'The Language of Thorns' Spoiler Free Review


The Language of Thorns was a fantastic collection of short stories retelling classic fairy tales from a feminist perspective. As a massive fan of the fairytale genre, this collection certainly does them justice. Although not as graphic/ sexual as other works in the genre such as Angela Carter's The Boody Chamber or even the original Grimm tales, The Language of Thorns is still some of the best works of the genre I have read. There are six stories in total:

- Ayama and the Thorn Wood: Which I think is based off both Beauty and The Beast and Red Riding Hood.
- The Too-Clever Fox: Which is based off the Velvatine Rabbit.
- The Witch of Duva: Which is the most obvious retelling, being based off Hansel and Gretal.
- The Little Knife: Which I think was based off Sleeping Beauty.
- The Soldier Prince: Which was based on The Nutcracker.
- When Water Sang Fire: Which was based on The Little Mermaid.

I say 'I think' for a lot of these because the stories were distinct enough in their own way that they were almost unrecognizable from there source material. All of the stories challenge themes of parenthood and the idea that your parents are always right, which is consistently reinforced in the classical tales. All the stories are also concerned with nature, more so than the original tales, whose stories toe the line on whether or not we can trust it. In Bardugo's stories, nature is an absolute place of sanctuary. With this collection being feminist retellings all of the women are strong in their own right. There is quite a strong LGBT representation in this book, particularly in The Little Knife and more subtly in When Water Sang Fire. The book is also filled with beautiful illustrations by Sara Kipin who adds so much to the stories through her drawings. This was the first Leigh Bardugo book I have read so I don't know how it connects to the rest of her Grisha series and can't change rating based on that. That being said this book definitely has me excited to read more. I plan on at least reading Shadow and Bone and Wonder Woman: Warbringer over this summer.
Matthew Gurteen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts:

RWBY Volume 5 Theories and Predictions

Image
With Volume 5 just a few weeks away I thought I’d do something different for this week’s post and talk about some of my theories and predictions for Volume 5 and beyond. Of course, many of these theories are going to feature spoilers of things we’ve learnt in previous Volumes so make sure you’ve watched the first four Volumes. I also want to state that I am not saying my theories are true, You are entitled to your own opinion and predictions of what is going to happen in later Volumes. SPOILER WARNING!!! The first theory I want to talk about is not a new one, but it is a theory I think I have something to add to. That is the notion that Qrow is Ruby’s real father. When I first heard this theory I did not believe it as I could not understand why Qrow would leave his daughter if he had one. Given the information we received in Volume Four, however, about Qrow’s semblance, it seems perfectly plausible to me that he is her real dad. In the last Volume, we discovered that Qrow’...
Read more

'Spiderman Homecoming' Review:

Image
'Spiderman Homecoming' marks Tom Holland first solo film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or MCU. With no rehashed origin recap to drag the story down, 'Spiderman Homecoming' is a refreshing take on the character with never before seen villains. That being said, the film was hardly perfect, with below average supporting characters and inconsistent technology. This review is going to feature spoilers for 'Spiderman Homecoming' so if you haven't seen the movie yet I would highly recommend going to the cinema to watch it and then come back and finish reading this. SPOILER WARNING!!! The film opens with a recap of the events of 'Captain America: Civil War' told from Peter's perspective. This was a great refresher if like me you haven't seen the film in a while or if you've never seen a film in the MCU before. Viewers could easily go into this film and understand the majority of the story having to see the other fifteen predecessors. It...
Read more

RWBY Volume 4 Soundtrack Review:

Image
The soundtrack to the latest volume of the internet anime series RWBY has just been released and provides an interesting insight into the characters. Whether you take these songs as gospel (Cough cough, Bumblebee shippers, cough cough) or you just like listening to them for Casey Lee Williams' amazing vocal's and her father's, Jeff, incredible scores I am going to give my take on the songs on this album. I will only be reviewing the first eleven songs on the album as the rest are scores and do not feature any new vocals. Although there are no volume or story spoilers, beware of minor spoilers for the characters ahead. I should also say that although I am attributing the songs to characters this doesn’t necessarily make it the case. Jeff Williams once said in an interview that he writes the songs about people and feelings in his own life and not for the show itself. Let's just live ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_aEUQJXG0s ): This song served as the intro f...
Read more

Blogs I love: