Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Nettle & Bone

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Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

78 reviews

jbird_reads's review

dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The world building is very good. Fantasy books are tough because you need the reader to know all the facts and setting and rules to the world, but info dumping doesn't read well. In this book the author weaves it into the story. It's also funny, the main character's internal monologue sounds a little like a modern person talking or joking and it's a funny juxtaposition to the medieval setting. Cozy and funny while also being dark. There's definitely more parts to the story and the setting that I wanted to know more about, like the blistered land and the goblin market.

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tallnecked_pancakeface's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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readingelli's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced

4.5

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audreyxine's review

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This story was so dark and twisted without entering the territory of horror. There was suspense and grief but the atmosphere was addictively optimistic. The world is kooky and the cast is kookier, but somehow it all comes together.

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oliverreeds's review

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adventurous dark funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

Very good; fantastic found family but the family is kind of shitty. i really loved this

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tigger89's review

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I thoroughly enjoyed this take on dark fairy tales. The opening scenes — set in a famine-ravaged land inhabited by cannibals — set the tone, and the rest of the novel delivers, even as the focus shifts from blatant to more subtle horrors. I found the plot to be very feminist(not that I'd expected any less from T. Kingfisher), with a varied, predominantly-female cast of characters who were all capable and strong in their own ways. The one man who joined their party, Fenris, carries a supporting role equivalent to that of of the others. In addition, Marra read as autistic-coded to me, particularly how she struggled to pick up on subtext and the particular ways she focused on things. I liked that she was allowed to experience romantic/sexual desire(a very minor element, but present), as many autistic-coded characters aren't allowed to have or explore those feelings, which is of course completely inaccurate.

My favorite aspects of the novel were getting to know the characters who worked together on the rescue mission, as well as the clever way they went about it and the various places they traveled through. Some readers might find the way the narrative jumps back and forth from the present to the past in the first half of the novel to be difficult, though I didn't have trouble following it. Really, the only part I didn't like was how the opening pages got me invested in the blistered land, which winds up being utterly inconsequential to the story. I got all hyped for a story about completing impossible tasks in a land filled with people driven mad as a result of cannibalism(yes, in that order), but that's not what the story wound up being about. There is a touch of romance, but it's very much in the background and shouldn't be much of a bother even if you don't like romantic plots.

Does the dog and/or chick(en) die?

The dog is already dead when the story begins(and the circumstances of the dog's death are briefly touched upon, though not explicitly), is brought back to life through magic, and then dies again in combat at the climax of the story. At the end, however, it's restored to life. The chicken does not die, nor does the baby chick, though the chick is briefly placed under a curse that threatens its death.

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regardsrachel's review

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adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed the tightness of the story that T Kingfisher told. I thought the story itself was very well structured for how short it was. The ending did not feel rushed the plot points, hit where they were supposed to hit even though part of it was a journeying story the journeying is where you get to see the character relationships grow and become complex.

The cast of characters was so good. Each one brought something different to the group however they were not pigeonholed by that contribution. Each character was a fully flushed-out character which is amazing what Kingfisher could do in such a short book. As well as see what other aspects of their lives are coming into play in their decisions made in the current context. The sister relationship was realistic! Marra and Kania did not get along when they were kids and the relationship they have for each other is not based on this deep friendship but more like you’re my sister and I watch out for you even though you’re a bitch. The relationships between Mara and these two older women show a different style of mentoring. The dust wife and Agnes are never said to be a guide for Mara and they don’t treat her with any deference but they are still guiding her and teaching her lessons about how to operate in the world outside of the confines of the religious order. I liked the fact that Mara is a 35-year-old instead of a teenager coming to adulthood. It’s not a coming of age but more of an “I am in this really awful situation but I’m trying to make it better” story where the character grows in the process.

I also liked how the settings were still given layers but they were not the main focus of the book. Kingfisher balanced the setting as part of the story and allowed characters to guide the story. Same with the magic. I thought the magic was explained well in the book. It demonstrates that you don’t have to create a whole formula or rules for the magic in order to create stakes connected to using the magic. It’s very much an energy and energy out equation in the story. I also found it interesting that Mara is not seen as having magic even though she’s built a bone dog twice in the story. I also appreciated the back-and-forth regarding Agnes as to whether or not she’s good or evil. Just because Agnes’ magic is cursing magic doesn’t mean it’s evil. She is not what people expect her to be as someone mastered in cursing. Nettle and Bone really show where hexing/cursing is a complex aspect of magic and it cannot be boxed into identifiers of good and evil.

Marra was kind of getting to me as a person with anxiety and I wasn’t expecting that. I became anxious as I was reading, not great when reading is my primary coping mechanism for my anxiety. What made reading Nettle and Bone hard was the main character’s anxiety became my anxiety. Further, there were points in the story that seemed a little repetitive. It was like the same sentence a couple of times in the story that was noticeable. It took me out of the story but not necessarily affected my enjoyment of the story itself. I think diversifying some of the language would have made it a five-star but this was a great entry into Kingfisher’s work; she has so many other books to go through and read. So it’ll be interesting to see if I enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed Nettle and Bone and I do think a good part of the reason why I enjoyed Nettle and Bone is that the features of the story just speak to me as a woman in her 30s and mainly read fantasy for most of my reading life. I am concerned that other books by T Kingfisher might not grab me as this one did because it’s not going to have the same features. I’ll see how the next book goes. I gave it four stars for the aforementioned reasons.

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saramarinho's review

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adventurous dark funny mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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eviethebookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

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thoseoldcrows23's review

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Nettle and Bone is a lovely cross between sinister darkness and wry humor. I found myself falling immediately for this strange little cast of characters and caring deeply about their safety. The plot, though simple, was engaging and propulsive, and the world was full of enough magic to intrigue and enough shadows to frighten. I enjoyed this book quite a bit, and look forward to reading more from Kingfisher this year.

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