BOOK REVIEW: DEATHLESS BY CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE

"Death stands behind every bride, every groom. Even as they say their vows, the flowers are rotting in her crown, his teeth are rotting in his head. Cancers they will not notice for thirty years grow slowly, already, in their stomachs. Her beauty browns at the edges as the ring slides up her finger. His strength saps, infinitesimally, as he kisses her."

I'm not exactly sure what I just read, but I definitely liked it.

Deathless is, in one word, peculiar. This is a strange, strange book. It reads like a fairy tale, and it certainly has all the magic and wonder of one. Its world is rich and expansive, largely thanks to the fact that it spans 20+ years of Marya Morevna's oh-so-tumultuous life. Its prose is ethereal in every sense of the word, constantly surprising me with every page, every line of exquisite description. Its story is sinuous and full of eerie surprises that were, quite literally, out of this world. Its character dynamics are dark and twisted, but always compelling and alluring. Its characters, particularly Marya and Koschei, fraying at the edges, broken and damaged as they are, consistently shine through the book with dazzling intensity. Deathless is a masterfully crafted, intricately woven story that is as whimsical as it is perturbing, as otherworldly as it is decidedly worldly.