Customer Reviews

The Thorn Boy & Other Dreams of Dark Desire

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An elaboration of a historical event mentioned in Crown of Silence, the second book of Storm Constantine's Magravandias trilogy, Thorn Boy is a tragic love story with elements that are rare -- chiefly its focus on kings and their boy lovers, lovers who are not only willing but devoted...these boys have not been emasculated but are whole beings with their own masculine will and passion, albeit tempered by fate. Storm's rich, seductive imagery is here in full force and there are wonderfully evocative passages of love and sex as well as grief and pain. An exquisite novel, splendid from beginning to end.

As for the additional Magravandias stories it's been bundled with, Storm offers up original, twisted, dark versions of fairy tales, my favorite being "The True Destiny of the Heir to Emiraldra," a male (gay) Cinderella story. Even though it used the familiar story, I was still surprised by the ending! "My Lady of the Hearth" is also interesting; in it a man wishes his cat were a woman and finds out you should be careful what you wish for. "The Face of Sekt," told from the point of view of a living goddess who realizes she's only been "going through the motions" and has to actually use her powers, is another typical Constantine mindbender. There are five other stories as well.

A bizarre imaginary world, whit the vagaries of love and sexual desire in the royal courts of two warring nations similar to China and Egypt. All the strange, tragic story of love full of misunderstandings and delusions is wieved through the eyes of the victor King's first concubine, torn between the fear than a wonderful achingly beautiful prisoner of war will displace him from his position and an unquehenchable love and lust for that same person. An encounter in a temple will seal enigmatically the fate of their relation. It's like an exquisite tale from Arabian nights.

I liked the major story in this edition ("The Thorn Boy") a lot. The plot and storytelling are fresh and entertaining, conveying the tragedy of the lost love and the everlasting hope for the new one. The only drawback is that the story is painfully short (about 66 pages of the total 231), and, thus, it just REQUIRES a sequel. By the way, Storm briefly mentioned that she might come back and write the one... I look forward to it very much! The very ending of "The Thorn Boy" simply cries for the sequel: one of the major characters, Darien, frustrated and bitter with the lost love, meets an unknown man he has had an overwhelming night with at the temple of the Goddess. Moreover, the very recollection of that night was the driving force behind Darien's previous love for another king's favorite, Akaten, of whose true character we learn very little (did he actually ever love Darien? did he ever love any of the kings? or is it just through Darien's loving eyes we are capable of seeing him as the martyr and a worthy person?). Spring after Winter. A Complete Cycle and Change of the Seasons.
Other decent and very entertaining stories in the book are "Spinning for Gold", "The Nothing Child" and "Living with the Angel" (all three stories are combined with the same storyline and related set of characters). These stories are adult versions of well-known fairy tales (mostly of Anglo-German origin, they remind me those of Brothers Grimm). However, though the idea behind writing such stories resembles Angela Carter's "The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories", the worlds and heroes Storm Constantine creates are original and truly hers, the stories being also very erotic and sweetly "perverse" rather than just simply ironic and witty.

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EDIT / October 2010: THERE IS A NEW EDITION OF THIS BOOK, see The Thorn Boy and Other Tales of Dark Desire. It features a much more pleasing-to-an-eye cover, and two extra stories / more content. And it's reasonably priced / in-print!

A collection of short stories which are mostly set in the imaginary lands of Cos and neighbouring Mewt. The first, The Thorn Boy takes place at a time when it is customary for kings to have, in addition to a wife and concubines, young boys for their pleasure. Darien is King Alofel's favourite boy; he even has a seat on the Kings Council. When the King Alofel's armies defeat the Mewts and kill their king, they take captive his devoted and distraught boy lover, the beautiful Akaten. King Alofel takes Akaten into his household and gives Darien the task of comforting and befriending him. All goes better than expected for Darien until Akaten seems set to displace him as the king's favourite, and Darien takes catastrophic action.
The next stories form a trilogy. First in Spinning for Gold a mill owner gives his son Jadrin to the King Ashalan in payment for gambling debts. The king demands that Jadrin weave straw into gold, which Jadrin achieves by striking a deal with a spirit. But then Ashalan eventually recognises the true gold in Jadrin, and seduces him. The two fall in love; but then the spirit who helped Jadrin turn the straw to gold demands his fateful payment. Can Jadrin find a way out of the agreement?
In the second story, The Nothing Child, Jadrin wants a son with his lover King Ashalan, and with the help of the angel Lailahel, prince of conception, he achieves this. He eventually and belatedly names the child Jadalan. Lailahel requires nothing in return for this miracle; but with clever deception, not all is as it seems, and the young Prince Jadalan is at risk.
The final tale of the trilogy, Living with an Angel, Jadalan now resides with Lailahel and Lailahel's own child Variel in the far and mystical realm. Jadalan and Variel grow up and play together, and they eventually fall in love. Lailahel recognises this and determines to remove Jadalan. However Lailahel's plan backfires on him, and both children end up, but separated, in the world of humans; can they now be reunited in the earthly realm?
The True Destiny of the Heir to Emiraldra is a twist on Cinderella, with the handsome eligible Prince choosing the beautiful disinherited and down-trodden grandson of Lord Thaldocred over all the female suitors.
In My Lady of the Hearth, a wealthy young man wants for nothing except a loving wife; all his attempts at finding love having failed. Yet he loves his loyal cat, Sinew, if only his cat were a woman he wishes. When his secret wish is granted, the resulting beautiful young woman is however still essentially feline, with inevitable consequences.
In Night's Damsel, a young solitary man who enjoys a close almost erotic relationship with his rare and dangerous exotic plants eventually takes for himself a bride. But his uninhibited new wife is not quite what she seems.
The Face of Sekt is the penultimate story. Sekt is the lion goddess, a woman chosen when a child to the role, but now seemingly bored and possibly impotent in her divinity. She is offered help by a travelling magician when she is summonsed by the king to cure the ailing prince. But is the magician all he seems, and are his intentions honourable?
The final story is entitled The Island of Desire. Marissa, a female adventurer solves the mystery of the beautiful twin princes who appear to be afflicted with constant sleep, yet give evidence of nocturnal activities.
These are imaginative and mysterious often gay themed stories, frequently with a hint of the sinister. The heroes of the first four stories, while appealing characters, each possess a subtle dark side, as do some of the characters in many of the other stories. It is giving nothing away to say that the Cinderella based story is a true `happy ever after' fairy tale. I found these stories, despite a few confusing typographic slips and errors, and some misused pronouns, pleasurable and interesting reading.

I disagree with the comment left by jtouchst with regard to the editing of this fantastic book. I am of the opinion that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the editing of this book. Additionally, my belief is that the author simply kept the book the same as the author had written it, using British punctuation and spellings.

I may not be a writer, but I am an avid reader and I consider this to be one of Constantine's better novels. I do not think Thorn boy is the only one worth reading- in fact some people may prefer "Spinning for Gold" (an interesting version of "Rumpelstiltskin") and the sequels "The Nothing Child" and "Living with the Angel".
Another reviewer left the description "Achingly beautiful". I could not agree more. You will love this book.

I had been searching for this book for a long time and I was thrilled when I saw that it had been reprinted. After reading it, I realized that I hadn't really missed much. The main story in the book, the Thorn Boy, is a decent story. The other short stories in this collection read like mediocre fanfiction. If you are expecting work on the level of Wreathu or any of SC's more recent work and are at all a discriminating reader, you wiil be dissappointed. The worst thing about this collection is that editing is almost non -existant. I ran across so many typos and mispellings that I could not believe this was a professionally published book.

This is definately a work to borrow from a friend or find in a library or used bookstore. At least it shows how much SC has grown as writer.