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etemp 's review for:
Nettle & Bone
by T. Kingfisher
adventurous
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
just your basic cast of characters: a nun (sort-of), her reanimated dog made out of bones, two old witches that dgaf, a demon chicken, and a big tough malewife. somehow the nun convinces everyone else to help her assassinate a prince for committing domestic violence, including literal murder, against her sisters , but they struggle to do so in a way that gets everyone else out alive and doesn't plunge several nations into war as a result. high stakes for sure.
their little assassination party takes a couple of exciting detours along the way, mostly because marra was completely incapable of see someone suffering without trying to intervene, and the plot kind of winds its way toward the climax via switchbacks rather than an escalator. i was a little in danger of seeing this as overly complicating the narrative until i reached marra's internal monologue about the 'dull practical bits' of heroic stories (~72%).
as a narrator, marra is funny and sincere and determined, and it makes sense why so many of the characters were persuaded to join her. she is not the strongest or smartest member of the group, but she definitely has the biggest heart and the clearest purpose to see her mission through. even with all the setbacks and digressions, she never loses sight of that mission, and i think that holds the whole thing together nicely. maybe could have done without the romance, but i'm happy for her.
my only real gripe was with the order of the impossible tasks - the book starts with the second task, then backtracks to the exposition and goes on to the description of the first task, at which point we find out that she doesn't even do the third task? immediately jarring but still very interesting.
all in all, a very enjoyable epic. there are some pretty severe content warnings, so just be careful to check those before you dive in.
their little assassination party takes a couple of exciting detours along the way, mostly because marra was completely incapable of see someone suffering without trying to intervene, and the plot kind of winds its way toward the climax via switchbacks rather than an escalator. i was a little in danger of seeing this as overly complicating the narrative until i reached marra's internal monologue about the 'dull practical bits' of heroic stories (~72%).
as a narrator, marra is funny and sincere and determined, and it makes sense why so many of the characters were persuaded to join her. she is not the strongest or smartest member of the group, but she definitely has the biggest heart and the clearest purpose to see her mission through. even with all the setbacks and digressions, she never loses sight of that mission, and i think that holds the whole thing together nicely. maybe could have done without the romance, but i'm happy for her.
my only real gripe was with the order of the impossible tasks - the book starts with the second task, then backtracks to the exposition and goes on to the description of the first task, at which point we find out that she doesn't even do the third task? immediately jarring but still very interesting.
all in all, a very enjoyable epic. there are some pretty severe content warnings, so just be careful to check those before you dive in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Infertility, Grief, Pregnancy
Minor: Animal death, Cannibalism