From the Bookshelf of Beyond Reality…

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

Catherynne M. Valente,

Michael Kaluta (Illustrations)

Start date: May 1, 2017

Finish date: May 31, 2017

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Jul 31, 2019 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: worldbuilding-sf, 2019-shelf, fantasy

Reading this book has left me practically speechless. Almost anything I could say about it will fall flat in the sheer enormity of the experience.

So what DID I experience?

Scheherazade.

Dark fables incorporating wide mythologies reminiscent of all the best obscure fairy tales twisted in wonderfully unique ways, couched as stories within stories, adding tiny slivers of fate within each until it brings us back, wholly, to our Scheherazade, our poor orphan telling her story from the words tattooed o ...more

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Dec 24, 2011 Gretchen rated it really liked it

Shelves: reread

I can't quite give this a five, though it's a very strong four. I love the interwoven tales within tales and recurring characters, and how the stories start off as "proper" fairy tales that then twist off sideways in new and interesting ways. This was a reread, but my memory is poor enough (a definite handicap in a book this intricate) that most of it was fresh.

It's definitely wonderful, but it's written in a way that keeps bringing me out of immersion; it's so cleverly written it seems to be po ...more

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