Review by samusc - Girl, Serpent, Thorn

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

4.5

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is one of the best fairy-tales I think I've ever read. I might just have to pick up Girls Made of Snow and Glass after this.

Pros:

Soraya's motivations make sense. She is a touch starved isolated teenager, which makes her an easy target for manipulation.
I love the design for Parvaneh, but maybe I'm just a sucker for powerful Sapphic women with wings.
I really connected with how Bashardoust describes Soraya's crush on Laleh as a child. Soraya is a lovely bi/pan protagonist.
This book handles that archetype of an antagonist claiming that the hero is just like them really well.
I'm genuinely surprised, but thankful, that Tahmineh is not killed during the conclusion . I like how much the story relied on a mothers' choices impacting the trajectory of the current story.

Cons:

Other reviewers have noticed this as well, that being the pacing in the beginning is a bit slow. It took me some time (a few days) to get invested into this story, but once I was, it was highly enjoyable.

Content Warnings