Scan barcode
fraise's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Grief, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, and Animal death
Minor: Slavery, Torture, Rape, Abortion, Cannibalism, Infertility, and Miscarriage
The slavery in this book iswooblatoober's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
loved it! i loved kingfisher’s imagery. not only her talent for making me see what she imagined, but the things she imagined in the first place. over time, i’ve fallen out of love with fantasy as a genre. kingfisher included elements that reminded me how much i used to love it, & introduced new elements that i enjoyed reading immensely. tl;dr, a fresh & delightful spin on dark fantasy.
i LOVED the main character. kingfisher does an amazing job of making her a bit dull without making the reader angry at the MC for her stupidity. she’s just believably stupid, i guess, & catches onto things in much the same manner & speed i find myself catching onto things in real life. i love the personalities of most the characters, actually, especially agnes & the dust-wife,and quite wished they ended up in love in the end.
LOVED that the cast of characters was mostly women, with few named male characters. i’m all for books with a balanced cast, but also love to see a book doing the opposite of what books have been doing for so long. i also loved kingfisher’s body type diversity and age diversity.
i wish this book had a more diverse cast of characters along other lines—not much to hang onto regarding race/ethnicity & different abilities, & a nonbinary character is introduced briefly for seemingly no other reason than to say they were there.
spoilers ahead for anyone who reads a book with a dog and immediately worries about the fate of the dog:
in the beginning, marra creates a dog out of bone, so the dog is already dead & you never see its death. bonedog does not know he was ever dead. at the end of the book, bonedog is defending a character, and is attacked by a guard, and he “dies,” his bones scattering apart. none of the characters have time to mourn him in the craziness, since it’s the climax of the story, and marra ends up getting his bones back and putting him back together, so he comes back at the end. i would say that the dog does NOT die.
i LOVED the main character. kingfisher does an amazing job of making her a bit dull without making the reader angry at the MC for her stupidity. she’s just believably stupid, i guess, & catches onto things in much the same manner & speed i find myself catching onto things in real life. i love the personalities of most the characters, actually, especially agnes & the dust-wife,
LOVED that the cast of characters was mostly women, with few named male characters. i’m all for books with a balanced cast, but also love to see a book doing the opposite of what books have been doing for so long. i also loved kingfisher’s body type diversity and age diversity.
i wish this book had a more diverse cast of characters along other lines—not much to hang onto regarding race/ethnicity & different abilities, & a nonbinary character is introduced briefly for seemingly no other reason than to say they were there.
spoilers ahead for anyone who reads a book with a dog and immediately worries about the fate of the dog:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy
dwarrowdams's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.25
It had some structural issues, but a really fun read. Love what T. Kingfisher does with fairy tale tropes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy
Moderate: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, Medical content, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Slavery and Animal death
bucketsjen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Dark fairytale of rescue and hope. A princess sets off to find a way to kill a prince protected by powerful magic, in an attempt to save her hostage sister. There are impossible tasks, a bone dog, a goblin market, witches, fairy godmothers, a disgraced knight, and a demon chicken. The main character is thirty years old and gets anxious asking for directions.
Everything about this book was absolutely perfect. I devoured it.
This book gets recommended as fantasy romance, so here's a slightly spoilery comment on that:it's a romance subplot which is really sweet but there's no spice in the book
Everything about this book was absolutely perfect. I devoured it.
This book gets recommended as fantasy romance, so here's a slightly spoilery comment on that:
Content Warnings
Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Cannibalism and Child death
maeverose's review against another edition
Dnfed @ 27%
I just couldn’t get into it. There was nothing I actively disliked, but there was nothing keeping my attention either. It was very slow and I had no motivation to pick it up. This could be because I’ve been in a reading slump for months now, and not the book’s fault.
I just couldn’t get into it. There was nothing I actively disliked, but there was nothing keeping my attention either. It was very slow and I had no motivation to pick it up. This could be because I’ve been in a reading slump for months now, and not the book’s fault.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Pregnancy
Moderate: Miscarriage, Body horror, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Cannibalism, and Domestic abuse
Not a spoiler - there’s a point where the main character is acting as a midwife and there are mentions of traumatic and fatal births. Fatal for both the mother and child. I found it a bit disturbing, but it’s not described in especially graphic detail.alex_conners's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse
rwittmann's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse
mspringer7122's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infertility, Domestic abuse, and Miscarriage
avialia's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Well, marrying a prince is usually a dream. USUALLY.This book has one of those rare times where it is not a dream. It is rather a nightmare. And Marra, is going to help. The prince will be dead.
This book was just really clever and exidently written. It worked for keeping up the experince I had from reading the other books from this author.
I find the ideas really fun and intruqing. I felt exited and happy to turn almost all the pages. I did not use a long time reading this and I felt I just rushed threw it.
It is not 100% that I wish I could wipe my memory. But really close to it to be honest.
The worldbuilding from the very start was fun and intresting, as the other books I have read by him also are. I mean who does not want to know what happens futher when the mc is wanting to kill a prince. To help her sister. The explenations were not too dense and it all just flowed easily and effortless.
So yes I really enjoyed it.
This book was just really clever and exidently written. It worked for keeping up the experince I had from reading the other books from this author.
I find the ideas really fun and intruqing. I felt exited and happy to turn almost all the pages. I did not use a long time reading this and I felt I just rushed threw it.
It is not 100% that I wish I could wipe my memory. But really close to it to be honest.
The worldbuilding from the very start was fun and intresting, as the other books I have read by him also are. I mean who does not want to know what happens futher when the mc is wanting to kill a prince. To help her sister. The explenations were not too dense and it all just flowed easily and effortless.
So yes I really enjoyed it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Murder, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Animal death, Death, and Miscarriage
lizzymay_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
reflective
tense
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? It's complicated
5.0
Feminine rage in the best way.
The story follows Marta, a 30 year old Princess of a small kingdom turned (almost) nun. Because of her kingdom’s important port but lack of a strong army, her oldest sister is sent to wed a more powerful prince. But before long she turns up dead, and her next oldest sister is sent to wed the prince.
When Marra learns the truth about the prince, however, she hatches a plot with an unlikely group of misfits including a dog made only of bones and travels to his kingdom.
Everything about this book was a delight. Our FMC is a full grown woman which I LOVE, and even though she is unsure of herself she manages to choose her own destiny despite the odds. Her role was always to be used as a pawn and to have children of powerful men, as all women of her position are, but she finds her own way and it was such a breath of fresh air for the genre.
The story follows Marta, a 30 year old Princess of a small kingdom turned (almost) nun. Because of her kingdom’s important port but lack of a strong army, her oldest sister is sent to wed a more powerful prince. But before long she turns up dead, and her next oldest sister is sent to wed the prince.
When Marra learns the truth about the prince, however, she hatches a plot with an unlikely group of misfits including a dog made only of bones and travels to his kingdom.
Everything about this book was a delight. Our FMC is a full grown woman which I LOVE, and even though she is unsure of herself she manages to choose her own destiny despite the odds. Her role was always to be used as a pawn and to have children of powerful men, as all women of her position are, but she finds her own way and it was such a breath of fresh air for the genre.
Content Warnings
Minor: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Miscarriage