![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() When Tessera, the new queen of Raine, is crowned, and Nepenthe ends up with a book written in an alphabet of thorn, the narrative begins. She is an orphan, left on a cliff and brought up by the royal librarians who called her Nepenthe because they had gotten to the letter N. Images and thoughts are repeated in one or the other, but we are not told what exactly they mean there’s a kind of poetic tension in the breaks between chapters, like the break between stanzas.Īlthough we do have four points of view, we begin with Nepenthe, and she is the most obvious main character. At first the connection between these two narratives, the layers of story, is felt rather than said. There is also the book which Nepenthe translates, the Alphabet of Thorn itself, which tells another narrative, from another time and place. ![]() At that point I said, “This is one of McKillip’s strongest books, with a lot of palace intrigue and politics, fascinating characters, and a feeling of strangeness lurking just around the corner.” I do think it’s one of her stronger books, and one that holds up to re-reading, although its strengths surprised me.Īlphabet of Thorn has four point of view characters from the kingdom of Raine, each with their own chapters: Nepenthe, Bourne, Vevay, and Tessera. As far as I can tell, I first read Alphabet of Thorn in 2009. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |