The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice by Catherynne M. Valente

[meganbmoore]

"It feels strange, to speak to you, when I am used to listening.  This is how it is in the stories I knew before you-a beautiful girl sits at the feet of a boy and treasures his every word.  But it does not seem right."

"This is still my story.  My last story.  It is not yours simply because it sits in your mouth awhile."

The second and concluding volume of The Orphan's Tales takes up where the second left off, with The Boy in the garden, listening to the stories written in The Girl's eyelids.  The prose is rich and lyrical, and the stories within stories  within stories are almost perfectly intertwined.  Though the setting of the framing story is distinctly arabic, there are also elements there that aren't, and the stories The Girl tells take elements from what seems to be every mythology ever.  Even moreso than in the first volume, the common tropes of fairy tales are turned on their heads.  The bright and cheery is made dark and ominous, the morality tale is reversed, the villains made sympathetic, and the most epic tale of the lot is not a tale of revenge or romantic love, but pure, unquestioning, unlimited friendship.  

Instead of delving into the worldbuilding and plot, I will simply say to read my hurried review of the first book here, or to read 

oyceter's much better review(which links to several others) here.

The duology is an amazing sendup to the art of oral storytelling, and of worldbuilding, and it is also a book that places allthe power firmly in the female's hand.  Not by rebuilding the world to have a female-centric government, or by making the male weak, but by giving The Girl the power of words and the control of the imagination.

I'm trying to completely avoid spoilers, as these books should be read without the slightest idea of spoilers, and I know how tempting cuts tags can be, no matter how strong you are, but there is one thing I want to cover, in as unspoilery a way aas possible.

 

What about Aerie?

Aerie is a crucial part to many of the stories.  She isthe one to save for the Prince and the Witch, she is the one who took the baby out of the underworld, she is the firebird's love, and she is, finally, the one who took The Girl home.  Yet, we never see her story.  She is always a side character.  She weaves in and out of all the stories, yet we only see her through the eyes of others.  Her story is never told.  She is, at different points in time, absolutely centric to the various stories, but we never know HER story...only the parts that relate to others.  I suspect that there's a deep, symbolic, empowering message to that, but also that I'm not quite smart enough to get it.

Also:  Only The Boy is never named, and is the one who gives up everything to go with The Girl.  Also meaningful, but a lot easier to pin down, once you consider that this is feminist fantasy and all about turning the tropes on their heads.