Girl, Serpent, Thorn is a lush, richly constructed fantasy full of magic, monsters and a princess learning to save herself.

Soraya is a girl cursed with poison in her veins - cursed to kill anyone who touches her skin. Having grown up afraid and lonely, she finally sets out to discover how to break her curse, and ends up finding there is far more to her story than she could have ever anticipated...

The world building in this book is incredible. I felt transported - all the settings vividly crafted, but without an overload of information.

The characters are all far more complex than they first seem, and I really loved seeing Soraya's growth throughout the book. I also adored that every character is a shade of grey - there is no clear "good" or "bad" character, which makes them all so much more interesting and the plot so much more unpredictable!

I really enjoyed this story, and would love to read more in this world!

I have posted this review to Goodreads and will submit to Amazon after release.

🖤 She had read enough stories to know that the princess and the monster were never the same. She had been alone long enough to know which one she was 🖤

This sumptuous fairytale was inspired by Persian folklore and you can sense the vast myth and legend that must have been drawn on to create this rich and luscious world. I was quickly drawn into the mythical kingdom of Atashar.

The lead, Soraya, a cursed princess who fears herself more than any monster she could ever dream of was an interesting and complex character. Some of the choices she made were darker than I would have expected and I very much enjoyed that! This story took me so many places I never expected it to go and it honestly had me guessing until the very end.

Considering this world was built in just one book, I felt like I could really see and feel it and this was thanks to the beautiful, intricate and descriptive language through the story. I would love to read another instalment of this.

3.75 stars


A great dark fairy tale,that has a lot to say about family,loyalty,trust and belonging.
The curse of having poison in your veins and unable to touch without killing,gets completely turned on its head in this book.
It's got a good strong central lead,and twists I didn't see coming a mile off.
It was exotic and exciting.
It also had way too many names beginning with S in. A minor grievance,but there were times it was too much all together.
I wasn't completely sold on the romantic side of things either.
But,mostly,this was a story full of wonders