Love speaks in flowers. Truth requires thorns.
Travel to a world of dark bargains struck by moonlight, of haunted towns and hungry woods, of talking beasts and gingerbread golems, where a young mermaid’s voice can summon deadly storms and where a river might do a lovestruck boy’s bidding but only for a terrible price.
Inspired by myth, fairy tale, and folklore, #1 New York Times–bestselling author Leigh Bardugo has crafted a deliciously atmospheric collection of short stories filled with betrayals, revenge, sacrifice, and love.
Perfect for new readers and dedicated fans, these tales will transport you to lands both familiar and strange—to a fully realized world of dangerous magic that millions have visited through the novels of the Grishaverse.
This collection of six stories includes three brand-new tales, all of them lavishly illustrated with art that changes with each turn of the page, culminating in six stunning full-spread illustrations as rich in detail as the stories themselves.
My Review
Awww okay, first off, I loooved the fairytales and artwork in this book! It was such a treat, this was the sort of book you could just sit and easily read one story or the whole thing and still come away happy.
By far my fave story was the Soldier Prince as it combined The [Steadfast] Tin Soldier and The Velveteen Rabbit with The Nutcracker, so that was a guarantee fangirl screaming win for me. BUT I also loved Bardugo’s version of Ursula, such perfection!
Overall it’s an enchanting book of stories that rivals Grimm and Andersen in beauty if not at least almost equal on content. It was dark and twisty, yet still full of love and hope, even in the darkest places/times in some stories. I would definitely recommend this to Bardugo/Grisha fans or even those who just like fairytale styled stories!
5/5 Cups of hot chocolate from me!
Dive into the epic world of international bestselling author Leigh Bardugo with this beautifully illustrated replica of The Lives of Saints, the Istorii Sankt’ya, featuring tales of saints drawn from the beloved novels and beyond. Out of the pages of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, from the hands of Alina Starkov to yours, the Istorii Sankt’ya is a magical keepsake from the Grishaverse.
These tales include miracles and martyrdoms from familiar saints like Sankta Lizabeta of the Roses and Sankt Ilya in Chains, to the strange and obscure stories of Sankta Ursula, Sankta Maradi, and the Starless Saint.
This beautiful collection includes stunning full-colour illustrations of each story.
My Review
Once again we are given the gift of gorgeous artwork wrapped up in a gorgeously presented book dealing with the Grishaverse!
Hands down the illustrations were my favorite part of this book and it made me reminisce learning about some saints as a kid and seeing the portraits of them.
This The Lives of Saints book is even more amazing because Alina had her own copy in the Shadow and Bone trilogy, but, unlike her copy, this one includes a certain someone that wasn’t in it before!
A great quick and easy read that is just like Language of Thorns in which you can read one story or the whole thing and you’ll be happy either way, well, hopefully, I was anyway lol.
This is a very short book even compared to Language of Thorns but well worth the read if you’re a huge Grishaverse/Leigh Bardugo fan! I’m off to go look at the pretty pictures again.
5/5 cups of hot chocolate from me!
The Caffeinated Reader 