The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh BardugoMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Leigh Bardugo's look at the folklore of the Grishaverse gives those of us who thus far never read any of the three short stories she wrote in this department a chance to see some more subtle world-building for Ravka, while also including three additional short stories to give us glimpses into Zemeni, Kerch, and Fjerdan culture. (Not Shu, though, but that's no surprise given that Shu Han is by far the Grishaverse nation about which we know the least.) The stories themselves all read like some of our world's fairy tales with a very dark, original-Brothers-Grimm style, sometimes to the point of predictability - though not always, of course. Bardugo's too inventive for that. The best part of the book, though, is the lavish illustrations that accompany each story, with a little more to the picture being revealed on each page until each story ends with a beautiful full-page image. Though these illustrations sometimes distract from the text, they also become extremely inventive, to the point where even when you think you know what's next in this little flipbook effect, your expectations will be seriously challenged. At least this book is here to help tide us Grishaverse fans over since Six of Crows ended with two books (God, I'm tired of the duology trend) and until King of Scars comes along in about two years' time.
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