The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher
Young Rhea is a miller’s daughter of low birth, so she is understandably surprised when a mysterious nobleman, Lord Crevan, shows up on her doorstep and proposes marriage. Since commoners don’t turn down lords—no matter how sinister they may seem—Rhea is forced to agree to the engagement.
Lord Crevan demands that Rhea visit his remote manor before their wedding. Upon arrival, she discovers that not only was her betrothed married six times before, but his previous wives are all imprisoned in his enchanted castle. Determined not to share their same fate, Rhea asserts her desire for freedom. In answer, Lord Crevan gives Rhea a series of magical tasks to complete, with the threat “Come back before dawn, or else I’ll marry you.”
With time running out and each task more dangerous and bizarre than the last, Rhea must use her resourcefulness, compassion, and bravery to rally the other wives and defeat the sorcerer before he binds her to him forever.
For the Reading Challenge(s):
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #50: Set in a castle)
The Reason
I love T. Kingfisher and I’m desperately trying to catch up with reading all the books she’s writing!
The Quotes
“Marriage was like death. You knew it’d happen eventually, but it wasn’t something you dwelt on.”
“The problem with crying in the woods, by the side of a white road that leads somewhere terrible, is that the reason for crying isn’t inside your head. You have a perfectly legitimate and pressing reason for crying, and it will still be there in five minutes, except that your throat will be raw and your eyes will itch and absolutely nothing else will have changed.”
“It wasn’t that she particularly wanted to be fattened up and eaten, or turned into a donkey, or forced to wear hair shirts and ashes like the children of wicked parents in fairy tales. But if your parents were wicked, you needn’t worry about pleasing them. When they were doing the best they could, you had no traction at all.”
“But he’s mad, completely mad, and he turns his wives into golems. He needs killing, not negotiation.”
The Narrator(s)
Kaylin Heath. I loved it!
My Thoughts
I love fairytale retellings and for some reason, I’m particularly fascinated with the story of Bluebeard. It’s not my favorite fairytale, mind, just one that fascinates me because of how gruesome it is. I love that this retelling leans into the gruesomeness, and I love that it also not-so-subtly calls out the predatory practices that some modern men still engage in. One of the things I notice and love about Kingfisher’s works is that a lot of the “happy-ever-afters” in her stories don’t require some kind of romance, or men saving helpless damsels in distress; it’s often women saving themselves, or women saving each other, and I think that’s the best kind of fairytale retellings for a new generation of young people to grow up with. I wish I had grown up with this, but you know it’s never too late to be your own knight in shining armor, so I’ll take what I can from it!
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
