Book: Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

Published July 2020 by Flatiron Books|336 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the e-book from the library

Series: None

Genre: YA Fantasy

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.

I liked Girl, Serpent, Thorn!  It’s definitely different but in a good way.

I felt for Soraya, who lived hidden away from everything and everyone.  For a lot of the book, we get bits and pieces of the story, but it’s not until we get close to the end that we get the whole story.  I get why her mom did what she did, but at the same time, I think a lot of the book could have been avoided if Soraya knew the whole story from the beginning.  But that’s just how things go, I think.

I am glad things worked for Soraya, and it was definitely a journey.  I don’t blame her for doing what she did.  It makes a lot of sense, considering she didn’t have the whole story until it was too late.  It was pretty predictable at times, but that didn’t keep me from enjoying the book.  I liked seeing her figure things out, and be okay with the fact that her touch can kill people.  Something about the fact that her touch is poisonous seemed really familiar, but I have no idea why.  I’m sure I’ll figure it out at some point, but that time is definitely not now.

I really liked the world, and there’s part of me that wants more books set in this world.  It feels like there are so many stories to tell.  At the same time, though, I thought that the story was contained in the book pretty well.  We don’t get every little detail, but that’s fine because it felt like we got enough of the world to know what’s going on.  I was reminded of Sleeping Beauty when I was reading it, and I think it’s because she’s hidden away for such a long time because of a prophecy.

I know this is completely random, but I can’t help but wonder how she was taken care of as a child.  She killed her nurse when she was a few days old, and I’m really curious how they manage to take care of someone who could kill them just by touching them.  It’s definitely not important in the grand scheme of things but it is something that I thought about a lot while reading the book.

3 stars.  I liked Girl, Serpent, Thorn and I enjoyed reading it, but I didn’t love it.