Short Story Sunday - Language of Thorns #4

Little Knife

This is the story of how a once bustling town decayed into a decrepit haunt that everyone tries to avoid, as its curse could crawl away with any visitor.

Yeva, the main character, is a girl who only grows more beautiful with age. She is so beautiful that even friends would try to kidnap her. And though this may seem wonderful, for Yeva it is not. Eventually, she is too beautiful to leave her home without someone trying to take her or chaos breaking out in response to not having her. Her beauty works as a sort of spell to twist the will of anyone who sees her.

When she comes of age, Yeva's father creates a contest to win her hand in marriage.

Semyon is a Tidemaker, a member of the Grisha, and though he is very poor he decides he wants to marry Yeva. His powers to control water help him complete the initial task, but Yeva's father sets another because he doesn't want his daughter marrying anyone but a prince.

Throughout this 'contest' Yeva is focused on only one thing: how do these tests determine if the man will be a good husband? (Good question, sister!) I think it's this question that aligns the readers with Yeva. Through her repeated asking, readers realize that she doesn't really care about gold, or fancy food, or imported fabric. She's deeper than that. 

Semyon completes the second task but then comes a third and final trial. Again, Semyon achieves the task's goal but wonders if Yeva's father will just try to continue setting tasks or kill him after he hands over the prize. Semyon thinks he comes up with a plan to avoid this, but he underestimates the power of Little Knife, the river who helped him complete all of the tasks. It turns out he cannot control the water; the water had been using him to reconnect with its separate pools. The river takes Yeva away giving her a sense of freedom from being eagerly and relentlessly sought by men. 

This is my favorite story so far in this collection! I love that Yeva gets to voice her concerns and ultimately choose her self over the suitors that are only obsessed with her beauty. I did not expect her to be given the option to choose no-one and was both surprised and happy that she was. Though this story does have a twist, like all of the others thus far, it was of a different kind. Again, there was the theme of trusting someone/something that you don't really know, but this time it was for the main character's benefit.  I also really appreciated that Yeva wasn't taken in by her own beauty. Receiving that kind of attention could have turned Yeva into a selfish woman who only cared about the beauty of others and what they could give to her -- which was kind of demonstrated by her father -- but she didn't. She didn't fall prey to her own power. She remained a woman only concerned with how she would live her life and if she would marry a good man, not a rich or handsome man. Beauty has a been a troublesome characteristic throughout these stories and there's a recurring message that beauty isn't everything. There are more important things in life and for Yeva that was freedom. 

Next Story (Nov. 5th) - The Soldier Prince

Read about the first three stories:

Ayama and the Thorn Wood

The Too-Clever Fox

The Witch of Duva

Short Story Sunday - Language of Thorns #3

The Witch of Duva

The monsters of Langauge of Thorns seem to always be closer than you think. In this short story, in the town of Duva girls start disappearing as winter begins. Whispers of a Khitka, a vengeful spirit, start sweeping the town. The main character is a young girl named Nadya. When her mother dies, a widow in town decides she wants to marry Nadya's father, Maxim. Karina, the widow, doesn't seem to like Nadya very much and the story takes the feel of the evil stepmother. Before their marriage, Karina warns Nadya that she must leave her home and her father. Nadya believes that it's because Karina doesn't want to have to take care of her through the winter. After they marry, Maxim starts to ignore Nadya, spending his time gambling, drinking, or with Karina. 

With the seeming goal of getting rid of Nadya, Karina begins sending Nadya to the woods each day to check the traps for food. One evening, Nadya gets lost in the woods and meets Magda. Nadya learns that Magda mixes tonics and potions for people who need them as the Witch of Duva. Yet, Nadya stays with Magda instead of returning to her home. For the price of two fingers, Magda helps Nadya make her home safe for her return. But again, like many of Bardugo's stories, the monster isn't the one readers have been led to believe. Nadya learns that her father was responsible for the disappearing girls. After her father's death, Nadya continues to live with the witch, learning potions and tonics, deep in the woods.

This story, like the two before, shares the message that what you think about people isn't always the truth and those you trust may not be trustworthy. However, the end of this story is a bit more disturbing than the others. It seems in the Grishaverse, monsters are always hiding in sheep's clothing which brings to focus the overarching theme of danger hiding in the least likely of places. One thing that I like about these stories is that many of the character's motives and goals are unpredictable. I like that Bardugo offers twists in her stories through both action and characters. I'm also starting to notice that none of the parents in any of these stories are good. They don't seem to actually care about their children or something causes them to stop caring. There is also the reoccurring instance of the main character being female (in the first story and this story) causing me to wonder if the morals of these stories are gender-focused.  We'll see if these patterns continue in the final three stories.

Next Story: Little Knife

Read about the first two stories:

Ayama and the Thorn Wood

The Too-Clever Fox

Internal Chaos and Expectations

The past is a common theme in novels. It's a novel in itself, the history of who we are. Heartfire by Karen Rose Smith centers around Tessa and Max, two people who let their past step in the way of their future. Their fear of rejection and the threat of giving up who they are forces the love they have for each other to become unstable.

Tessa was left by her mother when she was young. Thrown into the world of foster homes, she never felt she really belonged anywhere. A relatable thought between her and some readers. After chasing news across the world as a foreign correspondent, she knows where she wants to belong - with Max, but will she give up her life of traveling to finally put down some roots?

Max's wife died of cancer when their son, Ryan, was just a little boy. When Ryan's godmother, Tessa, comes back to town for his birthday, old feelings are rekindled between Max and Tessa. Tessa's the whirlwind where his wife was the calm and he'll have to accept that Tessa isn't Leslie.

This novel was a little slow at certain parts but after connecting with the characters during the first few chapters, I couldn't put it down. Smith writes her characters with all of their flaws put onto the table, flaws the characters themselves don't even know about. The expectations that the characters put on each other was an idea that usually goes unnoticed but Smith was focused on the details. The internal chaos of each character was almost enough to make me want to scream at the words on the pages.

Tessa's sense of adventure and fear of settling down are aspects of her character that readers can really relate to. The question between career and family appears a few times and forces the reader to question what they would do in the same situation. The answer seems easy at first, but on second thought it's much harder. Smith does an excellent job in Heartfire by showing the reader that there are different perspectives to be seen and compromises to be made in every situation.

Heartfire on Amazon

rating: 4/5 cups

The Pretense of Sanity

It seems that a main theme in The Queen of New Beginnings by Erica James is insanity and how that links to the art of pretending.

Alice retreats into her mind's eye to live the life that she wants, but is a perfectly reasonable woman on the outside.

Clayton (Mr. Shannon) is overly judged and ridiculed for his mysterious outburst and labeled insane, in need of help.

Alice's parents, during her family flashbacks, are depicted as completely insane, over emotional, and over reacting. Obviously unstable.

Yet, Alice's parents are the only ones in the novel who don't pretend to be someone they aren't. And when Clayton stops pretending is when the gauntlet of insanity is thrown at him. Thus the link between sanity and pretending, and the pairing of insanity with the reality of identity.

Could insanity really be interpreted as letting your true self show one hundred percent of the time? The flaws in the theory are many, yet it holds quite a bit of depth.