Valente, Catherynne: The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden
The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden
Writer: Catherynne M. Valente
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 483
My May/June challenge with emerald_ibis. I'm catching up! :)
This is such a hard book to review. Does anyone else have this problem, when you read a book you really enjoy that you simply can't articulate your thoughts without sounding like a completely unintelligent fangirl/boy?
Yeah, that's me. While I thoroughly enjoy Valente's writing, her style is the opposite of what I gobble up and write myself. I expected to love the prose, but be slowed down by it. I expected that reading this book would be the equivalent of eating a chocolate cake all by yourself: it's fantastic, but you won't do it again for a long time.
But that wasn't the case. Only rarely was I slowed down, and putting this book down became a real difficulty the farther I read. And by time I finished the book, I didn't want it to be over. I wanted the second volume in my hands right that minute. That's how much I enjoyed this book.
It's a beautiful tapestry of stories. The book tells a tale within a tale within a tale. It's like those Russian nesting dolls. And while I expected each story to some how connect to one another, what I didn't expect is just how intricately that would happen.
The frame that links all of these tales together is quite simple and charming: a girl is banished to the palace garden due to the black mark that masks her eyes. In truth, she was cursed, and the blackness is actually tiny lines of a story. Only when she tells her stories out loud, with someone to listen, will the curse--such as it is--be lifted.
Her audience is a young prince who finds himself completely enchanted. He can't get enough of the tales, and is constantly sneaking out of the palace to hear the girl's stories through-out the night. This gets him into a helluva lot of trouble with his older sister, who conspires to keep him away from the demon-girl of the garden and in the palace where he belongs.
The stories themselves all interrelate. In some cases, it's a tale of a character meeting another character who must tell his or her story which may or may not involve the tale of yet another character. But the book's divided into two parts, and both parts, while complete stories in their own rights, relate to one another. It didn't take me too long to start wondering if the tales the girl told weren't just myths and fairy tales and legends, but rather the history of the land. We get an implication this is so, and I suspect that the people the girl in the garden speaks of are somehow related to her past, as well as the prince's.
And make no mistake, these are not quite your traditional fairy tales. Valente takes expectations and spins them in all sorts of colors, and often, the characters tell another, "This isn't that kind of story," in reference to how the other character thinks the story will go. And it's true. It's no wonder this book won the Tiptree award. The themes involved and explored held my constant attention, and I found it beautiful, though heart-breaking, how each "part" ended its overall tale. It's interesting to see the pattern of men ending up alone, while the women in their lives pursue a higher calling. I can't help but wonder if this is setting the tone for the overall frame story of the girl in the garden and the prince. I suspect it does, and that these stories will prepare him. No doubt, it'll be beautiful, but no doubt, it's going to break my heart.
And there were parts of tales I couldn't help but wonder will come back again. What happened to the Black Papess after she joined the Tower of Sigrid? What about Saint Sigrid herself? Will the Witch's daughter find the cave? What kind of ruler will Prince Leander grow into?
And I found the very last line ambiguously chilling. Talk about raising the tension. Is the sister under the spell of the stories, or is she heartbroken by her brother's stubborn foolishness, or both? I can't wait to find out.
There's so much goodness in this novel. The prose, the telling, the stories themselves, the themes. It's both intellectual and enjoyable, and the mostly short chapters make it an insanely difficult book to put down.
I hear so many fantasy writers complain about not liking anything in their genre. They haven't read Valente, and they need to. Oh, they need to. Valente is far from a fluff writer, and she gives fantasy both the seriousness and playfulness it deserves. I can't wait for the next book.
Next up: The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction by Justine Larbalestier
And as soon as I'm able, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling