely can’t remember why. But it’s available again now and I will not be missing out this time!! Come away with me to my palace by the sea,’ said the prince, ‘and all will pay you homage and you will want for nothing in this life.’ And as you may know, when you have had very little and worked very hard, that is no small offer. (c)

As she notes in the afterword, many fairy tales feature characters completing impossible tasks to win love or acceptance, but this has always felt... wrong somehow. Much of Bardugo’s work here is guided by a sense of dissatisfaction with traditional fairy tales; a sense that maybe the villains were not who we first thought, and that maybe the love of a handsome prince isn’t everything. Wanting is why people get up in the morning. It gives them something to dream of at night. The more I wanted, the more I became like them, the more real I became. (c) The coveted Fan-Voted Award goes to When Water Sang Fire from Fjerda. Not a spoiler, Bardugo mentioned on social media a known character would make an appearance and posted a fairly obvious excerpt. (No, I won't tell you who is) The Language of Thorns is a collection of six stories and novelettes by Leigh Bardugo, dark and lyrical folk tales set in her GRISHA universe, in the Russian-inspired country of Ravka and other nearby countries. These are stand-alone stories, unrelated to the specific characters and events in the GRISHA novels. This tales might be told on a dark night by a villager living in Ravka. Mother's Favorite goes to the Zemini-originated Ayama and the Thorn Wood. Reason? We get an extra three stories sealed in one because Ayama takes the One Thousand & Nights road in beast-slaying.

The Soldier Prince Eh. I didn't like this one much I kepy waiting for it to end. I kind of just .... didn't care? And I found the whole doll/kid thing kinda creepy, which I know I've been praising the creepy stuff but this one I don't know I just didn't like it much. The only bit I really liked was the Rat King's appearance. Only gave this one 3 stars Thanks to Goodreads for that wonderful excerpt, I hope there is a ship, There ought to be a ship, poor prince.

Those who seem innocent are shown to be guilty, one-dimensional characters become more complicated, and mothers who once were absent are given presence and power.” The Witch of Duva, 5/5: A decidedly adult fairy tale, the story revolves around evil hiding in plain sight and the subversion of expectations. I can't say much more without giving everything away ... so dig in & enjoy the shivers down your spine. Overall, I was enamoured by this deliciously feminist collection of atmospheric folk tales filled with betrayals, revenge, sacrifice, and love. A lesser creature might have despaired at such cruelty, but the fox saw vanity in his mother’s carefully tended coat and snowy paws.Bardugo can create such magic with her beautiful writing! This was exactly what I needed to restore my love for Bardugo's writing after I was disappointed in Shadow and Bone. This book is a collection of six fairytale-like illustrated stories set in the Grishaverse. Gorgeous, cruel and almost wistful windows onto the dreamscapes and hard lessons of [Bardugo’s] alternate universe…fairy tales with all the darkness intact.” — NPR Book Review Words cannot even begin to describe how much I loved The Language of Thorns. I am trying to find the right words but I can't. The best way to express my love is through this gif. But hope rises like water trapped by a dam, higher and higher, in increments that mean nothing until you face the flood. (c)