The Orphan's Tales Vol. I in the Night Garden: 1 [Deckle Edge] [Paperback]

"Now this child had a strange and wonderful birthmark, in that her eyelids and the flesh around her eyes was stained a deep indigo-black, like china pots filled with ink."

Catherynne M Valente's latest novel begins in the vast garden of a Sultan's palace and with a girl who has been banished from the palace into the garden because of a peculiar marking: her eyelids and the skin around her eyes are stained black. When a plucky boy approaches her, she tells him that the markings are stories written in tiny handwriting; and at his request she begins to tell him the first story, from the crease of her left eyelid. These stories are the focus of the book, although there is an important subplot of the boy getting in trouble for his growing association with the girl.

The stories she tells have a fairytale, mythical quality about them; there are stories within stories within stories, weaving in and out of each other; and it is all told in Valente's flowing, beautiful prose. She takes some basic archetypes - the prince, the maiden and the witch, for instance - and turns them on their head in an oft-peculiar way, sometimes subtly and sometimes not, with ideas drawn from a wide spread of cultures and a fair few from the imagination-rich world inside her own head.

This is a dazzling, original, interesting book, and I recommend it to everyone who wants a taste of something fresh and fantastic.

A young girl spends her days alone in a garden. She is outcast and ostracized from the people around her, because of strange black markings on her eyelids and around her eyes, believing her to be a demon-child. One day, a young prince wanders into her garden and befriends her; in return, she tells him the stories she has read from the inside of her eyelids.

Although I have never read The Arabian Nights, I hear The Orphan's Tales duology is of a similar structure; each volume is comprised of two main stories, each of which consists of a net of connecting stories. I had never read a book with this stories-within-stories structure -- at first I was left a little confused as to who was telling the story and whether each story connected to each other, but a couple of pages in and I came to love this structure. This book is full of amazing depth because of it; almost every character the reader is introduced to has their own story to tell and so you come to know each character on a personal level, which is rare among fantasy fiction. It is often the case for me that even in the best books, there are characters that bore me to death and I would happily skip through parts that focus on them; In The Night Garden is very different. I cared about most of these characters, I actually felt a sense of loss when some stories ended because I felt I needed to read more, I needed to know more about this well-written character.

It is a testament to Catherynne M. Valente's utterly amazing writing ability that there are almost no two-dimensional characters, they hardly ever fall into tropes of typical fantasy and almost all of them has an interesting characteristic or feature that conflicts with what you'd expect. Not only are these characters interesting and well-written, they are downright weird. From a surly barman who was formerly a white bear, to the sea captain with a fox's head only seen in water, to the dog-headed monks that refrain from eating meat... it's all weird. Shapeshifting princesses, a race that can live forever by inhabiting other bodies, young girls with three breasts; you name it and it's likely there. I am a newcomer to the new weird genre and I was never overwhelmed. The strangeness of the stories or the characters never fazes you, you are only left more and more interested.

Even more fantastic than the characterisation and plots... Valente's writing. Each line is like poetry. The novel is rich in vivid and wonderful descriptions, but never ever purple, never pointless and always adding something to each story. I am a quick reader but I spent a particularly long time on this book, just to appreciate every well-placed and beautiful phrase. It's a joy to read lines which may add nothing more than descriptions to the wonderful settings. I can easily say that Valente is my new favourite writer even if judged only on technique and her use of language, let alone what's actually involved in the novels, because her grasp of language is unmatched by any writers who belong to the new weird/fantasy/fairy tale genres.

Another point that must be mentioned... In The Night Garden involves a lot of female characters. Again, they never fall into stereotypes... as explained, even the most beautiful and kind characters has something you'd never expect, something that most writers would never dare to write, like the princess trapped into a tower hideously deformed by a wizard's experiments. And yet, they seem like real women. They are simply women who do their own things. Valente is one of the few writers I've seen who isn't afraid to twist stereotypes and break traditions. It's very refreshing.

It's dark, it's weird, it's imaginative, it's fantastic. If you like fantasy at all, read this book. If you like well-written weird stories, read this book. If you're dying for well-written female characters, read this book. If you like fairy tales, read this book. It's, quite simply, that good. This book is a hidden gem and Catherynne M. Valente is an underrated, talented addtion to the fantasy genre.

Buy it, read it, love it.

this author is almost unbearably good. the depth of her imagination leaves me spinning. though i loved this book, i didn't find it a real page turner, as the story-within-a-story-within-a-story structure doesn't allow you to really get attached to any particular character.