Catherynne M. Valente
Paperback | Pages: 483 pages Rating: 4.14 | 6536 Users | 864 Reviews
Particularize Regarding Books In the Night Garden (The Orphan's Tales #1)
| Title | : | In the Night Garden (The Orphan's Tales #1) |
| Author | : | Catherynne M. Valente |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 483 pages |
| Published | : | October 31st 2006 by Bantam Dell (first published October 28th 2006) |
| Categories | : | Fantasy. Fiction. Fairy Tales. Short Stories. Young Adult. Magic |
Representaion During Books In the Night Garden (The Orphan's Tales #1)
A Book of Wonders for Grown-Up ReadersEvery once in a great while a book comes along that reminds us of the magic spell that stories can cast over us to dazzle, entertain, and enlighten. Welcome to the Arabian Nights for our time a lush and fantastical epic guaranteed to spirit you away from the very first page.
Secreted away in a garden, a lonely girl spins stories to warm a curious prince: peculiar feats and unspeakable fates that loop through each other and back again to meet in the tapestry of her voice. Inked on her eyelids, each twisting, tattooed tale is a piece in the puzzle of the girl's own hidden history.
And what tales she tells! Tales of shape-shifting witches and wild horsewomen, heron kings and beast princesses, snake gods, dog monks, and living stars each story more strange and fantastic than the one that came before. From ill-tempered mermaid to fastidious Beast, nothing is ever quite what it seems in these ever-shifting tales even, and especially, their teller.
Adorned with illustrations by the legendary Michael Kaluta, Valente's enchanting lyrical fantasy offers a breathtaking reinvention of the untold myths and dark fairy tales that shape our dreams. And just when you think you've come to the end, you realize the adventure has only begun.
Specify Books In Pursuance Of In the Night Garden (The Orphan's Tales #1)
| Original Title: | In the Night Garden |
| ISBN: | 0553384031 (ISBN13: 9780553384031) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | The Orphan's Tales #1 |
| Literary Awards: | World Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Novel (2007), Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature (2008), James Tiptree Jr. Award (2006) |
Rating Regarding Books In the Night Garden (The Orphan's Tales #1)
Ratings: 4.14 From 6536 Users | 864 ReviewsCriticize Regarding Books In the Night Garden (The Orphan's Tales #1)
They were all whispers now, the two of them, conspirators and thieves."Valente never disappoints. Such a marvelous writing and imagination.Catherynne M. Valente is, in my opinion, one of the most talented fantasy author out there. Considering that In the night garden isn't one of her latest books, it's even more impressive. If I had to describe it I'd tell you that this is a matryoshka of stories. A story within a story whitin another story, a labyrinth in which it's easy to get lost. HoweverTales within tales within tales, all woven together like a magical, colorful tapestry depicting griffins, dead moon walkers, beastly princesses, princely beasts, pirate saints, Stars, snake gods, and so much more, all written in dark ink around the eyes of a little girl. Reading Valente's prose is like dreaming; during the act, you understand everything and think you see the truth, but when jerked back into reality, the stories fade together into a colorful, abstract image. It's pretty and
I really thought I would never say this about a Catherynne M. Valente book but here we are: I'm fifty pages in and I already want this book to end. So I'm not going to continue.I don't know if her writing got drastically better since 2006 and that's why I love all her later books or if I'm just really in a bad mood, but I couldn't stand the writing in here and while I think this is... the book equivalent of a descending staircase, made of stories, I couldn't care about any of the stories
"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
I've put off reviewing this one not out of laziness (mostly), because it is one of the most stunningly beautiful books I have ever read, and I'm still lost for words.Discovering that there is, in fact, a sequel, and that my library did not have it - in fact no library in Auckland did, so therefore it had to be ordered in specially - and that I would have to wait to read it... well, perhaps a review will come soon after all as In the Cities of Coin and Spice has finally arrived for me to devour.
One Thousand and One Nights meets European folktales and modern fantasy (think, perhaps, a somewhat more self-serious Princess Bride) in a nested series of linked short stories.* The overall frame, where a sultan's son is told the stories by an outcast orphan hiding on the palace grounds, is the least interesting part, but a good many of the other threads are incredibly effective, deftly examining and flipping gender roles, archetypes, tropes and cliches ("Never put your faith in a Prince. When
The tales told to the young Prince come from the tattoos inked on the skin of a young woman. These same strange tattoos that are keeping her isolated from the rest of the sultan's household, make her seem fascinating to the prince. Each night he sneaks out to meet with her in the Sultan's gardens.This book is two series of interwoven, short, personal tales told from the tattoos. Tales that ultimately braid together. Like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales there is a series of people's pilgrimages told
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