Tender Morsels

Like all good fairy tales, Tender Morsels contains good and evil, light and dark. Liga is a young woman with two daughters: one born through incest and the other through rape. Fair Branza and dark Urdda are reminiscent of the traditional Snow White and Rose Red. One sister demonstrating innocence and the other with a darker, more fiery nature.

Liga discovers that her universe is porous with characters seeping through from their world to hers. A dwarf or littlee man, in Lanagan's words, comes searching for treasure. He is followed by a kind, treasure-hunting youth who transforms into a bear when he passes through into Liga's world. When he is followed by a less than kind man-bear, Urdda, devoid of the excitement she craves, realises she can pass through into the other world.

This is not a fast-paced novel and neither should it be. You need time to take in what is happening to Liga and suffer with her. Then you need to enjoy the exploration of her new heaven; her secure paradise, but secure for how long? The strong suggestions of beastiality and sodomy and descriptions of rape and incest will make this difficult reading for some however it is in keeping with the themes of the novel. The beauty surrounding Liga and her daughters is not to be missed.

Not your typical Young Adult novel so I recommend this for older teens or adults.