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st0rmy's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
discarded_dust_jacket's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
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? Yes
1.75
I hate saying this because I do genuinely like T. Kingfisher and I know everyone adores this book, but it was a miss for me.
Despite having so many elements that I typically enjoy in a story—the found family, the endearing and quirky characters, the grown protagonists, the gentle romance element, the dark fairytale subject matter—I was struggling to push through the entire time I was reading. I’m not sure if it was just the slow pacing but I could not force myself at any point to be invested in what was going on.
I don’t think it was poorly written at all, I simply think it wasn’t for me.
Despite having so many elements that I typically enjoy in a story—the found family, the endearing and quirky characters, the grown protagonists, the gentle romance element, the dark fairytale subject matter—I was struggling to push through the entire time I was reading. I’m not sure if it was just the slow pacing but I could not force myself at any point to be invested in what was going on.
I don’t think it was poorly written at all, I simply think it wasn’t for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Grief, and Blood
Moderate: Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, and Physical abuse
Minor: Cannibalism and Animal death
megthepoet's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Domestic abuse, and Blood
Minor: War
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
tallnecked_pancakeface's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, Misogyny, Grief, Body horror, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Violence, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Torture, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Dementia
readingelli's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Death, Child death, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
shirecrow's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Animal death, Grief, Child death, Domestic abuse, Cannibalism, Death, and Slavery
Moderate: Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Child death, Death, Abortion, and Sexual assault
purplepenning'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
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.5
The trees were full of crows and the woods were full of madmen.
Given that perfect opening line, I wasn't quite prepared for how much chickens would factor into the story — but I'm not mad about it!
Nettle & Bone is a bizarre and brilliant, dark and funny fairytale in the hero's quest tradition. A tradition that it gleefully follows and subverts. It features a simple but stalwart 30-year-old almost-nun/princess, a sharp but secretive dust wife/grave witch, an honorable but disgraced warrior/diplomat, at least one evil but kind fairy godmother, a loving but impulsive dog of bones, and a grumpy demon-possessed chicken. Their quest leads us from a beleaguered middle kingdom by the sea to a haunted stronghold in the north — and through unspeakable lands, markets, and boarding houses in between. Driven, always, by familial love, loyalty, and justice, even in the face of ancient power, its corruption and abuses. Especially in the face of its abuses.
Nothing is fair, except that we try to make it so. That's the point of humans, maybe, to fix things the gods haven't managed.
I sometimes want a little more lushness and emotion in my fairytales, but only sometimes. I also love this matter-of-fact, face-the-fears, roll-with-the-bizarre, do-the-hard things approach. It gives me Granny Weatherwax and Tiffany Aching vibes — and anything approaching the genius of Terry Pratchett's witches is okay by me. Fans of Nicola Griffith's Spear and Emily Lloyd-Jones's The Drowned Woods should also enjoy this one.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Murder, Body horror, Child death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Death
Minor: Torture, Blood, Classism, Cannibalism, and Excrement
oliverreeds's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Abortion, Animal death, Child death, Gore, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Torture, Death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, and Confinement
tigger89's review against another edition
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.
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?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Pregnancy, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Cursing, and Physical abuse
Minor: Child death, Murder, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, Abortion, and Cannibalism
There is a brief scene where the point of view character has a tooth extracted through magical means, with the description verging on body horror.