'The Too-Clever Fox' gets a little darker than the first story, but it still weaves in an interesting little fable message. I really enjoyed reading about all of the different animals and there roles, but the clever fox, of course, was my favorite. This one felt particularly classic and familiar, but I loved the various twists Bardugo weaved into it. The Too-Clever Fox 🦊 - ★ ★ ★ ★: I really enjoyed this story, although I found it slightly predictable at times. It became slightly repetitive towards the end, which I understand is common in these types of stories, but that took away some of my enjoyment. I loved the storytelling element added to this story and felt that the entire thing was quite lovely. There were some incredibly classic elements that made it feel very classic, while also ebodying an wholly new and unique story at the same time. That entire concept was a beautiful, creative idea that worked out wonderfully.Īnd now I'd like to include a brief word on each story:Īyama and the Thorn Wood - ★ ★ ★ ★: I found this to be a perfect story to start the collection off with. I love how each story alternated with the blue and red color scheme, and I particularly loved how the border of each story developed as the story continued. The illustrations in this book are also so beautiful and add so very much to this entire story. These stories contain beautiful messages and dismantle on so many fairy tale tropes in order to create new ones by maintain the classic ideas but warping them into something rather different.

Bardugo truly proves her creative and accomplished writing skills in this collection, weaving together lyrical words with jaw-dropped stories and themes. I love how unique the stories are while also bearing strong influences and taking on familiar forms of other classic fairy tales.

This collection was every bit as gorgeous as I had hoped it would be-if not more.

The language of thorns illustrations