GIRL, SERPENT, THORN: Booksta Review
“Stories always begin the same way: There was and there was not. There is a possiblity in those words, the chance for hope or despair.”
Original Instagram post: January 13, 2021
How does Persian mythology + Western fairytale + bi rep sound?
Sound good? Believe it or not, as good as it sounds… the book is even better.
Prickly heroine + Sleeping Beauty + Persian folklore =
a rich retelling unique enough to make you forget there’s source material.
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I loved this little book. Soraya, the prickly heroine, doesn’t feel at home in her skin (which might be due to the fact that her touch is poisonous.) She’s been isolated from her family… royal family. She’s a princess locked in a tower. Really, an entire palace. But it’s still a prison. She is looking for a place to fit. She doesn’t understand the origin of her curse and feels a bit of a stranger to herself.
Soraya is one of those fierce narrators that I can’t help but love. Whenever I thought I knew what turn her journey would take, the story would spin in another direction. It kept me on my toes and I just so enjoyed reading her story.
Her world shifts when a young man arrives along with her family’s yearly visit and looks Soraya in the eye, sees her and doesn’t shy away, and tells her that she is his favorite story. Wouldn’t your world tilt if someone said that to you?
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I love reading retellings rooted in a new-to-me culture. Girl, Serpent, Thorn is full of divs, which are versions of demons, and pariks, who exist in between a div and a human, rather than dragons and witches. Like any good fairytale, there are curses and dubious intentions, magics and powers that our hero doesn’t yet understand.
I don’t want to say more as not to spoil the story. It is beautifully written. So many complex relationships are held within its pages — which I find impressive as it is a rather short book.
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I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves a good retelling starring a prickly girl, enemies to lovers, and curses - broken and otherwise. If you like Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver or Uprooted or Katherine Arden’s Winternight Trilogy, this book is right up your alley.
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