Toadling was an absolutely lovable heroine, a bit quite human not quite faerie cursed (but not literally) to never quite achieve what she sets out to.

Thornhedge (T. Kingfisher) – Book Review – Set The Tape Thornhedge (T. Kingfisher) – Book Review – Set The Tape

It is a story about finding a place to belong for yourself and how it is up to you to recognize where that space is.A few years ago I started reading adult fairy tales like "Uprooted" and "Spinning Silver" both by Naomi Novik, and fell into a black hole of where I couldn't find books that had a similar feel. I can't say there's anything fresh about Halim, he's pretty much like many other questers I've seen save for perhaps his ethnicity, but Toadling is an original and creative take on the fairy godmother I've not seen anywhere, but she can't carry the plot alone. And I was absolutely not expecting the Sleeping Beauty to be a bloodthirsty and crazed little changeling!

Thornhedge | T. Kingfisher | 9781250244093 | NetGalley Thornhedge | T. Kingfisher | 9781250244093 | NetGalley

Now the tower is surrounded by a thick hedge of thorns and Toadlet must guard it to protect the world from what sleeps inside. Immensely charming, unexpected, full of heart, I was utterly delighted by this incredibly original retelling of Sleeping Beauty. He decides this is a great opportunity for him, absconds with her virginity, and leaves the unconscious Talia pregnant with twins. a knife that my mother’s imam said duas over and also I had it blessed by the Benedictine monk who ran the library, so between the two of them, it ought to be quite holy by now.Now, centuries later, a knight finds the wall of sinister brambles along with the crumbling tower it conceals.

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher | Goodreads

Kingfisher’s latest novella, Thornhedge , a delicate, sharp-edged story of a princess in a tower that’s actually a meditation on duty, loss, and grief. Men and women came streaming from the east, and then back from the west, on horses and on foot, in wagons and caravans. Kingfisher ( What Moves the Dead) continues her hot streak with this equally haunting, heartfelt, and darkly humorous horror riff on “Sleeping Beauty. She had an utter love for the 'monsters' that raised her and her view of beauty was entirely based on what she saw in her mothers and sisters, though she was also aware of human standards of beauty as well. The true beauty of this book is how Kingfisher has created such an endearing, captivating and wonderful tale with unique characters in 120 pages.

T. Kingfisher is the adult fiction pseudonym of Ursula Vernon, the multi-award-winning author of Digger and Dragonbreath.