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Alphabet of Thorn

By Evan 20 years ago2 Comments
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Alphabet of Thorn

Cover Art by Kinuko Y. Craft

One of the most spectacular fantasists of our time, Patricia A. McKillip creates fairy tale worlds of wonder and magic. Now, she opens the page on a time and place where an orphan girl is haunted by thorns…a reluctant queen rules between sea and sky…and epics never end…

Deep inside a palace on the edge of the world, the orphan Nepenthe pores over books in the royal library, translating their languages and learning their secrets. Now sixteen, she knows little of the outside world – except for the documents tha traders and travelers bring her to interpret.

Then, during the coronation of the new Queen of Raine, a young mage gives Nepenthe a book that has defied translation. Written in a language of thorns, it speaks to Nepenthe’s soul – and becomes her secret obsession. And, as the words escape the brambles and reveal themselves, Nepenthe finds her destiny entwined with that of the young queen’s. Sooner than she thinks, she will have to choose between the life she led and the life she was born to lead…

 

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2 Comments

  • Brent Jablonski says:

    I fell for the ‘trick’ in this novel hook, line and sinker.
    Beyond that, I was hooked by the characters well beforehand.

    This novel was a rediscover of your works for me. I’d found ‘Harpist in the WInd’ shortly after it was published in paperback – I worked my way back to ‘Riddle Master of Hed’ and started things off properly.
    After reading ‘Alphabet of Thorn’ years later, I read my way through your other novels.
    All I can tell you is that your works hold a simple magic for me that I find very rarely.

    I use the word ‘simple’ not in a deragatory fashion, but rather to reflect a total and unreasoning belief in the story presented. Whether you want to characterize that as a child’s belief in Santa Claus, or a child’s faith in God – it comes to the same thing. Whatever it is you are doing, I am a sucker for it!

    Thank you for bringing beauty into my world. I look forward to more.
    -Brent Jablonski

  • Brent Jablonski says:

    I fell for the ‘trick’ in this novel hook, line and sinker.
    Beyond that, I was hooked by the characters well beforehand.

    This novel was a rediscover of your works for me. I’d found ‘Harpist in the WInd’ shortly after it was published in paperback – I worked my way back to ‘Riddle Master of Hed’ and started things off properly.
    After reading ‘Alphabet of Thorn’ years later, I read my way through your other novels.
    All I can tell you is that your works hold a simple magic for me that I find very rarely.

    I use the word ‘simple’ not in a deragatory fashion, but rather to reflect a total and unreasoning belief in the story presented. Whether you want to characterize that as a child’s belief in Santa Claus, or a child’s faith in God – it comes to the same thing. Whatever it is you are doing, I am a sucker for it!

    Thank you for bringing beauty into my world. I look forward to more.
    -Brent Jablonski

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