The Language of Thorns

The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic is a collection of six stories that act as folk tales for the Grisha universe by Leigh Bardugo. It contains three short stories previously published as ebooks, along with three brand-new tales. Each of them are illustrated with art by Sara Kipin that changes with each turn of the page, culminating in six full-spread illustrations summarise the tale.

SynopsisEdit

Love speaks in flowers. Truth requires thorns.

Travel to a world of dark bargains struck by moonlight, of haunted towns and hungry woods, of talking beasts and gingerbread golems, where a young mermaid's voice can summon deadly storms and where a river might do a lovestruck boy's bidding but only for a terrible price.

ContentsEdit

Zemeni Edit

• Ayama and the Thorn Wood

Ravkan Edit

• The Too-Clever Fox

• The Witch of Duva
• Little Knife

Kerch Edit

• The Soldier Prince

Fjerdan Edit

• When Water Sang Fire

CharactersEdit

Ayama and the Thorn Wood

• Ayama
• The Beast
• Kima
• Ma Zil

The Too-Clever Fox

• Koja
• Lula
• Ivan Gostov
• Sofiya
• Jurek

The Witch of Duva

• Nadya
• Havel
• Maxim Grushov
• Karina Stoyanova
• Magda

Little Knife

• Yeva Luchova
• Duke Luchova
• Semyon the Ragged
• Baba Anezka

The Soldier Prince

• The Nutcracker
• Droessen
• Clara Zelverhaus
• Frederick Zelverhaus
• Althea Zelverhaus

When Water Sang Fire

• Ulla
• Signy
• Roffe
• The Seer's Apprentice

TriviaEdit

• The Witch of Duva, the story in the collection that inspired the book, and that debuted on Tor.com in 2012, is a retelling of Hansel and Gretel.
• Ayama and the Thorn Wood, the first story in the collection, is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
• The Soldier Prince is a retelling of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.
• When Water Sang Fire is a retelling of The Little Mermaid from the point of view of the Sea Witch.