The Language Of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo Review

Hey ForeverBookers, 

“The Language Of Thorns” is made up of several novellas. They’re fairytales set in different parts of the Grishaverse. You can read them before or after “The Grisha Trilogy”. I read it after, although not straight after. It’s been at least a couple of years for me between reading the original trilogy and the novellas.

I read this for a few readathon again 🙂. They are: 

The Weekendathon - a Facebook readathon that my friend is hosting. 

Reading Rivalry - for the author highlight category. We could either read something from Leigh Bardugo, as I did, Marissa Meyer or Agatha Christie.

August Book Bingo - a book by a hyped author because Leigh Bardugo is hyped! 

Spoilers Below

“Ayama And The Thorn Wood” - Zemeni

I enjoyed this novella.

3.5 Stars!

It tells the story of two families, a rich family with two sons, one of which will become the King and the other was born as an ugly wolf figure. The other family is poor and has two daughters. Ayama the main character in this short story is an ugly, downtrodden girl, who just wants to be seen like her sister, Kima. Kima is born perfect, like the prince of the other family. 

“Now it’s fair to say that Ayama’s spirits were a bit low. How could they not be when her family had sent her to die for the sake of a bit of gold and a good marriage for her sister?”

The King and Queen put their ugly and who they think is evil son in a maze to grow up, on his own. When he’s old enough he ventures into a wood. Ayama is to go into the wood, find the beast and kill him. For if she does the King will give her family riches beyond anything they could have imagined, and as they’re poor they need this.

Does she, though? You’ll need to read to find out...

I would have maybe liked to have seen the events of this novella played out over the space of an entire novel. That way it wouldn’t have felt so rushed. 

“The Too Clever Fox” - Ravkan

I enjoyed this novella! 

3 Stars! 

This story tells of a fox, Koja who is so say clever. He sees a girl and her brother. 

“I make a bitter meal but excellent company.”

The brother is thought to be evil and the girl is thought to be friendly...Is Koja clever enough to work out what’s happening? You’ll have to read to find out!

This novella was much simpler than the previous one. I therefore don’t think a whole novel based on this idea would necessarily work well. The plot wasn’t boring but kind of predictable. This novella is one of the shortest of the collection. It could have maybe been a bit longer to flesh it out a little more, I think, as we only just got the bare bones of the story. 

“The Witch Of Duva” - Ravkan

I thought this novella was based off of a fairytale that we already know, Hansel and Gretel. The whole collection of novellas is based off of the Hansel and Gretel fairytale according to the authors note at the back but “The Witch Of Duva” was the closest to that tale, I thought. 

4 Stars!

“She has him already, thought Nadya. He is under her spell.” 

Nadya is the Gretel character and is sent away by Karina, her horrible stepmother because Karina doesn’t like her. Karina has enchanted Nadya’s father. 

Karina sends Nadya away to get food. She finds more than that though. There have been killings, before this story starts of young girls. Who’s killing them? You’ll have to read to find out...

I thought this novella was great. It kept me on the edge of my seat! 

“Little Knife” - Ravkan 

I loved this novella. 

4.5 Stars!

“Papa, forgive me, but what way is this to choose a husband? Tomorrow I will certainly have a lot of firewood, but will I have a good man?”

It tells the story of a girl, Yeva, who’s father is trying to marry her off to a rich man. There’s a Prince and Semyon, a Ravkan man who are both trying to become Yeva’s husband. Yeva’s father gives Semyon tasks to see if he’s worthy of being Yeva’s husband. Is he or does Yeva find freedom elsewhere? 

“I will call you little Knife because of the way you flash silver in the sunlight and because you are my fierce defender.” 

The river is a main character of this short story too. The personification was written well. 

“The Soldier Prince” - Kerch

I really loved this novella!!

5 Stars!

Droessan is a clock maker. He creates objects for people. He wants a wife at the beginning of “The Soldier Prince”. He creates a Soldier doll for an 11 year old girl, Clara, in the hopes that she’ll become that wife. 

“He would learn her wants and wishes. He would deliver them to her, and in time, she would come to love him for it. Or so he thought.” 

This is what the Soldier Prince doll is meant to do for Droessan. However, when the doll starts to have wants and wishes beyond the cabinet where he lives, what happens? Who is the evil character, the Soldier Prince or Droessan? You’ll have to read to find out! 

Although this story was very simple, I loved it! I think partly because I felt like Clara myself, when I was younger, always wanting to have a better life. I think this story is pretty close to real life, in that we all have hopes and desires, some of which are never fulfilled, which is heartbreaking. I felt quite emotional when I read “The Soldier Prince”. I would definitely like to read about this story over the space of an entire novel because the story hooked me in and didn’t let me go...

When Water Sang Fire

This novella was good but would have been better if told in novel format, I believe. If I’d have known this was like a version of a backstory to a villain from one of my favourite stories before starting this I think I perhaps would have enjoyed it more too.

3.5 Stars!

This tale tells of two sirens who become human. Ulla and Signy are the sirens that wish for more. 

“Ulla sometimes dreamed of a life in distant waters, finding other sea folk somewhere who would want her, who would not care what she looked like or who had sired her.”

The authors note at the end of the collection really caught me, though. It says that Ulla is the Swedish name for Ursula, so this is like an origin story of the villain Ursula. I could definitely see that, once I read the authors note. What “When Water Sang Fire” is, is a tale of bitter jealousies, and what happens when we want something so badly, that we’ll do anything to get it. 

Overall then, I really enjoyed this Grisha short story collection. The stories weren’t all happy, which was refreshing, as YA at least it seems to me, is normally all happy, which doesn’t reflect real life. This, I feel did, even though it’s fantasy. My favourite story was “The Soldier Prince,” because it spoke to me on a different level, personally, while being a great story at the same time. My least favourite was “The Too Clever Fox” just because it was more simple than the others and I like complex stories. All in all then, I’m giving The Language Of Thorns 4 Stars. 

Stand by for my next review, coming soon...