Tag: t kingfisher

Book Review | Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher

Posted December 15, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 1 Comment

Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher

From New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes Hemlock & Silver, a dark reimagining of “Snow White” steeped in poison, intrigue, and treason of the most magical kind

Healer Anja regularly drinks poison.

Not to die, but to save—seeking cures for those everyone else has given up on.

But a summons from the King interrupts her quiet, herb-obsessed life. His daughter, Snow, is dying, and he hopes Anja’s unorthodox methods can save her.

Aided by a taciturn guard, a narcissistic cat, and a passion for the scientific method, Anja rushes to treat Snow, but nothing seems to work. That is, until she finds a secret world, hidden inside a magic mirror. This dark realm may hold the key to what is making Snow sick.

Or it might be the thing that kills them all.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
N/A

The Reason

I love T. Kingfisher’s stories and I was excited about this one as well.

The Quotes

“Learning just makes you aware of how much there is to learn.”

“There is a crazy-wild delight that comes over you when you discover something new, something extraordinary. If you try to share that and people look at you blankly, it’s crushing. But if there’s someone else there to say really?! and take fire with enthusiasm alongside you – well, that will keep you going for a long time.”

“I was a child with a child’s attention span. Many adults think this is no more than a butterfly’s, flittering from thought to thought, but they have forgotten how, in some children, it is as sharp and pointed as a stiletto. Mine was focused now.”

“I had succeeded in pushing off my fears until later. Now later had arrived, and I wasn’t somehow magically equipped to deal with it. Poor planning on my part, clearly.”

The Narrator(s)

Jennifer Pickens. It was mostly fine, but I really didn’t like the way she expressed the vocalizations of the main character. It detracted very much from the story for me.

My Thoughts

I absolutely love how original this retelling is! I love the way Kingfisher uses the classic elements; the apple, the mirror, the poisons, and so on, and created such an imaginative story out of it. I also loved the whole romance story between Anja and Javier; their chemistry jumped off the page very early in the story and I was rooting for them the whole time!

I love most of the characters; Javier for sure, Grayling so much, Lady Sorrell too, but I had a hard time liking Anja although I’m not sure if that’s because of her character in itself or if it’s because I really didn’t like the way the narrator portrayed her. I also didn’t really like Snow, I didn’t feel connected to her character at all.

There were some things I didn’t like about the story; like how they replaced the word “sex” with “uhh”, which felt so cringy to me, and I also felt like it was a cop-out to make Anja so knowledgeable in poisons but so ignorant with healing in general. It makes sense that she may not be an expert in other specialties of medicine, but it’s hard to believe she doesn’t have a general understanding of healing at all. Still, I mostly loved the story despite the minor issues. It’s not one of my top Kingfisher books but I loved it anyway.

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?

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Book Review | A Sorceress Comes To Call by T. Kingfisher

Posted December 10, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

A Sorceress Comes To Call by T. Kingfisher

A dark retelling of the Brothers Grimm’s Goose Girl, rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic

Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn’t allow Cordelia to have a single friend—unless you count Falada, her mother’s beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t sorcerers.

After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away on Falada’s sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.

Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother, how the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #20: A fairy tale retelling)

The Reason

I love fairy tale retellings and I’ve loved many of the author’s books!

The Quotes

“The problem with being rich is that you simply have no idea how expensive it is to be poor.”

“Hester was no hero, but there was nothing in her that would allow her to turn away from a person who had been dropped on her doorstep. Even if that person had brought Doom along with her.”

“I had a terrible feeling when I saw her. You know how people talk about love at first sight? This was like… fear at first sight.”

The Narrator(s)

Eliza Foss and Jennifer Pickens. They were great, I enjoyed the narration immensely!

My Thoughts

I’ve loved several of Kingfisher’s books and I love fairytale retellings in general. I wasn’t familiar with the original story this retelling was based on (Goose Girl) but the description of the book caught my interest. I believe the book first came to my attention back in May during Mother’s Day season, and there were a few books that featured mothers. The mother in question in this book is not a good person; she is an evil sorceress and the MC, her daughter Cordelia, is helpless against her.

I read this in between Dungeon Crawler Carl books, and since I was coming out of my DCC stupor, I expected to take some time to get into this book, but the moment I started reading it, I was completely sucked in and I couldn’t put it down. I was surprised by how hard this book hits and how intense everything was. I loved the characters, and I love how each of them stood out to me in their own ways; Hester, Penelope, Alice, Imogen. A book that vilifies the MC’s mother, but showcases the strength, resilience, and nurturing qualities of the many other female characters. There is so much I love about this book and it reinforces why Kingfisher is one of my favorite authors!

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?

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Book Review | Clocktaur War Series by T. Kingfisher

Posted August 6, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Clocktaur War Series : Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine

A paladin, an assassin, a forger, and a scholar ride out of town. It’s not the start of a joke, but rather an espionage mission with deadly serious stakes. T. Kingfisher’s new novel begins the tale of a murderous band of criminals (and a scholar), thrown together in an attempt to unravel the secret of the Clockwork Boys, mechanical soldiers from a neighboring kingdom that promise ruin to the Dowager’s city.

If they succeed, rewards and pardons await, but that requires a long journey through enemy territory, directly into the capital. It also requires them to refrain from killing each other along the way! At turns darkly comic and touching, Clockwork Boys puts together a broken group of people trying to make the most of the rest of their lives as they drive forward on their suicide mission.

Pull three people out of prison–a disgraced paladin, a convicted forger, and a heartless assassin. Give them weapons, carnivorous tattoos, and each other. Point them at the enemy.

What could possibly go wrong?

In the sequel to CLOCKWORK BOYS, Slate, Brenner, Caliban and Learned Edmund have arrived in Anuket City, the source of the mysterious Clockwork Boys. But the secrets they’re keeping could well destroy them, before the city even gets the chance…

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Audiobook Challenge

The Reason

I’m a fan of T. Kingfisher and I’m making my way through her books. I got these on audio s

The Narrator(s)

Khristine Hvam. I enjoyed her narration.

My Thoughts

It was just what I needed. I enjoyed the story; I love when we see different people who otherwise wouldn’t be friends come together for a specific reason, because the story is as much their relationship dynamics as well as what happens in the plot. Caliban and Slate reminds me a little of Joscelin and Phedre in Kushiel’s Dart, and the whole band reminds me of Bayaz’s band in Before We Are Hanged. I also really enjoyed the element of Slate’s allergies/powers, I thought that was hilarious and interesting.

My Feels

I have a lot of feels about a certain ship with Caliban and Slate. I love how it develops and how they are with each other. I wish I could see more of them and apparently there are more books set in the same world, but they feature different characters and I’m not sure if any of the characters from this series appear again. I may revisit in the future.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars. 4 stars for both these books and the series as a whole.

Have you read this series? Would you read this series? Did you like it or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

Posted January 26, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 7 Comments

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

Thornhedge is the tale of a kind-hearted, toad-shaped heroine, a gentle knight, and a mission gone completely sideways.

There’s a princess trapped in a tower. This isn’t her story.

Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?

But nothing with fairies is ever simple.

Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He’s heard there’s a curse here that needs breaking, but it’s a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold…

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #24: A cover without people on it)

The Reason

I am a huge fan of T. Kingfisher. So much so that I didn’t actually know what this book was about before going into it, only that I wanted to read it because it’s by T. Kingfisher. I guessed that it might have been Sleeping Beauty-related because of the title, but I didn’t know for sure until I started reading it.

The Quotes

“Learn what you can. Use what you learn. You have not failed yet.”

“Greenteeth did not slap one another—not out of any virtue, but because a slap was such a useless thing underwater. When greenteeth brawled, it was with teeth and strangling fingers, spines and claws.”

“It never occurred to her to doubt her welcome. Such was the gift of a child raised with love.”

“No. I have many mothers. If I am hideous, then we are hideous together. And that made it easier, because in her heart of hearts, she could not believe that her mothers were anything but beautiful.”

The Characters

Toadling – the main character. She is such an interesting character, even in a story as short as this, we learn so much about her. She was stolen by the fairies, lost her birthright and family of origin, and yet the family she found was loving and perhaps gave her a better life than she could’ve had. She is dutiful, a people pleaser, a little too harsh on herself, but she is also resourceful and steadfast.

Halim – the unremarkable knight. He’s not anything special. He is not handsome or renowned, he doesn’t have many conquests to his name. He’s not exceptionally brave or ambitious. I think his best quality is his curiosity and openness.

The princess – the sleeping beauty. The changeling. I think the quote below just about sums her up.

“The only curse is that she is a changeling. And she will be as cruel as she can, because that is the nature of changelings. Good spirits do not steal away babies to take their place. It is only the wicked that are sent to make mischief. And only the dutiful that are sent to try and stop them.”

My Thoughts

I’m a huge fan of fairy-tale retellings, and I’ve probably read a dozen retellings of the Sleeping Beauty story. I never get tired of them because there are always new perspectives, and even the “original” fairy-tales have so many different variations, and I love discovering them all. I love stories that flip the good guys and the bad guys because I’ve always believed that it depends on who’s telling the story, and we are always the good guys in our own stories. However, while this story is based off the Sleeping Beauty story, most of its charm comes from the “side stories”, the ones about Toadling growing up with the greenteeth, Toadling’s and Halim’s “meet-cute” and their conversations that help us get to know them, even the little snippets about how the world outside has changed, while the world inside the thornhedge makes its own little changes.

My Feels

I love how this story transports me to a different world. T. Kingfisher’s books has a way of doing that to me. It feels like a weird but pleasant dream, and I love that vibe for this book.

My Rating

4/5 stars. I loved it, but it’s not my favorite out of all her books (and she’s got so many amazing ones!).

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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