(Review will be posted on other platforms closer to pub date.)

Girl, Serpent, Thorn is revolutionary in more than one respect and for that we should all be grateful. It’s a feminist fairy tale for the modern times, even though it’s set in ancient Persia, even though it’s full of magic and monsters.

The plot is influenced by Sleeping Beauty, but at every turn twists the the well known story into something new and unexpected, and extraordinary. The princess isn’t a damsel in distress, she’s a monster and it is she, who does most of the saving. “The evil witch” learns new tricks and gets a backstory. The prince? There’s no prince in this fairy tale; who needs him, when you have a group of women who love each other and would sacrifice everything for one another?

The titular girl (who is also a serpent and a thorn) is poisonous and her curse literally makes it so that anyone who touches her, dies. Not only is that terribly romantic and a great premise for a story, it’s also an incredible concept for a girl character. A young girl who doesn’t have to worry about men touching her without consent? A young girl who doesn’t have to feel afraid of men around her? It’s quite frankly groundbreaking.

The most obvious change between the folk tale and Girl, Serpent, Thorn is the moment the princess falls asleep. They both prick themselves on a finger and draw blood, but the first (original) one does it unknowingly, while Soraya soughts that ending out. And no, she doesn’t magically fall asleep for a hundred years, but it’s a close thing, with the way she loses a vital part of herself in that process.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn isn’t just a retelling of a fairy tale, though. It adds so much to the story, they’re more like cousins thrice removed. And what makes it the most unique, is the Persian setting. Bashardoust created a magical, rich gold world inspired by her own cultural history and the love she poured into it is visible in every little detail.

If you’re looking for a diverse feminist story with a cast of strong yet flawed women, and an intense sapphic relationship at the heart of it, you should definitely start reading Girl, Serpent, Thorn right this second.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn is a gorgeously written, lush fantasy about a princess whose very skin is poisonous to the touch. As such, she is kept isolated apart from her family. But her brother is getting married, and a confluence of events brings Soraya’s greatest desire into touching distance (pun not intended).

You know that feeling when you find a book that brings together all of your favourite aspects wrapped up in brilliant writing and worldbuilding, hands it to you on a plate, and then makes it sapphic? Nothing like it, and that’s what Girl, Serpent, Thorn does so well. It takes a trope that’s alright as a het trope and makes it gay.

(The trope I mean is human girl falls for someone supernatural. Yes, it is better when it’s sapphic, I won’t be taking any questions.)

So obviously that the book revolves around this trope is the best part of it. How many times have I read a het trope like that and thought it okay but would be better when it’s sapphic? Too many. It’s about time we got it for ourselves. (Side note: I can never go back to reading it in a het context now, I’ve been ruined for it.)

I didn’t actually make any notes while reading this book, so a lot of this review is just winging it (hence the obsessing over the trope so far). And that’s because I was just too absorbed by reading to actually write anything down. It’s been so long since I read a book like that, to be honest, one that I genuinely did not want to stop reading even for the second it took to write maybe ten words. It just wasn’t happening. So that’s how you know this book is amazing.

If there were any tiny (tiny) gripes I had, it’s honestly that Soraya doesn’t have nearly enough scenes with her love interest. I mean, that’s most of what I’m here for, and yet! But really that comes back to the trope thing - I’m so enamoured by it I want to see more, and more, and yet more. Secondly, the plot does kind of drop off a little it felt like around the halfway mark. I was still absorbed and couldn’t put it down, but it felt like a noticeable difference between the third quarter of the book compared to the first half and final quarter.

But anyway. The conclusion of the book alone was more than enough for me to rate this the whole 5 stars.

A wonderful Persian story based on a cursed princess, who dreams of being normal and free and how her choices could threaten everyone and everything she holds dear.

The character development of the main character Soraya from start to finish was intriguing, her struggles of her isolated youth and her dark side were reflected well and the reader does feel sympathetic to her plight and invested in her journey. Even the villain of the story was interesting and complex enough.
The Romance of the novel was not the main theme but a subplot (this worked well for the story).
The world building illustrated Persian culture and magic pretty smoothly. I enjoyed this book a lot more than i thought i would.

Checklist:
Fantasy ✔
Romance ✔
Plot Twists ✔
LGBTQ Representation ✔
Beautiful Cover ✔

Title: Girl, Serpent, Thorn
Author: Melissa Bashardoust
Rating: 4.5/5
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fairytale retelling, Stand-alone, LGBTQ
Date Read: 25/03/20- 29/03/20
Review:

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust I received as an ARC from Hodder & Stoughton via NetGalley. The book is due to be released on the 12th of May 2020. It is a stand-alone fantasy book inspired by a multitude of fairytales, mostly from the Persian culture.

The synopsis is as follows:

“A captivating and utterly original fairy tale about a girl cursed to be poisonous to the touch, and who discovers what power might lie in such a curse...

There was and there was not, as all stories begin, a princess cursed to be poisonous to the touch. But for Soraya, who has lived her life hidden away, apart from her family, safe only in her gardens, it’s not just a story.

As the day of her twin brother’s wedding approaches, Soraya must decide if she’s willing to step outside of the shadows for the first time. Below in the dungeon is a demon who holds knowledge that she craves, the answer to her freedom. And above is a young man who isn’t afraid of her, whose eyes linger not with fear, but with an understanding of who she is beneath the poison.

Soraya thought she knew her place in the world, but when her choices lead to consequences she never imagined, she begins to question who she is and who she is becoming...human or demon. Princess or monster. ” - Goodreads

The plot I found at the beginning I was a little unconcerned about, I typically don’t like the fantasy trope of “deadly to the touch”, however, as the story progressed I found myself wishing Soraya would use her power and her strength against the people in her life.

I really enjoyed the process in which Soraya discovered and unfolded the mystery of her curse, enjoying that those around her would lie, as people naturally do in the world.

I liked the main twist of the book, as I was reading this book at the beginning I predicted I’d probably give the book a 3-star review but then I think the unexpected turn this book took was one of the reasons it went from a 3 to a 4.5-star review. The turn and the plot beyond it are definitely what turned this book around for me. I definitely believe that this is one of my favorite books I’ve read so far this year.

Soraya was a very well written character, I cared for her which I find sometimes I lack care for many main characters in books. She felt real, she wasn’t perfect and she had flaws. What’s even better is she acknowledged her flaws and mistakes throughout the book, expressing feelings of compassion and guilt towards the bad guy was the icing on the cake for me.

She was incredibly thought out and likable for me. It was really nice to read from a Bisexual characters POV, which was really refreshing, though I am not a part of the LGBTQ community, I’m really happy that books are being more inclusive for the community and that they can find characters in which they can identify with themselves.

The writing in by Melissa Bashardoust was beautiful and in parts almost poetic. She had me empathizing with every character from good to bad, the details in which she wrote the complex relationships and the emotions of not just the main character was very realistic. When the characters expressed their feelings I understood where each and every one of them was coming from.

The Persian influences within the book were incredible, I loved it. Within the copy, I read there was an included section at the back explaining the inspiration of the book. Melissa Bashardoust explains the Persian language she included whether she used modern and archaic spellings and the Persian fairytales she crossed over with Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel. This section I found very informative and I found I really appreciated learning about the original Persian folktales.

So in conclusion, I adored this book.

And I repeat this book comes out on the 12th of May 2020 and I 100% recommend you preorder it if you love fantasy books that have an alternative inspiration to just the classic Grimms Fairytales.

Courtney (ANerdyBookBirdy)

xx

With this beautiful cover, who doesn't want to read the book? I clicked on it just for the cover and I'm not ashamed! Mostly because it was a really good story. It's a Persian fairytale about a cursed princess who is poisonous to touch. It's not that kind of fairytale where the prince comes to rescue the princess. It has demons, it has blood and it has dark secrets.

The world building captivated me, I wished to be in that forest too. The characters are well defined with unique personalities. The story gives some retellings vibes but you will find out why at the end of the story (evil smile). The idea of the book is new for me so I really enjoyed my first book by Melissa Bashardoust.

Thank you NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for an honest review.

A book of journeys, from beginning to end.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn follows the story of Soraya, a girl cursed with poison running through her veins. A girl unable to love for fear of murdering those around her. The briefest touch from Soraya brings death upon the receiver. Soraya must learn to come to terms with her curse and the life that was bestowed upon her. The journey she makes to become accepting of her curse is one of love, betrayal, anger and so much more.

One thing I love about this book is that you don’t only receive the protagonists storyline/journey. The book is full of so many characters who are struggling with their own issues and through the novel you see them all fight their battles and come to terms with their struggles in unique ways.

I have been looking forward to reading this book since I first read the synopsis and it didn’t disappoint. Girl, Serpent, Thorn is rich in Persian mythology and those myths are depicted beautifully. Bashardoust takes on fairytales and mythology to create a wholly unique kind of fantasy tale and I am COMPLETELY enthralled.


I was kindly sent an e-ARC of this book to review via Netgalley from Hodder & Stoughton in exchange for an honest review. (4.5 stars)

The below review is copied and pasted from my review scheduled to be posted on my blog Monday 30th March at 8pm UK time.

I can only describe my experience reading Girl, Serpent, Thorn as a tough one. As my Goodreads reading comments will show you, it took me almost a week to make it through the first 30% of the book, and I didn't find my enjoyment of the book picking up until around the 50-60% mark. If I didn't feel obligated to review Girl, Serpent, Thorn, I likely would have DNF'd it. I try not to be too negative in my reviews, but, in a sense, it's my duty to be honest, and I'm not going to award a five star rating for a book I don't feel deserves more than three.

I want to make it very clear, before I start discussing this book in-depth (without spoilers, of course) that my issue is not with Bashardoust's writing style, the Persian influences or largely the plot as a whole. The thing that made this book so hard for me to get through was definitely its characters, who I'll try my best to get my feelings on across shortly.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn, as I mentioned, is a Persian-inspired YA Fantasy. I haven't ever previously come across a book with Persian influences before, and so I greatly enjoyed this aspect of the novel.  In the beginning of the book, I found it a little tricky to keep track of who was who and what was what, but this was only because I wasn't familiar with the terminology used. As the book went on, I found this problem disappeared for me and I could keep reading on without having to refer to my notes or go back and read earlier chapters to remind myself of events and titles mentioned throughout.

When the novel begins, we are introduced to our protagonist, Soraya. She has lived her entire life in seclusion, kept away from both her family and the rest of her people due to her poisonous touch – the result of a curse she has because of her mother. Soraya loves to tend to her private garden, as it is the only thing she can interact with and touch without it dying immediately. I found Soraya to be not the most enjoyable protagonist to read about, mostly because I found her rather whiny and annoying, and at times, much like a wet paper towel. I can safely say that Soraya definitely wasn't the reason I kept on reading right up until the end.

Relatively early on in the book, we are introduced to Soraya's two main love interests. Because I can't say too much about either of them without spoiling the plot for you, I will mention that Soraya is bisexual, and so she has both a male and a female love interest to choose from! If we were rating Soraya's love interests on a scale from 1-10 of how much I loved them (1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest), the male love interest, Azad would be a definite 1 and the female love interest, Parvaneh, would be a solid 8, maybe 9 at parts in the book. As I commented on while reading the book to a friend, I would, at times, want to throw a brick at Azad, while I would happily read a spin-off/prequel novella about Parvaneh – she was easily the most interesting character throughout the book, and it was largely her scenes that kept me reading and entertained. I found Azad to be, dare I say, cringe-worthy in his earlier scenes and I didn't like the insta-love aspect between him and Soraya, although their relationship does develop into something more interesting as the plot unfolds (again, no spoilers!).

On the whole, I found the side characters in Girl, Serpent, Thorn to be underdeveloped. While this remark might not be entirely fair given that we don't see too much of them – save Soraya's mother, who has a few key scenes – throughout the book, it would have been nice to feel as though they were people we should care about, rather than wanting to skim ahead to when they weren't on the page so things were a little more interesting. 

In an effort not to be solely badmouthing (and "dumping" on) this book, I should note that I found the plot of Girl, Serpent, Thorn to be thoroughly enjoyable. While I haven't read Bashardoust's other novel, it is clear that she has a skill for engineering plot twists you don't see coming from a mile away, and I found her writing style to be entertaining, although I do wish the pacing was a little faster in places.


That's really all I can say on Girl, Serpent, Thorn without spoiling everything, and so I'll leave this review with my summary points of "you should enjoy this book if you like this"...

You should enjoy Girl, Serpent, Thorn if you like:

Persian-inspired stories
Standalone YA Fantasy
Deadly princesses!
Plot twists you won't see coming
F/f romances
Bisexual main characters

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton, Flatiron Books and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC of Girl, Serpent, Thorn and allowing me to read it prior to publication!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.

I was totally sucked into this book by the cover; the flowers not the snake, we're ignoring the snake thank you. Sadly this was most definitely a case of the cover being better than the book; I really struggled to just keep reading this book and was so close to DNF'ing early on because I was honestly just so bored. The plot didn't really ever seem to go anywhere; like although there were some "twists" and "reveals" it never felt like there was a major focus of the book and it just stumbled along without ever really reaching a peak.

I didn't feel like there was any real worldbuilding to this book and for me it really suffered from the lack of this. I never quite knew what was going on, apart from the two fairytales that they mention over and over you don't really find out much about the world and so I just had no investment in it whatsoever.

The plot itself just wasn't interesting; I don't think this was helped by the MC, Soraya who is honestly one of the weakest main characters i've come across in a while. She never seemed to actually have a personality in this book; she spent most of the time moping around feeling sorry for herself and the other half being manipulated and dragged around. I never got a sense of who she actually was and she just felt very very bland. Both of the romances for her in this book were so weak; they were both a case of "insta-love" and neither were fully explored AT ALL. It was just like, here's love interest 1 and now here's 2 and off we go. She didn't seem to have a strong connection with either IMO it was just who was most manipulative at the time.

I also felt with wider characters too, there were no attempts to build relationships and the characters barely seemed to actually interact with one another in a meaningful way.

I just really struggled with this book which was such a let down for me as it did sound really intriguing. It's out 7th July 2020 so you can go and make your own mind up then!

I got this book off of Netgalley pre-release. This truly felt like reading an oldy timey fairytale and I really enjoyed it. It was a little predictable in places and a lot of the emotions are very surface level, so I didn’t connect with the characters emotionally very much. This didn’t lessen the readability in anyway for me, I loved Parvaneh and Soraya’s relationship development and I feel like all the characters had good arcs, as is expected in a fairytale. I also liked how a lot of elements in the novel were based on Persian culture and folklore and other mythology too.

This book was so difficult to finish. I have to say, it had a good start but, after a few chapters you see where the plot is going and it gets quite predictable. It's an easy read, and the story brings something new into the YA, as it takes inspiration from Persian mythology. I guess the main character was the problem. Soraya came across as super whiny, she doesn't fight back and she is not smart. Instead she gets so easily manipulated and it's like she is always complaining about her wrong life choices. I couldn't feel for her. At the end of the book I was exhausted from all the plot twists just because she has no determination at all. So... Yeah... Very disappointing one.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn is an engaging and intricately woven story, rooted in Persian folklore and mythology. The novel follows Soraya, a princess who has been cursed to be poisonous to the touch. Due to this, she is forced to remain in hiding in the secret passageways of Golvahar palace, where her only joy is her rose garden. Although usually she has to watch her family come and go as they please, this time they intend to stay for the shah’s – her twin brother Sorush – wedding. As the wedding preparations begin, she finds out that there is a prisoner who may be able to help lift her curse as well as a handsome soldier who seeks her out. This begins a chain of events which will change Soraya’s life and force her to confront some of her worst fears but also find herself.

I think one of the biggest strengths of this book was how well imagined and explored all of the world building and mythology was. I really liked the fact that the original language and terms were peppered in and there was also a full and detailed explanation of them at the end of the book for readers who may not be familiar with them. I love finding new voices in the fantasy genre, especially non-western centric fantasy so this was a delightful adventure. I enjoyed the wide range of mythology touched upon in the book and how this was intertwined with Bashadoust’s lyrical writing, resulting in a gorgeous story, very reminiscent of older fairytales.

As well as the mythology, I enjoyed reading the journey of self discovery the protagonist, Soraya goes on. Having spent her whole life hidden away and unable to experience physical touch, Soraya feels utterly isolated and also resentful once the truth of her curse is exposed. I feel like her feelings are so warranted and I really empathised with her, as she goes from feeling like a monster to coming to some key realisations about who she is and how the curse doesn’t have to define her. I also thought the family dynamics explored were interesting even if I wasn’t a fan of the characters themselves, due to their neglectful attitude and behaviour.

If a reader were to go into this expecting it to be more focused on romance, I think they’d be a bit disappointed, as it’s more about the lore and Soraya’s journey and growth. Saying this however, there is romance in this book and it is definitely more slow burn and all about the tension which then comes to culmination in the latter half of the book. There are two ‘love interests’ both of them complex and flawed in their own ways, and I think it will definitely be interesting to see what other reviewers think about them both. I liked that they both mirrored Soraya in many ways and both helped her, sometimes even inadvertently, to come to some home truths. This isn’t a love triangle though so if you’re sick and tired of that trope, rest assured, it’s not present!

Overall Girl, Serpent, Thorn was an enjoyable read, even if I probably wouldn’t reread and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an exciting fantasy read with diverse rep and interesting reworkings of some classic tropes.

I would like to thank Melissa Bashardoust & Hodder & Stoughton for my copy of the ARC. Due to this kind gesture, I have decided to leave an honest review.
This cover is absolutely stunning! It captivated me and it really pulled me into wanting to read the book. Boy, I couldn't believe how disappointed I was! I wanted to love it, but alas, it was not for me.

The story is a Persian folklore. A beautiful princess hid in a castle as she has been cursed with a deadly touch. Watching her Royal family go from palace to palace but Soraya has to stay hidden away. Now is the time for Soraya to have a normal life, but how far is she willing to go? And how many people will she hurt along the way?

The plot to start with was actually really good. It sooked me in and I thought YES THIS IS FOR ME! But then I started to get really bored, I got lost in the story but not in a good way. I didn't really get why things were happening and got super overcomplicated.

Soraya has a insta-love, you feel that they have a strong connection and you start to think wow, maybe they can actually save each other. Then it turns out she is bisexual and likes someone else, another insta-love, but then she goes chops and changes her mind between them? I didn't understand it? And if you had such a strong connection with the first, how did it end in the way it did?

I really actually liked Azard and Parvaneh at the start, but then near the end, Azard wasn't really making much sense. Soraya I could really leave and never hear from her again. She mopped around a lot, took so much abuse I was like what the hell? Even though you have a curse you are still a princess, stick up for yourself! Like what the actual?! The way her brother spoke to her when he thought he was going to die was horrendous and how she just got dismissed basically from everyone was a bit strange.

Now, this book was not entirely bad. At the start, I was really gripped, and I think this will be a big winner amongst a lot of people. Unfortunately, it just wasn't for me as I feel the story could have been more powerful, Soraya going full dark mode would have been amazing! More of the Divs as these are meant to be full-blown demons.

I do think this book is going to be a hit! But for me its 2 stars.

Check out my blog https://mandyizzym.tumblr.com/ thank you!

"There's much you don't know, much I can't tell you," she said. "But trust me when I say that if I were you, I wouldn't shed my armour for the sake of a kind word or a gentle touch. That's my advice to you, from one monster to another."

Enjoyable, memorable, unique and darkly whimsical; Bashardoust's "Girl, Serpent, Thorn" is a retelling of the Persian epic poem "Shahnameh" mixed with the fairy tales "Sleeping Beauty" and "Rapunzel".

Hello, my fellow readers! Hope you are all staying safe and well in the current coronavirus climate. Things are kind of scary right now in the world, and most of us are staying at home now to try and avoid the spread of the infection. And yes, things are awful and scary, but trying to find the silver lining here… I have much more free time on my hands for reading (should I be doing economic and econometric reports, yes, buuuuuuttttt… that’ll just have to wait because, well, books :P ).

So, bearing that in mind, I was super excited when I got sen Girl, Serpent, Thornby Melissa Bashardoust. I am an avid fan of retellings and fairytales, and the dark twist on Sleeping Beauty seemed to be just up my ally and what I was in the mood for this quarantine season… alas, unfortunately, the story fell a little flat for me. I thought that the introduction was a really solid start, but the overall storyline was a little rushed in my opinion, some things felt maybe a tad under-developed, and the weird relationships between the different characters were, well, strange.

But let’s get into the specifics!

From the get-go, I was actually super intrigued by the novel. I thought that the overall idea of a girl who was poisonous to the touch was super interesting, and a completely unique twist on the original fairytale. I also thought that the aspect of drawing on Persian mythology was exceptionally well done, and again, made for such an interesting topic to explore. I was pretty much hooked from the first chapter and read it super quickly, buuuuut then… I don’t know what changed. Things just felt rushed and not fully developed. I think that if Bashardoust had just taken a little bit longer to let the story progress between the main scenes, it would just make everything seem more realistic (even though, yes, this is a fairytale). And by the end, the big reveals of the plot did not feel dramatic as much as soap-y. Overall, I really loved the idea of the plot, but the execution… argh, I just was not the biggest fan, sad to say.

And the same goes for the characters - in principle, there were so many good things that Bashardoust could have done, and she really really did try, I just… I genuinely don’t know why I did not like it. MINOR SPOILER ALERT YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED I get that Soraya is like starved for attention and what have you, but she began to trust Azad and have these intense interactions with him pretty much immediately, which was strange to me (as she supposedly has barely had any interactions with other people, you would think that maybe she would be a bit apprehensive) - and then don’t even get my STARTED on the insta-love in the book, I really don’t want to even get into how much I cannot stand insta-loveEND OF SPOILER. I also feel like Bashardoust had to justify so many of the actions of the characters to the point where I just think there is a flaw in the characters and their actions themselves - the acts should speak for themselves, you shouldn’t have to always explain to me why they’re doing what they’re doing. More to the point… I did not actually like any of the characters in this book, and unfortunately, for me, that is kind of the main determinant for me to enjoy a novel.

On a positive note, however, the world was super interesting! I especially loved how Bashardoust has mixed Persian mythology into the perhaps more well known Sleeping Beauty fairytale. Especially interesting was her expansion into the different kinds of divs and their inter-political turmoil, especially when contrasted with the non-magical world. Again, I feel like Bashardoust could have taken a little bit more time to allow us to see more into the div-world and to explore its inner workings, but I will say that I definitely thought that the world-building was the best aspect of the book.

Overall, it seems as if many people <em>are</em> indeed enjoying this book - as this review is being released, it has a 4.20 rating on Goodreads - but for some reason, it just didn’t do it for me (although, side-note, but can we just take a moment or two to appreciate how GORGEOUS that book cover is - I mean, it is just so pretty).

Definitely give this book a whirl if a Persian-inspired Sleeping Beauty Fairytale sounds like something for you, but alas, this book was not my cup of tea.

I'm increasingly interested in fantasy which sloughs off Western tropes, though I should have taken the hint that this with firmly sitting in the world of fairy tale / mythology from the opening - "There was and there was not...". Girl, Serpent, Thorn is a well constructed piece of mythological fantasy, firmly rooted in Persian folklore but with its own twist. And whilst in retrospect the book hits a number of iconic fable milestones - not least with the character growth for the lead - it hides more of its conventional storytelling tropes under a compelling heroine and a mythology where the rules are explained but not second nature to me. (Bashardoust ends with a postscript talking about Persian mythology - and that goes a long way to assuage some of my bigger queries - though I wish I had been told that the word for demon here - Div - should be pronounced Deev - it was difficult using borderline offensive in the UK term Div* so often). She also manages to hide a lot of the intended shape of the novel in the first third, so that what it develops into is a decent surprise, an trick she repeat partially near the end (what would happen was unsurprising, but the final transformations involved were). At the same time whilst telling a folklorish tale, there is plenty of room to play with more modern attitudes and sexualities - even pushing a solid boundary or to here.

My only issue would be a problem inherent within having just the one viewpoint character - our lead occasionally makes decisions which seem out of character and nobody trusts each other, mainly as plot engines. Of course that is consistent with the fairy tale style, but there was probably a few flexes that could be done to make some of those actions a little less clunky. But a solidly enjoyable read, opening a few interesting doors into real Persian mythology.

This is a fairytale about a poisonous princess who wants to break her curse. It is a YA Fairytale that was a good quick read for me.

The writing was fairytale like and I really enjoyed reading it. It was lyrical and I just really enjoyed the simple writing style. I enjoyed the fairytale elements and the inclusion of things from Persian mythology. This book reminded me of Medusa and also Beauty of the Beast in places. The plot was similar to other YA fantasies and I found it a little predictable. The pacing felt a little off too as everything seems to happen in the second half of the book. Personally I think the world building could have been better. The castle Soraya lives in is built up well but the rest of the places I couldn't picture. I also have no idea how the world functions or how the demons and humans coexist.

I admit that I didn't really connect to the characters and some of them just seemed cartoonish to me. The main character, Soraya is the bisexual poisonous princess and honestly I admit that at first I didn't like her. She just wants to get rid of her curse and is sorry for herself. But she grows and develops through the story. I couldn't fully connect to her though. The other characters aren't as developed and are just seemed like the usual side characters you'd find in a YA fairytale. Asad is one love interest and he is like a cartoonish villain at times. Parvaneh the other love interest and she was okay but also didn't feel developed.

The Romance I didn't really enjoy and I admit that might be because I didn't like the characters. The romantic interests weren't built up as characters and it felt to me like they were the same character but in different genders at times. I did like the diversity and the inclusion of a bisexual main character.

I'd recommend this book to those who love YA Fantasy with LGBTQ+ characters. It was an interesting premise and a quick read for me.

A Persian-inspired, fairytale retelling with a bisexual MC and a plot that will keep surprising you. Just when you think you know what's going to happen next, the author destroys your expectations.

Wow what a start from the moment I turned the first page (well swiped as I have a kindle) I was hooked, mesmerised, and spellbound. The characters were full of life and there was a lot of menace. The story felt at once familiar and yet strangely exoctic it felt like sleeping beauty meets 10001 nights. Just marvellous from beginning to end. The only slight hitch is that there were a few spelling mistakes not sure if that was due to the download to kindle format and some of the page numbers were in the print (very interesting just got a bit confusing at times).

Firstly, thank you so much to NetGalley + the publisher for sending me an e-arc.

-
“I think you have so much power within you
that it scares you, and that you make yourself
small on purpose because you don’t know what
you’ll become if you ever stop.”
-

This is an enthralling read inspired heavily by the Persian Epic ‘Shahnameh’ and Zoroastrianism.

I’m not going to lie to you. Fairy tales are not really my thing. Sure, I enjoyed them when I was a child, but now I find them quite boring, and I find myself not enjoying any books that are inspired by fairy tales. This book was different. Maybe it’s because it’s inspired by Persia, and Iran, and by stories that I had never heard of, but I really devoured it.

This story focuses on Soroya, who is filled with a poisonous curse – anytime she touches a living being, it will die. She has had to spend her life isolating herself, and not being able to venture out into the world. Then one day, a Div (demon) is captured. She wants to get rid of her curse in order to live her life, and she finds she can only do this by approaching the Div for answers, as it was a demon that initially cursed her.

The story does start of a little slow in pace, but it is written really well. If you like books that are poetically written, with vivid descriptions, and emotional depth, this book is exactly that. Although, it does start of slow, there are some twists and turns which really turn this story from something basic to something exciting and different. They make the story unpredictable. You never know who the real “baddie” is, and I think that’s what I love about this book. It really makes you question something; do humans become monsters because of their pain and circumstances, or is it something that dwells in them from the beginning, just waiting to be unleashed?

The author describes emotions like pain, loneliness, grief, and shame extremely well. It left me with an ache in my chest. I don’t want to give too much away, but this is great book, that kept me engaged and reading well into the night. It feels magical as you are reading it, and I’m so happy that there is POC representation in this novel.

I also loved reading where the author got a lot of the inspiration for the book from because I learnt a little about Zoroastrianism and a few other things, which I knew nothing about. It’s always nice to take some knowledge away from a book; a new discovery.

A great for people looking for stuff with POC or LGBT+ representation, and for those who love getting lost in a world of magic, with a fierce woman at the head of the tale.

Also, that cover is GORGEOUS.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn is a lush, richly constructed fantasy full of magic, monsters and a princess learning to save herself.

Soraya is a girl cursed with poison in her veins - cursed to kill anyone who touches her skin. Having grown up afraid and lonely, she finally sets out to discover how to break her curse, and ends up finding there is far more to her story than she could have ever anticipated...

The world building in this book is incredible. I felt transported - all the settings vividly crafted, but without an overload of information.

The characters are all far more complex than they first seem, and I really loved seeing Soraya's growth throughout the book. I also adored that every character is a shade of grey - there is no clear "good" or "bad" character, which makes them all so much more interesting and the plot so much more unpredictable!

I really enjoyed this story, and would love to read more in this world!

I have posted this review to Goodreads and will submit to Amazon after release.