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wrensreadingroom's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Infidelity, Misogyny, Infertility, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, Sexual content, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Vomit
vasha's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This is a T. Kingfisher fantasy novel, and if you have read a few of her others, you will know what to expect and not be wrong. It's funny, creepy, and thought-provoking by turns; it has powerful, eccentric old women, it has animal companions, it has a very, very well-behaved knight, it has a quest through a world where something inventively horrible is likely to turn up at any moment, and it has a naïve, earnest main character who fumbles through doing something impossible because things simply aren't fair and must be rectified. Sometimes I complain because T. Kingfisher's books are so much alike (apart from "The Twisted Ones" and "The Hollow Places" which are contemporary horror and my least favorite, go figure!) But firstly, what she does is unique and excellent so why object if she keeps doing it; and secondly, each of her books has a subtly different theme. This time, she takes on fairy tale marriages. A queen is playing a tricky strategic game trying to keep her small kingdom from invasion, and one of her moves is to marry her beautiful, sweet eldest daughter to the monstrous prince of a neighboring kingdom. The death of the eldest means the second daughter Kania, a much more steely personality, is the next wife and must become pregnant over and over trying to produce an heir, while the third daughter, Marra, is set aside in a convent. Marra is the hero of this story: she's shy and prone to anxiety, and it takes her a long time to realize just how bad Kania's life is (eventually leading to reflections on how many injustices the whole system of marriages and inheritances contains), and even longer to think of something to do about it, though that thing is just going to someone else for help. She's a very unusual hero in that other people do all the dramatic deeds in this story, and she has the most unlikely of personalities for a leader, but the other members of her quest party defer to her, if only because the whole thing was her idea, she keeps persisting, and she gives the others a reason not to give up or do something else. It's a lovely depiction of getting something done by mutual assistance and by taking one step at a time: Marra goes to a dust-wife, an extremely powerful witch who can talk to and command the dead, and convinces her to set aside the inaction which (and really, it's a good thing) she usually maintains; she helps rescue Fenris, a knight held captive by the Fair Folk, and while he provides the party with skill with weapons, she realizes that he needs emotional support and inconspicuously gives it; she overcomes her prejudgment of her apparently-useless fairy godmother Agnes to find another ally of an unexpected sort (Agnes's accomplishments are some of the most delightful surprises in the book); and the final member of the party is Bonedog, a mastiff resurrected as a skeleton, who really just needed another chance to be a good dog. In this story, a princess saves another princess, or really gives her the opportunity to save herself, and the distinction between good and evil fairy godmothers is hopelessly muddled. This deeply feminist and quietly hopeful book is one that's badly needed, and I expect to be re-reading it many times.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cannibalism, Child death, Confinement, Miscarriage, Child abuse, Misogyny, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy
Minor: Blood, Medical content, War, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Torture
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