The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo

 A First Read Review

Originally Posted on GoodReads: Jan 6, 2022

 

Over the last few years I’ve read a lot of fairy tales and translations of fairy tales and things like Beedle the Bard. This is, by far, my favorite collection. Yes, they’re completely new and yes, they’re technically for another universe (and therefore set there), but I still loved them. They feel like they’d be right at home in a collection if Grimm’s Fairytales. The telling captures that sort of genuine cadence that I feel other authors have skated over when writing their own in-universe tales.

I could definitely see and feel the influences from other fairy tales in these, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment. I might even revisit this collection, which is high praise from me as I cannot even bring myself to finish the Hans Christian Anderson collection I started a few years ago…

Oh, and the illustrations are wonderful. I read this on my phone via the Kindle app, so the images I looked at were small, but they were definitely pretty. They further invoked that fairy tale feeling, reminding me of fairy tale books I had or read as a child.

 

Recommendations

If you have read and enjoyed The Language of Thorns, consider the following:

Grimm's Fairytales (pretty much any editions or collections will do)

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

The Shadow and Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

The Tales of Beedle the Bard: Illustrated Edition by JK Rowling (Get this one second hand if you can. It's a good read but Rowling doesn't need any more of your money.)