In the Cities of Coin and Spice (The Orphan's Tales, #2)

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In the Cities of Coin and Spice (The Orphan's Tales #2)

by Catherynne M. Valente (Goodreads Author)

4.44 of 5 stars 4.44 · rating details · 949 ratings · 133 reviews

Catherynne M. Valente enchanted readers with her spellbinding In the Night Garden. Now she continues to weave her storytelling magic in a new book of Orphan’s Tales—an epic of the fantastic and the exotic, the monstrous and mysterious, that will transport you far away from the everyday….

Her name and origins are unknown, but the endless tales inked upon this orphan’s eyeli...more

Paperback, 516 pages

Published October 30th 2007 by Spectra

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Sep 15, 2008 Izlinda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-fairy-tales-mythology

I can't believe I didn't write a review for this book! I absolutely loved it. I found the first book wandering in a bookstore, and it so captivated me, I bought this off Amazon soon after. I finished it earlier this year (I am writing this September 15th) and quite loved it, I recommended it to several people.

Valente's imagery doesn't stop in this book, and since I got used to her flowery, lyrical language in the preceding book, it wasn't as awkward or uncomfortable this time. I think it's best...more

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Jan 14, 2008 Grace rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorite-books-ever

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture," or so the old quote says. I can't help but remember this saying as I attempt to write down some of my fragmented, all too feeble thoughts regarding Catherynne Valente's masterwork, The Orphan Tales: In the Night Garden and In the Cities of Coin and Spice. To start out with a bang, I have to tell you what my reaction was upon completing the last page of the second book. It was 1am, and I set the book down, after having to re-read one of t...more "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture," or so the old quote says. I can't help but remember this saying as I attempt to write down some of my fragmented, all too feeble thoughts regarding Catherynne Valente's masterwork, The Orphan Tales: In the Night Garden and In the Cities of Coin and Spice. To start out with a bang, I have to tell you what my reaction was upon completing the last page of the second book. It was 1am, and I set the book down, after having to re-read one of the pivotal revelations on the last page and say "ohhh...I SEE." I turned the light out, lay down in bed, and started crying. And I don't just mean a few pinpricks from my eyes like I've had happen for a handful of tales over the years. I mean nose-sniffling, shoulder-shaking crying. I cried and I shook my head as I cried, laughing at myself for reacting more strongly than I had to any book I'd ever read. I cried because the books were done. I cried because the ending was so incredible. I cried because I was in awe of Catherynne Valente, only one year older than me, and having given something to the world of myth and story and imagination that I feel should go into the same column (and high in that column) as the greatest contributors of all time. How can one person have so much inside? And be able to get it all out onto the page?

This book is not an easy read. Let me tell you that straight-out as well. Many people have written reviews saying "I couldn't keep track of the stories" or "the format was too distracting, with the nested stories." I also found this to be true the first time I read the first book. I got to a little over page 100, and returned it to the library. But Valente's name kept cropping up...first on Endicott Studios, featuring an incredible short story I loved, then on Jen Parrish's website, as she created a gorgeous necklace in the shape of a boat with red sails for an auction. I sought out more of Cat's short stories, and I was blown away by every single one. Finally I decided to try the book again, settling down with it at the start of winter, when the fire crackled in my fireplace, and the stories folded around me like blankets against the snow. I approached it with more patience, and gave it time, rather than trying to rush through it. And I discovered that this book was not only good...it was the most imaginative, fully-formed, genius, and moving work of literature I'll most likely ever read.

If I seem to be overly prosaic and prone to hyperbole about this book, (I should say books, since it's a duology, but the two volumes fit together like one work) it's just a symptom of how much it has crept into every fiber of me. I now want to write extra stories about descendants of her tales. I want to create art showing the pivotal moments in the stories that I adored.

The message of the books is both simple and incredibly complex. The tales themselves are both an intricate symphony, and a simple thread that weaves around to end at a simple resolution. Valente is the Weaver of these tales, closing her eyes, grabbing all that is around her, and remaking it into beautiful gowns, girls, and cities, knowing all the while where the tales will end, whether that end is happy or sad.
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Dec 29, 2007 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone who's ever read a fairy tale or who loves anything beautiful

When this book came out, I went straight out and bought both it and the first half of the pair, "In the Night Garden," because I'd read the first one and loved it so much that I wanted to have them both for always. Valente's prose is gorgeous - rich, velvety, three-dimensonal, and painfully honest. And the stories-within-stories-within-stories connect beautifully with each other, and with stories and characters from the first book. The characters feel like real people, and she makes you care abo...more

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Jun 08, 2009 Jana rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry, scifi-fantasy, postmodern

I picked up this book because of the title which caught my eye. What a great line for a poem, I thought. Then as I read I realized I had to have this book. The language is part Arabian Nights and part pure poetry. in fact most of the chapters are in themselves little prose poems, or perhaps flash fiction pieces.

Valente (a poet herself) layers image on image with a richness of sensory detail and a wicked sense or surreal humor all of which contributes to a romp through a multi-layered tale withi...more

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Feb 12, 2011 Rafal Jasinski rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Drugi tom tej niekończącej się opowieści przynosi lekkie rozczarowanie. Formuła nie zmieniła się ani na jotę, wciąż mamy do czynienia ze niezwykle zgrabnie spisaną baśnią w postaci powieści szkatułkowej, pełnymi garściami czerpiącą z wszelkiego rodzaju mitów, opowieści, bajek i legend ze wszystkich stron świata. Jednak gdzieś pod tym "ciężarem" barwnego języka i bogatego stylu zabrakło interesujących opowieści, które były w pierwszym tomie równoważnikiem momentami uciążliwego snucia historii dla...more

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Dec 27, 2007 Pamster rated it 5 of 5 stars

A breathtaking collection of twisting interlinked tales within tales. Lives up to the first Tiptree Award-winning volume, In the Night Garden. Sirens, spiders, sultans, stars, selkies, and other hotties abound. Her narratives slyly reveal the bullshit roles given women in many traditional fairytales, while they also create new/old worlds that, for me, meet or surpass the traditional in terms of wonder and beauty.

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Sep 03, 2010 Nancy O'Toole rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, library

Alone in a garden lives a young girl filled with stories written on her eyelids in the blackest of ink. Her tales are so enchanting that she has drawn in the son of the sultan to listen to her every night, despite the fact that his visit are forbidden by his older sister, Dinarzad. Only this time around, the stories are a little darker, and life at the palace becomes more complex when a terrified Dinarzad becomes engaged to a wealthy man.

In The Cities of Coin and Spice is the second and final bo...more Alone in a garden lives a young girl filled with stories written on her eyelids in the blackest of ink. Her tales are so enchanting that she has drawn in the son of the sultan to listen to her every night, despite the fact that his visit are forbidden by his older sister, Dinarzad. Only this time around, the stories are a little darker, and life at the palace becomes more complex when a terrified Dinarzad becomes engaged to a wealthy man.

In The Cities of Coin and Spice is the second and final book in The Orphan's Tales. It contains many of the positive aspects that could be found in the first book, such as Valente's lush writing style, and the stories within stories format. Like the first book, this novel is divided into two sections. Each section contains one big story made of many little stories. One of my favorite parts was picking up on the little moments that tied the big stories from both books together. One thing I really liked about In the Cities of Coin and Spice in particular is how we got to see a little more of what's going on outside the girl's stories, as can be seen with Dinarzad's wedding, and the girl's own reflections on her current state of living. This gives the characters that frame the story more depth and makes them much more interesting. To be perfectly honest, I wish that Valente has spent even more time on these particular characters, as I wanted to learn more about them.

Although there is so much to love about this book, I do feel that comes up short when compared to In the Night Garden. The two large stories are not as engrossing, and the characters on a whole aren't as compelling. Don't get me wrong, many of the smaller stories within the large stories were absolutely fantastic. I love the stories of the hungry ruler who couldn't stop eating, and the little spider that became a seamstress. I also enjoyed the homages to established fairy tales like “Diamonds and Toads,” “Brother and Sister,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “The Midas Touch.” Still, I feel as if the larger tales just weren't as interesting, and didn't resolve themselves as satisfyingly as the previous volume. Part of the reason could have been that I read the majority of this book while going through a difficult time emotionally (my fiancé's fifteen year old cousin died unexpectedly), so I couldn't concentrate on it as much as I wanted to.

Faults aside, In the Cities of Coin and Spice is a likable follow up to In the Night Garden. One of my favorite parts is the ending. That alone made the book worth picking up. I'm really happy I decided to pick up this often overlooked series.
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Nov 27, 2012 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really wish I could have read this right after In The Night Garden, or that the two books were in the same volume. The amount of detail is so overwhelming that it was hard to remember the things that carried over from the first to the second book. I would not recommend reading this book alone; some plot points and definitely the ending would not make sense.
However, I did enjoy this book. I was very happy to see the Firebird again, and I enjoyed most of the new characters introduced in this hal...more

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Apr 25, 2012 Algernon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

The second part of The Orphan Tales is every bit as enchanting as the first one. Similar to In the Night Garden, this book is comprised of two major story arcs, one about a special brand of coins and a journey to the desolate shores of the lake where lost souls go; the other in and around Ajanahb - the city of spices. Once again, the thread of the story jumps from character to character, each one adding a bit more to the overall canvas. Along the way, characters from the previous stories put in...more The second part of The Orphan Tales is every bit as enchanting as the first one. Similar to In the Night Garden, this book is comprised of two major story arcs, one about a special brand of coins and a journey to the desolate shores of the lake where lost souls go; the other in and around Ajanahb - the city of spices. Once again, the thread of the story jumps from character to character, each one adding a bit more to the overall canvas. Along the way, characters from the previous stories put in an appearance and fill in the gaps or add another level of complexity to an already intricate construction. Honestly, I got lost more than once, and I struggled from time to time to remember the particular story of a recurring character. I would recommend reading this second book right after the first one, and even in this case try to pay attention to details, no matter how overwhelming they may seem. Now that I have the final image revealed, I would compare this narrative tapestry to an oriental mandala or one of those huge celtic knotworks where you cannot discern clearly the beginning or the end of the thread, but the finished product is symmetrical, whole and hypnotizing.

Call me Lantern - and don't laugh!
I have already noted in the first volume how Catherynne Valente has mixed oral storytelling traditions and ancient myths with modern sensibilities, irony and humor. If in first story we found out the equation governing the slaying of monsters in order to rescue maidens from towers, this time we will get an explanation of why dragons are kidnapping nubile girls ...

Still, the major tone of the novel remains one of melancholy, of loss and loneliness. It is after all, the tale of the orphan souls, be they human, animal or chimaera, most of the characters share painful childhood experiences and are on a journey of discovery for their place in an often hostile world. I will not spoil the ending, other than to say it is spectacular in a Venetian carnival style - colourful and poignant and very satisfying as far as I'm concerned:

Are you lost? he wispered.
Yes, I said fervently.
Poor lost things are a specialty of mine ...

Follow the thread of blank ink unspooling from the lids of the girl hiding in a night garden and you will be found.

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Jan 06, 2012 Mitch rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

This book is exactly like others have described it: it's a plethora of strange fairy-tales that are nestled inside one another and unfurl in rich, distinctive language.

I would have rated it higher except- well, it had its charms but I ended up thinking it was just too much of that sort of thing. I ended up just wanting to get through with the book and move on to something else. Also...even though I read it at a consistent rate, I still found myself getting lost in the multitude of characters and...more

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Jul 28, 2009 Mikko Karvonen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-scifi, all-time-favorites

The first part of Catherynne M. Valente's The Orphan's Tales was the most intriguing new fantasy book from an author new to myself I've read since Patricia MacKillip's The Ombria in Shadow, so I was very eager to delve into the depths of the second one as well. And I'm very glad I did.

The Orphan's Tales is an unusual collection of short stories, nestled inside each other like puzzle boxes, weaving a world where connections between stories can be found where least expected. The stories are not yo...more

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Jul 09, 2011 Emma rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: retellings, fantasy, awesome-fantasy-written-by-women, 4-stars-and-a-half

It's hard to review this book separately from In the Night Garden, because ultimately they're one book in two volumes. And so star ratings are somewhat arbitrary.

Like In the Night Garden, In the Cities of Coin and Spice is a lovely book made up of nested, interconnected stories. The stories are bizarre and fascinating and peopled by interesting, unusual characters. Like the first book, this one contains two "big" stories within the main frame story, and with dozens of nested stories within each...more It's hard to review this book separately from In the Night Garden, because ultimately they're one book in two volumes. And so star ratings are somewhat arbitrary.

Like In the Night Garden, In the Cities of Coin and Spice is a lovely book made up of nested, interconnected stories. The stories are bizarre and fascinating and peopled by interesting, unusual characters. Like the first book, this one contains two "big" stories within the main frame story, and with dozens of nested stories within each of those. I admit to finding the first of the "big" stories here a little disturbing, as it was darker than anything we saw in In the Night Garden, but it is nevertheless very well-told. I also didn't see the pieces coming together at the end of each "big" story in the same exciting way they did in the first book--but here, we see how all the stories come together to form part of the story of the orphan girl, which works very well. Like the first book, In the Cities of Coin and Spice is exceptionally well-written and has lots of strong, complex female characters who have meaningful relationships with each other. Also like the first book, this one has deckle edge pages, which annoyed the hell out of me all over again as I tried to flip back to previous sections as things began to fit together. But that's a minor annoyance in what was a lovely book, one which adds depth to the characters and world we'd previously met, as well as bringing in lots of great new characters and tying everything together well at the end.

Ultimately, I'd recommend The Orphan's Tales to almost anyone, with the caveat that it requires some concentration; I read In the Night Garden and In the Cities of Coin and Spice over about three and a half weeks, during which I was quite busy, and with one other book in between, and despite my being a detail-oriented reader there were occasional references I didn't remember. Ideally you'd read both books over a long weekend with few distractions. One of these days I'll have to read them again--and yes, they are that good.(less)

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May 27, 2012 Tara rated it 5 of 5 stars

It is just as wonderful and chilling as the first. In fact, I think I even like this one better. Still dark and a little frightening in a subtle way, but also maybe a little lighter at the same time, because the main people of the story this time are a young boy and girl and the overarching theme seems to be loss of innocence. There are just so many themes and stories intertwining and winding in and out. It's often difficult to keep track of which story-within-a-story I'm involved in at the time...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Gian Piero rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mist

I've just learned that the author refers to her work as 'mythpunk' as it builds from myth and folklore and adds modern elements to the tale. Whatever the name, this and its predecessor may well be the best books I've read this year. It is simply brimming over with imagination, clever storytelling and lyrical prose. It's not the easiest book to follow - indeed, the tales are so deeply entwined, with each story's protagonist making cameos throughout the rest of the books, that I've probably missed...more

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Jan 02, 2010 Kathryn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, hard-to-describe, sci-fi-fantasy, short-stories

I can't think of any way that this book could be better, not even one. I read "In the Night Garden" over a couple of long train trips; it took me nine days to read "In the Cities of Coin and Spice", just from wanting to savor it as much as possible. I've been trying to decide what's the best description for how the whole interweaving stories made me feel, and the best I could come up with was a line from Kelly Link's story "Magic for Beginners", where the character describes the mysterious TV sh...more

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Sep 15, 2012 Mortalform rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: buy-me, deserves-re-read, fantasy-exquisite, my-authors, favorites, mythic

...there is a kind of poetry in metamorphosis... 191

These are the things a mother does –did not the Sky once wipe our noses and tell us to stand up straight, did not the blackness of our mother admonish us to raise our voices and be curious, to be bold, to look after one and other when curiosity and boldness failed? 222

“Lawlessness doesn’t mean there is no law, you know, it just means that there are a lot of different laws slugging it out in the streets, and none of them have come out on top yet...more

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Jun 23, 2009 Becky rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 50-in-a-year

This book, and its predecessor, are both so amazing that it's almost difficult to describe. It's a story about stories, and there are stories within stories within stories in a kaleidoscopic whirl that leaves you dizzy in that good way, like when you were little and someone you trusted spun you around and around...
There's a Firebird who loved a goose who used to be a girl...a beastly Princess...a fox who sails...a Saint with three breasts who nurses the last Griffin...a ship that sails into the...more

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Oct 18, 2009 Trickey rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is book two, but I didn't read book one and didn't have to in order to enjoy this. I have long been a connoisseur of traditional fairy tales and modern takes on them, but this is probably one of the more creative reinventions of the genre.

Valente obviously spent a lot of time thinking how to weave theses stories together. I explained to my friend how it works and she said, "like an onion where you peel the layers." It is similar to that, but still more complicated since underneath the main...more This is book two, but I didn't read book one and didn't have to in order to enjoy this. I have long been a connoisseur of traditional fairy tales and modern takes on them, but this is probably one of the more creative reinventions of the genre.

Valente obviously spent a lot of time thinking how to weave theses stories together. I explained to my friend how it works and she said, "like an onion where you peel the layers." It is similar to that, but still more complicated since underneath the main story are multiple side stories that include other stories within them like nesting dolls. These smaller stories are only a few pages each in length and are complete in themselves, so this is an easy book to read sparingly if you have only small amounts of time. And while the conventions of traditional storytelling are adhered to, their reinvention is well done, with more detail and more creative choices than usually seen in this sort of work.

The characters here have more dimension than usually seen in traditional stories and no archetype is taken for granted which I appreciate. Just describing someone as a princess, or even an evil or good princess is not enough. Valente knows this well and goes into the history and circumstances that make each character who they are, also giving her more chances to weave story together. I also really enjoy her monsters. Not only are they more than traditional representations of the opposition to the "good" characters, they also star in their own stories and have as much crafted reason behind their actions as the other characters. This makes them more than just a challenge, or snag in the pather, but a new loop in the story.

Valente also takes time to really color and texture all the scenes and locations, again in new ways that let the reader really savor her craft and not pass over into understood metaphor where you don't have to pay attention. You really have to pay attention, and it is worth it.

There are somethings that certain readers might not like, but I think those you can relate to Valente's choice in the way she created the story for example interrupted narratives, and more action and less reason, but this really didn't detract for me.(less)

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Sep 14, 2011 Terri Kempton rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This second novel contains much darker content than the first. I generally don't mind going places both creepy and upsetting - as long as there's a payoff at the end. And man, the payload is big on these two books! Invest your time and imagination, and get a very satisfying transportive conclusion. Kudos to Valente for continuing to share a wide variety of female characters, along with their various strengths that are sometimes expressed as good and other times as something more nefarious. The w...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Jeremy Preacher rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

The other half of The Orphan's Tales (they're either one story across two volumes, or four books divided for printing convenience - either way, the two books can't be separated,) it's just as good as the first. It's a little darker, with a little more sense of forward motion, but just as inventive and delightful.

It does come to a more or less tidy conclusion, which I liked well enough, but thought was sort of beside the point. This pair of books is all about the journey, and I just wish it were...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Kate Jacobson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, magical-realism, mythpunk, science-fiction, speculative-fiction, favorites, read-in-2013

I love this book SO much that it's honestly difficult to be coherent about it. Both this book and "In the Night Garden" are really more of a single book that was divided up. All of the stories are interwoven to the point that as you near the end of the story, you will hear mentioned the very first character introduced in the very first story. It's all very delightfully full circle.

The key to enjoying this book is approaching it with patience. The format of stories within stories can become stre...more I love this book SO much that it's honestly difficult to be coherent about it. Both this book and "In the Night Garden" are really more of a single book that was divided up. All of the stories are interwoven to the point that as you near the end of the story, you will hear mentioned the very first character introduced in the very first story. It's all very delightfully full circle.

The key to enjoying this book is approaching it with patience. The format of stories within stories can become strenuous and difficult to keep track of at times, but it is so worth it, in the end. And speaking of the end, oh, the ENDING. I'll try not to spoil anything, but I was just in complete and utter delight. I mean clapping my hands and smiling and crying all at the same time. It was so brilliant, and yet I was sad because I will never get to experience the joy of reading these books for the first time, finding new delights on each page, new evocative turns of phrase and dawning realizations in every story - ever again. The finished project is wonderfully whole, symmetrical, interwoven, and clever. I honestly don't know how someone could write something so gosh darn clever. How did she keep it all straight? How does her brain work?

I love the way Catherynne M. Valente works in typical story telling narratives and traditions and ancient myths, but still manages to make it all so modern. All of her stories are dreadfully witty, full of puns and clever modern ideas.

One of my favourite narrative elements was Dinarzad, who evolved in such a wonderful way. She ended up being one of my favourite characters by the end of all the things. She was so cruel and so frightened and so hopeful and so clever and ugh, I just love her so much. She's absolutely fabulous, and I think Valente could have gone the easy way and just made her the "evil older sister," but she didn't! She made her complex and real and frightened and hopeful and HUMAN, and it was honestly one of the best narrative decisions in a long time.

The prose has a very poetic style, but as I mentioned earlier, the barbed wit and modern nature that it's written in keeps her from waxing overly poetic about anything. Otherwise, I think the book might become a bit much - but it's not. Every word is in the story because it needs to be there. Every word is deliberate. I honestly wish that I was better at reviewing books so I could be better at emphasizing what an excellent book it is.

I spoke about this in my review of In The Night Garden, but I believe that it bears repeating. One of the most refreshing things about Valente's work is that it is the complete opposite of Eurocentric, and it's really refreshing, because so many fantasy stories are: thinly veiled Europe, Dwarves (Jews), savages with caravans (Arabs), mystical Voodo people (East Asians), and uneducated fighters (Africans) and it's so boring and really thinly veiled racism and I'm done with it. So Catherynne M. Valente get a massive thumbs up from me on that front.

So many of these stories pulled at my heart strings. They speak of loss and loneliness and comfort and abandonment and fear and hope and desire. The stories themselves are fantastical and mythical and impossible, but they are all so very human. That's where the real strength of the novel comes from - the humanity.

My favourite stories were: The Tale of the Glass Princess, The tale of the Tea-Maker and the Shoemaker, the Tale of the Bird's Tears, the Tale of the Rooster Maker's Daughter, and the Tale on the Floor. The whole thing just shimmers with lyrical prose and brilliant writing and clever ideas. It's a wonderful book that is highly, highly deserving of it's five stars, and it's a volume of stories that I want to be on my bookshelf forever. (less)

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Jan 26, 2013 Robyn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, sci-fi-or-fantasy

No full review right now, as I'm not feeling fabulous.

Both of the Orphan's Tales books are wonderful. I would recommend reading them as much in one sitting as possible, definitely not while also simultaneously reading other books, and read this one as soon after finishing the first as you can. Because the stories are so interwoven, intermingled, so many levels deep, they reference forward and backward to things mentioned briefly or fully in either the other book or in another story within the s...more

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Jun 02, 2012 Leilani rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy

I am such a fan of Valente's style and imagery, and the worlds she has created in all of her books unfold like the unveiling of brightly-colored, surreal oil paintings. As with her other work, "In the Cities of Coin and Spice" proved to be a fantastic, fractured fairy tale for adults, completely transporting the reader into a place that knows nothing at all about bills and telephones and TVs and quite a bit about Ash-Queens, Firebirds, and fallen Stars.

That said, I will admit that I wasn't quite...more

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Feb 25, 2011 Victoria rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-in-a-series, child-narrator, fairy-tales, fantasy-science-fiction

Just as lushly written as the first book, I was initially so excited to see what would become, not only of the tattoo-eyed girl and sultan-prince boy, but also more of the lavish world that her tales created. I immediately bought it on the Kindle, and I think that something was lost in the digital translation. The drawings that were so intricate in the first one were blurry and hard to decipher on the screen (excluding the smaller drawings - those were blown up and actually easier to see) and th...more

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Feb 26, 2010 Tatiana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, fairy-tales, only-i-will-like, mythopoeic

I found this second book of "The Orphan's Tales" less engaging than the first one. This is probably why I so easily put it down after reaching the middle and didn't pick it up until weeks later.

"In the Cities of Coin and Spice" was much darker and less enchanting than "In the Night Garden" and its characters less compelling. I thought the first half ("The Book of the Storm") was extremely disturbing for a book of fairy tales and the second ("The Book of the Scald") was a little too scattered, a...more

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Mar 15, 2010 Ratha rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Since this book is a continuation of In the Night Garden, this review will be a continuation of the earlier review. Many elements in the second book recall characters and events in the first book, so don't let too much time pass between your readings of them.

The girl reaches the end of the stories she has been able to read by herself, and then the boy reads her the rest of the stories, written on the outside of her eyes. When they arrive at the end, and the tales have finally all been heard for...more

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Apr 16, 2009 Kat Hooper rated it 5 of 5 stars

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

I haven't read any fantasy quite like Catherynne M. Valente's The Orphan's Tales duology. This is the story of a young orphan girl who is shunned because of the dark smudges that appeared on her eyelids when she was a baby. She lives alone in a sultan's garden because people think she's a demon and nobody will claim her. However, one of the young sons of the sultan, a curious fellow, finds her in the garden and asks her about her dark eyes. She explains th...more ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

I haven't read any fantasy quite like Catherynne M. Valente's The Orphan's Tales duology. This is the story of a young orphan girl who is shunned because of the dark smudges that appeared on her eyelids when she was a baby. She lives alone in a sultan's garden because people think she's a demon and nobody will claim her. However, one of the young sons of the sultan, a curious fellow, finds her in the garden and asks her about her dark eyes. She explains that there are wonderful stories written on her eyelids and that a spirit has told her she must read and tell the stories; Then the spirit will return and judge her. The prince loves stories, he begs her to tell him one, and so she begins.

The rest of In the Night Garden and its sequel In the Cities of Coin and Spice is a collection of nested stories that are interspersed with short interactions between the young prince and the girl with the dark eyes (somewhat like The Arabian Nights). These stories are all connected to each other, but each is unique and highly imaginative. There are fascinating creatures--many based on myths and fairy tales--like a monopod, two griffins, a necromancer, a wicked papess, an otter king, a woman with three breasts, three brothers with dog heads who become accidental cannibals, a leucrotta, a Magyr, a skin seller, living stars fallen to earth . . . and these are just some of those that I can describe in a few words (and I'm not giving them justice). The characters in The Orphan's Tales remind me of the Cantina Scene in Star Wars. The darker characters, (e.g., the wizard and the necromancer), are particularly excellent. Ms Valente's imagination for bizzarre characters and plots exceeds Lewis Carroll's and she never lets up. Each story is brilliant and brilliantly told.

And the prose is truly beautiful:

"He was very tall, and thin as a length of paper. His skin and cloaks were the color of the moon--not the romantic lover's moon, but the true lunar geography I had heard whispered by Sun-and-Moon Nurians come to buy glass for their strange sky-spying tools: gray and pockmarked, full of secret craters, frigid peaks, and blasted expanses. His eyes had no color in them save for a pinpoint pupil like a spindle's wound--the rest was pure, milky white. He passed three solid gold pieces over my mother's palm, and she shuddered in revulsion at his touch when the money changed hands. She handed me over eagerly, examining the coins like a fat pig snuffling at its supper slop."

"My mother had kept silent as a nun since the day my sister was taken from her. I was an infant when she vanished from us; I never knew that sister. But her absence stalked the house like a hungry dog. The hole where she had been took up space at our dinner table, it sagged and slumped in the musty air, it ate and drank and breathed down all of our necks. . . I grew up alone in that silent house with nothing but the stinking cows and my mute mother and the hole. Even my father didn't want to spend his days there; he stayed in the fields directing hay-rolling and goat-breeding until it was dark enough to slip back inside the house without anyone bothering him. But still, the hole answered the bell when he rang, and he had to scurry to bed with his head down to avoid looking it in the eye."

There are many more of these gorgeous passages to enjoy. My only complaint about the writing itself is that there are dozens of characters in The Orphan's Tales and they ALL talk like that. So, it's not very realistic, but I suppose realism wasn't exactly what Ms Valente, as a poet, was going for.

One other small complaint I have is that because the stories of The Orphan's Tales seem at first to be random and unrelated, it's hard to feel deeply involved with many of the characters because they don't stick around for long (except for the orphan and the sultan's son who don't do much but talk and listen). But, again, that's the point, because we learn at the end of In the Cities of Coin and Spice that all of the strange stories and characters actually contribute to, and explain, the history of the orphan girl. Perhaps that's a bit of a spoiler, but you'll enjoy the stories more if you realize that it's all going somewhere. And, besides, you're a clever reader, and you'll probably figure out that there's got to be something going on here besides just a bunch of beautifully-written, highly imaginative, unconnected stories.

But, the main reason I'm telling you this is because I know you'll get more out of your reading if you follow the advice I'm going to give you... Just trust me: Get yourself a pencil, a pad of paper, and a fine cup of caffeinated coffee (in my experience, a Starbucks Venti Latte works best). Sit down with In the Night Garden and read the first few pages up to the point where the girl starts to tell "the first tale I was able to read, from the crease of my left eyelid." This first story is about Prince Leander. Write "Prince Leander" at the bottom of your paper. Prince Leander runs into a gray-haired tattooed "crone" and a few pages later, she starts to tell her story. Write "crone," or whatever you want to call her, above Prince Leander's name. Soon, "crone" starts telling the story that her grandmother told her. Write "crone's grandmother" above her name. (I've got a picture of my own notes at Fantasy Literature ) This is not the kind of book you can leave for a few days and come back to unless you have notes to tell you who was talking to who. Or unless you're a lot smarter than me ... which is certainly possible.

Highly recommended for the reader who appreciates beautiful prose, is willing to take notes, and is looking for something original.

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May 24, 2008 Kim rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: lovers of fairy tales

Another beautifully written and intricately woven tapestry of stories, this second and final volume of The Orphan's Tales features basilisks and sirens, a creature made of teeth and a woman made of glass, djinni and duchesses, and some answers about the origins of the story-teller herself. Some of the tales are harrowing (particularly in the first half of the book), some are humorous, and all are remarkably lovely and clever. Again, there are sly references to familiar fairy tales (like "Beauty ...more

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Apr 24, 2012 Clare rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy

This was awesome. I am horrible at reviewing books but...guh.

The writing is beautiful. The world is incredibly intricate and fascinating. The story and characters draw you in and there is joy and sorrow and funny things and deeply disturbing things. Valente pulls from a lot of storytelling tradition, but hardly ever does anything expected. The ending is lovely and had me crying for a number of reasons, not all of them sad.

Between this, the book before it, and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyl...more

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Jan 06, 2011 Evan Jensen rated it 5 of 5 stars

The conclusion of The Orphan's Tale leaves me in awe. Valente's stories, characters, and prose consistently fill my head with wonder and my chest with hope. Since I read the first book in this duo years and years ago, I've been meaning to finish the second book. It sat on my shelf, gathering sorrow and joy and adventure to it like a wine aging in its cask. Or at least, it might well have done so, with how beautiful it is and how much reading to it's final line was like being filled with a draugh...more

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About Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente was born on Cinco de Mayo, 1979 in Seattle, WA, but grew up in in the wheatgrass paradise of Northern California. She graduated from high school at age 15, going on to UC San Diego and Edinburgh University, receiving her B.A. in Classics with an emphasis in Ancient Greek Linguistics. She then drifted away from her M.A. program and into a long residence in the concrete and cam...more

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Books by Catherynne M. Valente

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (Fairyland, #1)

In the Night Garden (The Orphan's Tales, #1)

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There (Fairyland, #2)

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In the Cities of Coin and Spice (The Orphan's Tales #2)

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