The Language of Thorns Review: fairy tales with a twist

The Language of Thorns was on my TBR for a long time and I finally decided to read it last month, and it was the perfect book to read before bed. They might not be the fairy tale stories you’d normally read before bed as a child, but I quite enjoyed them as an adult. Bardugo is such a clever, witty, and beautiful writer.

The messages that she incorporates into the stories are meaningful and build up in a way that caught me off guard in happiness of how Bardugo was able to subvert my expectations over and over again. I believe that this entire book is about subverting the expectations of fairy tales which I loved.

I had read two of the stories for class, and I was excited to read the rest of them. These stories are influenced by other fairy tales and folk tales but are also very original. This made them feel familiar but exciting, just like how fairy tales felt like when I was younger.

This book really made me realize I love short stories and I”m looking for more stories. I didn’t think I would read The Lives of Saints, but now I’m positive I’ll be reading it. I’m also planning on reading A Starlit Wood which is an anthology of fairy tale retellings. I saw it at a book store and am really excited to check it out at my library.

Have you read The Language of Thorns? Do you have any recommendations for books of short stories?