A review by tristanhunter
Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

3.0

Girl, Serpent, Thorn added a unique twist to the world of fantasy. While I found many of the aspects unsurprising (Azad being a fraud for example) the fresh take on interspecies and non-heterosexual love was heartwarming and empowering. Additionally, the tale of embracing your own 'weaknesses' or 'poisons' was a surprising way to end the novel. Instead of using the feather to remove her curse, Soyora chose to keep her thorns, and embrace who she was meant to be.

I liked that although she may have been born human, she spent so much of her life hating her poison and her div attributes, that once she realized what was missing she chose to embrace both. Food for thought: if taking back in the poison was a choice instead of necessity would she have done so again? Do the div actually respect her or are they just biding their time? Coming from someone who does have some family resentment, how is she going to work through the lies and build-up from her mother and brother?