This isn’t the kind of fairytale where the princess marries a prince. It’s the one where she kills him.
As the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter, she escaped the traditional fate of princesses, to be married away for the sake of an uncaring throne. But her sister wasn’t so fortunate—and after years of silence, Marra finally realized that no one is coming to their rescue. No one, except for Marra herself.
Seeking help from a powerful grave witch, Marra is offered the tools to kill a prince—if she can complete three impossible tasks: build a dog of bones, sew a cloak of nettles, and capture moonlight in a jar. But, as is the way in tales of princes, witches, and daughters, the impossible is only the beginning.
On her quest, Marra is joined by the grave witch, a reluctant fairy godmother, a strapping former knight, and a chicken possessed by a demon. Together, the five of them intend to be the hand that closes around the prince’s throat and frees Marra’s family and their kingdom from its tyrannous ruler at last.
‘Nettle & Bone’ by T. Kingfisher is a good fit for those seeking a story that subverts traditional fairytale tropes, featuring a shy and unlikely heroine who embarks on a dark, adventurous, and often funny journey to save her sister and challenge an abusive prince. The author takes the bones of fantasy and fairytale and makes them into something entirely new with what I have learned is a signature mix of the grim and the delightful.
There are so many elements here that make me feel like the book was written for me specifically, including this being a quest fantasy with a found family element, and also being fairytale-esque. It plays with fairytales in a way where we have the comfort and cosiness of the story with a dark thread running through it. I think that tonal dissonance might be offputting for some readers, but I think the darkness is well-woven with the cosiness, and I greatly enjoyed reading it. It’s one of my favourite ways to see fairytales explored. It’s also not a retelling in any way that I can tell, just heavy on the fairytale vibes.
The writing is what really made this book. It’s not a long book, somewhere in the mid-200 pages. It’s definitely short and contained. The imagery and the setting were immaculately described, and the tone in places was almost blunt and very to the point which was quite refreshing. This is my first T. Kingfisher read, and I am already deeply in love with her fantasy work and how unique the worlds are. It was also just nice to read about characters in their thirties (and older) going on adventures, even if that adventure is a quest for revenge. I think this book is marketed as ‘horror fantasy’ on Goodreads, and I can see why based off some of the more disturbing elements, but it’s not particularly scary or gruesome, just a little creepy in places.
The reason for me not rating this a full five stars (I rated it 4.5 stars on StoryGraph) is that the plot does go what I can only describe as a little astray in the middle. I think we lose the thread and the urgency of the plot and it ambles in a way which is quite common for quest fantasies. I usually love the stops that we take along the way, but you can easily stray to far from the main plot.
This is also the rare case where I will say that I would have loved if this had a stronger romantic element, but I’m desperately trying to review books for what they are rather than what they are not. We are also living through a surge of ‘romantasy’ and spicy fantasy, so I feel like it’s important for those readers to know what is involved before they start reading. The romance elements are more of an implication that the two characters are interested in each other and it played into how the book ended, and the ending is surprisingly heartwarming and uplifting. This book is ideal for anyone who enjoys fantasy with little to no romance – which I almost always do – but I think this one would’ve been better with either absolutely no romance or stronger romance. I was left wanting a little more of that element, but overall that’s not what this story is.
This is my first T. Kingfisher read. I fell in love with it from the first page, and it’s my favourite read of the year so far. I will definitely be reading more from this author in the future.
TandeWrites 