Illustrated Books!

I just love illustrated books, don’t you? There is just something about them that makes my heart so happy. And these two are so beautiful, and the stories are wonderful too. I really enjoyed both of them and would recommend them to anyone, even if you haven’t read the other books, but you would enjoy them more if you have read the series.

The Lives of Saints by Leigh Bardugo

Illustrated by Daniel J. Zollinger

Publication Date: October 6, 2020

This is book is wonderful to touch. The texture of the cover is amazing and I love the gold embossing on it as well. And then when you open it, oh my Gods! The illustrations are just gorgeous. There is one for each story, showing the saint that the story is about. I could have easily picked 5 or six to show you, but want you to discover them for yourself. The stories are also amazing. Very short, but great little stories about the saints from the Grishaverse. All of them are 2-5ish pages long. but you really get a lot in those few pages. It has been awhile since I read the books, so I couldn’t speak to whether or not these saint are mentioned in the series, but I loved reading about them. Some of them are similar to other saints like the one about Sankt Nikolai, a very Grishaverse version of St Nick, aka Santa Claus. Another favorite was Sankta Vasilka who is said to have become the first phoenix and is the patron saint of unwed women. All of the stories end with who they are the patron saint of, which was interesting. If you love the Grishaverse, then this is a must buy.

How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black

Illustrated by Rovina Cai

Another gorgeous book, from the cover to the end. Lots of amazing illustrations that compliment the stories so well. This was my favorite illustration. It really captures the point in the story where the two of them almost loath each other.

“Jude looked up at him, and in her eyes, he recognized a hate big enough and wide enough and deep enough to match his own. A hate you could drown in like a vat of wine.”

This is almost a story within a story. We get a little bit of a story of an adventure that Jude and Cardan after the events in the series have taken place. But we also get many short little stories of some things that happened to Cardan as a young boy and of things that happened a little bit before the series takes place. The whole thing is just woven together so well, that I absolutely loved it. This is a must for anyone who loves the series. If you haven’t yet read The Folk of the Air series, then you really should.