Girl, Serpent, Thorn

"The daughter wants to crawl onto her mother’s lap and lay her head against her mother’s chest, but she doesn’t. She never does.It’s not just a story."~I can’t say enough fantastic things about this book.I read Bashardoust’s debut a couple years ago, and thought it was fabulous. Her writing style is just — it’s gorgeous, y’all. I aspire to craft sentences as beautiful, as lyrical and poetic, as hers. As in Girls Made of Snow and Glass, in Girl, Serpent, Thorn, Bashardoust reinvents folklore. In this case, she’s borrowed from Persian mythology to create an absolutely entrancing universe full of magical birds, shape-shifting demons, evil sorcerers, and cursed princesses.Soraya, our heroine, has lived a life of isolation. Despite being the twin sister of Atashar’s shah, she has been hidden away from the world due to a curse she was given at birth — there is poison beneath her skin, and she can kill anyone, human or div (demon) alike, with a single touch. Desperate to be rid of her curse, she seeks the help of an imprisoned div, and soon learns that the price of her freedom may be more than she’s willing to pay.This is the first new-release fantasy novel to wow me in ages. All of the major characters are fully realized. None of them feel like they were created solely to fill cookie-cutter fairy tale tropes. They each have their own agendas, and even if I disagreed with their actions, Bashardoust made me understand their motivations and, a lot of times, sympathize with them.The story, though slightly predictable at times, kept me engaged. For the last 150 pages or so, I genuinely couldn’t put it down. I tried to space out my reading, because I didn’t want it to end — but the cliffhangers! Bashardoust really knows how to write good cliffhangers. There were also a few twists that really floored me.Another thing she excels at is fleshing out familial relationships. It was something I loved about her debut, and I loved it here, too. Just as fascinating to me as Soraya’s relationships with Azad and Parvaneh were her relationships with family members, particularly with her mother. Sometimes it feels as though fairy tale retellings focus too much on the romance of a story, but at the heart of so many classic tales are conflicts within families. Bashardoust understands that, and more than does justice to that theme in her works.Thank you so much to Flatiron Books for sending me an advanced reader copy through a Goodreads giveaway. This book was one of my most anticipated books of the year, and I was so excited to get the chance to read and review it prior to its release. I loved it so much, in fact, that I went ahead and ordered a copy, too. I highly, highly recommend this book.

"Sometimes the princess is the monster."If you love twisted fairy tale inspired stories, then Girl, Serpent, Thorn is the book is for you! Soraya grows up listening to stories - "There was and there was not" - including the story of a girl who was cursed to be poisonous to the touch. But that isn't some fairy tale - that's Soraya's life. Cursed before her birth, or so the story goes, Soraya has never known another's touch. She hides away, using secret passageways to maneuver around her palace home. Upon learning of the shah's, her twin brother's, upcoming wedding to her former best, and only, friend Laleh, Soraya is overcome with emotion. That paired with years of longing, loneliness, and desperation, lead her to attempt to break out of the shadows she has long been confined to. She ventures to the dungeon below to speak to a demon for answers to questions she has long bottled up. Urged on by a handsome soldier, Soraya does all that she can to find answers and lift her curse - but she finds her choices have consequences she could have never imagined. Who is she and who is she becoming? Is she who she wants to be? Is she powerless or powerful?  Bashardoust writes eloquently, and her words captivate the reader with every paragraph. And Soraya's problems, though fantastical, are very much relatable. Problems with accepting yourself flaws and all? Struggles for finding your purpose and your place in the world? Issues with understanding and accepting your feelings? I think we've all been there. Soraya's overall character arc is spellbinding, and the twists and turns keep you wanting more until the very end. I also love the love story - it isn't who you expect Soraya to fall for initially, but it is beautiful. Overall, this is a fabulous book that blurs the line between princess and monster - in truth, aren't we all a little bit of both? I give this book 5/5 stars. Readers of YA fantasy, fairy tale inspired stories, and LGBTQ+ romances will fall in love with Girl, Serpent, Thorn.