Bumpy Oak Books

**I was provided an electronic ARC by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

Actual rating: 3.5

Melissa Bashardoust brings Girl, Serpent, Thorn, a young adult fantasy inspired by Persian mythology and folklore. Readers follow Soraya, a princess cursed to have poisonous skin. When Soraya is no longer content to be hidden away and the demonic serpent king of legend may not actually be so legendary, a lot of problems tend to crop up.

I very much liked the Persian inspiration, and enjoyed seeing the incorporation and derivations of various stories within the culture. I also liked that pretty much every character was morally grey, consistently making bad choices for good reasons. While morally grey characters are typically my favorite kind, I didn’t find these characters to be particularly memorable or ones that I was attached to throughout the novel. The storytelling was fairytale-esque, and very easy to get through, with some LGBTQ rep as well. Despite all the great components, I was left pretty lukewarm on the whole experience.

I did enjoy the novel overall and found it to be a fun, easy read. I have Girls Made of Snow and Glass on my TBR, and feel encouraged to read it after this positive experience with Melissa Bashardoust.