Soooooo good. I’ve recommended short stories by Lanagan to you before (here or here), and I believe this is her first novel. I will be eternally in Marrije‘s debt for introducing me to such a great author.
This is earthy, dark, bitter, spiky, sexy and tactile. It’s also sweet and loving and tender at times. The bad is often quite brutal, often in metaphor, and the good is quite poignant.
I was a little surprised it was classed as YA. Certainly the fairy tales of our/my youth flirted with just as much danger. But I don’t remember them being as powerful. Perhaps if I re-read them today, I would find myself gripping the book like an anchor and crying through chapters as I did here. But I doubt it.
So Good!!!