#the language of thorns

[a-ramblinrose]

JOMP Book Photo Challenge || December 9 || Favorite Page Design:  The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

[jazzkrebber]

that lap around the house when a plot twist is that good but you have no one to talk to about it

[aleksanderscult]

The post today is Aleksander Morozova and his efforts to provide advice to others:

Aleksander seems to be the "reality check" of these novels. When the protagonists have dreams and wishes, Aleksander comes in and reminds them the reality of things.

When Ulla had hopes that this unique fire will make her people accept and love her, her brother remarked how her own uniqueness will never make the sildroher acknowledge her as one of their own. Aleksander himself knew that from personal experience. She was a rarity. A freak.

When Alina wished to be with Mal, Aleksander reminded her of the situation: Mal is a mortal and Alina a near-immortal Grisha whose dreams of an ordinary life are as good as impossible.

Her potential marriage with Nikolai would start promisingly but age and superstitions would come to create another upheaval and love towards Alina would be turned into fear and hate.

[ethereal-maia]

“I want to go home.” “So go.”

Moodboard for Magda’s cottage in The Witch of Duva by Leigh Bardugo

[keencroissantgardenflap]

MOROZOVAS SIBLINGS

You're in the wind I'm in the water

Nobody's son Nobody's daughter

[ofliterarynature]

One last read for June! The Language of Thorns survived a tie on my first tbr poll on the fact that I love fairy tales and wouldn’t have forgiven myself if I got rid of my copy without reading it. Very glad I did, but I’m not any less conflicted about whether or not I should keep it 🙃

[athenashaw]

Something I think we need more of are "human endings" in media.

Because sometimes the "will they/won't they" couple... Don't.

Sometimes stuff just doesn't work out.

Sometimes it may seem perfect on paper but shit just gets in the way.

Because sometimes you just don't get resolution or closure.

Sometimes "And they all lived" is a much more meaningful way to end than "And they all lived happily ever after". Because we know living happily ever after isn't actually achievable. Happy forever? Not humanly possible. So there's a sense of dissatisfaction. The resolution is not palatable. To allow characters to have story lines that just trail of unresolved or get forgotten, or who meet "The One" but it doesn't wor etc. is much more understandable. It's what happens. It's what we know. So the characters are allowed in our minds - if not eternal happiness - Life.

I'm not saying completely obliterate all of the tropes previously mentioned. Nor am I saying human endings aren't already in some media. And of course I'm not saying that media should be bland. Bring on the bizarre, the absurd, the wonderfully wacky! I'm just saying we need more of these impactful, personal, human endings.

[darkolai-playlist]

Reading The Language of Thorns always makes me wonder about what how a world were Ulla and Aleksander had grown together would be like.

Beautiful, clever, prideful, loyal to the point of coming undone and resentful much more after. Same height, same black hair, sharp edges and dark eyes. Same sly smiles and alluring voices.

If you look back at their stories (The Demon In The Wood and When Water Sang Fire), you'll be able to notice how their biggest issue was how deeply lonely they were. Discriminated for being different, looking strange, being too powerful or being especial. Ulla and Aleksander never had a friend before Signy and Annika. They were used to being isolated, hearing whispers and gossip. They became cold and serious to drive away the longing they felt. Maybe if they were together, if they had another soul mirroring their sorrows and their desire... But could it be truly different?

I think it's interesting to notice how both Ulla and Aleksander were betrayed by their first friends, how it happened because them both let their guards down in order to save their friends lives (or protect something dear to them). I don't blame Signy and Annika. It's just like Baghra said, they were desperate children trying to survive a cruel world. With Aleksander's bones as an amplifier, Annika could have helped his family and find a steady place for them. By helping Rolfe to betray Ulla, Signy won a position no one could deny her, made a family of her own, became a queen.

The only difference in the end was that Baghra had trained her son to survive despite his heart and Ulla remember Aleksander's warning too little too late.

I don't know if Aleksander and Ulla would be satisfied with each other as their only company. Baghra was not kind, nor gentle. She abandoned most of her children, turned Aleksander into a living weapon meant to never be stopped by his own heart. Their lives wouldn't have been easier or prettier. Aleksander would have still sought war and he would have been dragged to all that mess.

Yet, maybe their loyalty would be to each other and not other desperate girls, looking to survive. Maybe it'd be worst, the Fold would be bigger, because their magic together would be terrible and beautiful. Maybe it'd be better, because its their extreme loneliness what took them too far.

All I know is that Aleksander cared for her. He was there when she was born. He went every summer to Sondermane to wait and see if she'd appear. He answered the questions she had, even answered the ones she couldn't ask. He warned her about princes, about how power could not buy love, he never pressured her, always spoke clear and true. He must have heard about her feat, her power, but he didn't seek her out after that. Even in the end, he didn't forced her, involved her in his plans.

Ulla found in herself the strength to survive what Rolfe and Signy did to her, but it was Aleksander's words what sparked that instinct:

We are not made to please princes.

Aleksander wanted someone as immortal as him by his side and Ulla wanted company, protection. Could have that work? I don't know, but that does not keep me from thinking about it.

[lilisouless]

So...Baghra fuck3d a fish

[themelodyofspring]

JOMP Book Photo Challenge

March 24, 2023 - By The Forest

[stheresya]

I get a little sad reading wwsf and seeing Ulla being all wary around Aleksander when they meet because i'm like nooo sweetie that's your big brother who was there when you were born and who kept coming back to Fjerda every summer in hopes of seeing you again because you're his sister and also one of the few people in the world who's somewhat like him and he wants is to connect with you and be a family😔 like i know his ominous manners are off-putting but it probably stung him a little to see Ulla being so mistrustful of him :(

[aleksanderscult]

Aleksander Morozova and his magnetic presence, bitches🛐

[ethereal-maia]

I split language of thorns up because I’m curious to see if there’s some sort of bias in the stories <33

EDIT: kicking myself so hard rn i fucking forgot The Too-Clever Fox omfg if it’s a horrible problem I’ll make a new poll

[keencroissantgardenflap]

DARKOLAI! when Darkling finally brings Nikolai to meet his mermaid younger sister:

Ulla: So what happened to the "we're not made to please princes"?

Aleksander: This is different.

----------------------------------------------------------

A.k.a: Your big brother who had said "fuck the royalty" since you were young, then you two grow up and now he literally fucks a royalty.

[ofliterarynature]

physical tbr of doom • read June 2024

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton DNF

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

Still thinking about whether or not to keep Chalion and Thorns, but Watchmaker was a bit disappointing.