Reviews with content warning for Abortion - Nettle & Bone

I had the joy of finding the Nettle and Bone audiobook in my local library and definitely jumped on this hype train.
and let me tell you, it's SO worth it!

SPOILER FREE REVIEW:
*But also please be aware this book does involve some triggering subjects. While they're not depicted on screen, I thought them worth mentioning*

Nettle and Bone follows the main character Marra and her adventures to save her sister in a dangerous marriage to a Prince.
T. Kingfisher manages to perfectly capture the essence of fae tales, with their mystery and magic, while also managing to add so much character. You easily fall in love with, not only our main character of Marra, but our side characters too as they navigate a bleak and dangerous world to save her.
This book manages to perfectly blend both real and serious issues with a more lighter hopeful outlook. This is done through our main character of Marra, probably one of my favourites in a long time. She takes on the audiences role of 'fish out of water' but continues to have the right amount of naive kindness mixed with crushing realism.
I'm just such a sucker for characters that are genuienly great people, regardless of their world, and who are able to navigate through trials without blind optimism but hopeful kindness.

Overall it was an easy and fast read, and there's a lot to love about it.
(If you're interested in the triggering specifics, I'd be happy to list them!)

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khakipantsofsex's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging sad slow-paced

3.5

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shirecrow's review against another edition

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3.5

“The tress were full of crows and the woods were full of madmen. The pit was full of bones and her hands were full of wires.”

Nettle and Bone shows the dark side of fairytales. It’s very graphic, twisted, shocking, and very real in a magical kind of way.

A while ago I read “The Hallow Places” by T.Kingfisher and fell in love with the way they brought stories to life. Now a bit (…a lot) later I finally return to Kingfisher and was not disappointed.

Like I said, Nettle and Bone is a rather twisted fairytale so let’s start at the beginning.

The opening sentence is probably one of my favorite openers ever. I don’t know what it is about it but I loved it and reread it multiple times, giddy to continue. The entire first scene was brilliant. You’re basically thrown into the story and from then on you learn more and more while following our protagonist, Marra.

Oh, Marra. I enjoyed and hated her. Being naive is a very core trait of her character if intentional or not I cannot tell since she stays that way from page one to the very last word. She was so naive it made me mad but even worse was her judgmental nature. She thinks she has another person figured out so quick and gets disproven in the next sentence almost every single time. And yet she doesn’t learn. She doesn’t grow from these mistakes but she keeps making them; judging by first glance. It was exhausting because as soon as Marra exploded you knew there was an explanation coming.
Marra is supposedly 30 years old but felt more like a young adult than anything else. So do the other characters.

And that brings me to Marra’s companions. I loved the dust-witch and adored Agnes and Finder as much as I adored Bonedog and the demon chicken. Each character was fleshed out as much as a supportive/side character can be in a 300 page long stand-alone. The dust-wife reminded me a lot of Gandalf in the way she never backed out or flinched when someone challenged her. I enjoyed her power a lot. Agnes was lovely and brought a lightness and mother-like feeling which only benefited the story. Then there’s Fenris. I didn’t quite enjoy his character. There is something about the instant fall-in-love that I cannot stand. The constant need to remind us how tall and big and beefy and swooning he is just made me roll my eyes. I’m someone that doesn’t enjoy romance in the main group; it always tends to feel shallow in a way, forced.
Yet this group of found family touched my heart in the end. I was sad to let them go.

Now to the writing. Like I said earlier, Kingfisher already captured my heart in The Hollow Places and did it once again. I was surprised by how well they managed to write such a different story since a lot of authors find their genre and stick with it. Kingfisher doesn’t care. They break out and try something different and I loved it.
They have a brilliant way of spinning words and creating worlds. They write beautifully, with so much heart, but not enough to make your eyes roll into the back of your head. They bring the world and special places like a goblin market to life so easily that it’s burned into your brain.

The topics in this story are dark and so real. Having such issues portrayed and justice served in a way that real life victims should be able experience too is a bittersweet feeling.

If you’re a fan of chill fantasy with a real edge, this is for you.

Kingfisher has found the perfect balance between quest fantasy and daring discussions of real life abuse and other important, horrible issues.

Kingfisher has hooked me and I don’t think I’ll be able to let them go even if they released me themself. I already have What Moves The Dead sitting on my nightstand, waiting to be read.

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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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vhispas's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I love the atmosphere! It's a fun, heartwarming read that deals with heavy topics in a way that doesn't feel superficial or callous. Love the characters and specially the chickens.

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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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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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