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A review by megsbookishtwins
Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust
4.0
Disclaimer: I received this free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
There was and there was not, as all stories begin, a princess cursed to be poisonous to the touch. Soraya has been hidden away from the world, safe only when she is in her gardens tending to her roses. She is not allowed outside her room, but has become accustomed to sneaking out anyway. When a demon is caught who may hold the answers to breaking her curse.
content warning: imprisonment, death
rep: bi brown m/c, persian inspired setting
Girl, Serpent, Thorn is a Persian inspired fairy tale about a princess who was cursed to be poisonous to the touch. It is a story brimming with intrigue, lies, betrayal, power, and monsters. It features a slow-burn f/f romance between two morally grey characters. It was actually a book that finally dragged me out of a months long reading slump.
There were so many great things about Girl, Serpent, Thorn and it is a book easy to praise. If you enjoy novels full of secrets and betrayals then this is the book for you. There is plot twist after plot twist, and reveals that you never see coming.
One of the best aspects of Girl, Serpent, Thorn though was Soraya and her character arc and the development she goes through. Her story, ultimately, is one about power and about her curse. At the start of the novel, Soraya, who is cursed to be deadly to the touch, sees her curse as just that – a curse that stops her living her life to her true potentional. It is horrible, cruel, and makes her a monster.
But what I truly loved about this story was how she becomes to question what this curse actually is to her because it actually gives her one thing she strives for – power. Power to protect herself, power to make people fear her, power to get what she wants, power to make her own choices. I loved this internal conflict she had – did that want for power make her a monster? One thing I love, is morally ambiguous characters!! In the end, what made her most powerful was the power of choice, which I loved.
There is also a brillaint f/f romance between two morally gray characters, our main character Soraya, and a demon – both characters feel like they need to atone for their sins. But what I loved most about the two was how they made each other feel safe and unashamed to be who they truly are: ‘What she needed tonight was another monster’.
Overall, another brilliant sapphic fantasy that you need on your tbr pile.
There was and there was not, as all stories begin, a princess cursed to be poisonous to the touch. Soraya has been hidden away from the world, safe only when she is in her gardens tending to her roses. She is not allowed outside her room, but has become accustomed to sneaking out anyway. When a demon is caught who may hold the answers to breaking her curse.
content warning: imprisonment, death
rep: bi brown m/c, persian inspired setting
Girl, Serpent, Thorn is a Persian inspired fairy tale about a princess who was cursed to be poisonous to the touch. It is a story brimming with intrigue, lies, betrayal, power, and monsters. It features a slow-burn f/f romance between two morally grey characters. It was actually a book that finally dragged me out of a months long reading slump.
There were so many great things about Girl, Serpent, Thorn and it is a book easy to praise. If you enjoy novels full of secrets and betrayals then this is the book for you. There is plot twist after plot twist, and reveals that you never see coming.
One of the best aspects of Girl, Serpent, Thorn though was Soraya and her character arc and the development she goes through. Her story, ultimately, is one about power and about her curse. At the start of the novel, Soraya, who is cursed to be deadly to the touch, sees her curse as just that – a curse that stops her living her life to her true potentional. It is horrible, cruel, and makes her a monster.
But what I truly loved about this story was how she becomes to question what this curse actually is to her because it actually gives her one thing she strives for – power. Power to protect herself, power to make people fear her, power to get what she wants, power to make her own choices. I loved this internal conflict she had – did that want for power make her a monster? One thing I love, is morally ambiguous characters!! In the end, what made her most powerful was the power of choice, which I loved.
There is also a brillaint f/f romance between two morally gray characters, our main character Soraya, and a demon – both characters feel like they need to atone for their sins. But what I loved most about the two was how they made each other feel safe and unashamed to be who they truly are: ‘What she needed tonight was another monster’.
Overall, another brilliant sapphic fantasy that you need on your tbr pile.