I’ve changed my crossposting settings, so now comments are disabled at the crossposted entries at both Dreamwidth and Livejournal.
Mostly this is because I want my comments from crossposted entries to be in one place. And because I’m tired of rarely seeing comments at the website.
Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn. Please comment there.
“That’s how you get deathless, volchitsa. Walk the same tale over and over, until you wear a groove in the world, until even if you vanished, the tale would keep turning, keep playing, like a phonograph, and you’d have to get up again, even with a bullet through your eye, to play your part and say your lines.”
I make no secret of the fact that I am a huge fan of Cathrynne M Valente’s work. I will happily buy any of her work, subject matter aside, for the sheer beauty of her words and worlds.
As is so happens, I usually find myself entranced with her subject matter as well. Deathless is no exception. Based around the shape of a Russian fairytale, it tells the story of Marya Morevna and Koschei the Deathless. Valente uses myth and fairy tale to shape a story that is utterly her own, peopled by creatures that cannot exist and places that feel like they should.
I lost myself happily in Deathless, and when I finished the last page and looked up to see a world without Koschei and Marya, it was this world that felt unreal, the one that existed only between words.
If you’re a fan of Valente’s work, you likely already own this book. If you don’t, get it. I am gleeful to own the lovely hardcover edititon. The cover art is magnificent – probably the best that any Valente book has had so far.
If you’ve never read Valente, I urge you to do so. You won’t find much as vivid and beautiful as her work.
Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn. Please comment there.
