From the Bookshelf of On Paths Unknown…

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

Catherynne M. Valente,

Michael Kaluta (Illustrations)

Start date: February 10, 2015

Discussion: IN THE NIGHT GARDEN - Valente

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 3 topics — 125 comments total

IN THE NIGHT GARDEN - Valente

* Spoiler thread [1] Book of the Steppe to Other Prince's Tale (p.1-p.83)
By Traveller · 57 posts · 27 views

last updated Mar 08, 2015 10:09AM

Spoiler Thread [2] The Other Prince's Tale to before the Firebird's Tale
By Traveller · 4 posts · 9 views

last updated Mar 10, 2015 09:44AM

showing 3 of 3 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Sep 23, 2010 mark monday rated it it was amazing

Shelves: legendarium, alpha-team, fantasy-modern

Tales within tales, tales out of space, tales that spring from stars that fall from sky to take human shape; the writer writes like the dreamer dreams dreams - some dreams yearning and romantic, others dark and tragic, each dream holding a little bit of the next dream in its heart: the story as Oriental Ouroboros: the Arabian Nights as template, as both starting point and point of resolution; themes and metaphors and symbols slowly surfacing, to disappear and then reappear again, transformed, re ...more

87 likes · Like · see review

Jul 19, 2015 Brian rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015_sow

Fans of creation myths, fractured fairy tales and stories in the key of If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler will find plenty to love in this wondrous book of interweaving tales.

Valente writes in a panoply of differing voices; her stories rich and unique in their telling – marvelously intertwined and displaying real writerly prowess. The reader is taken down the rabbit hole of tales, each telescoping deeper into a rich narrative replete with beautifully imagined monsters, the angels and devils of h ...more

21 likes · Like · see review

Jul 22, 2008 Jlawrence rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

The first time I tried to read this, some years ago, I was intrigued by its structure of stories nested in stories nested in stories, and loved Valente's imagination, but the style rubbed me the wrong way, which kept me from getting fully into it. This time everything clicked, and I was completely sucked in.

Valente is telling her own kind of fairy tales - dark, funny, beautiful, mutated - twining them around related themes, often inverting familiar fairy tale tropes, and managing to make seeming ...more

4 likes · Like · see review