A review by thereadingrambler
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

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

4.0

In my estimation, this is one of T. Kingfisher’s best yet. She has perfectly blended and balanced the creepiness, the fairy tale vibes, and the found family sincerity. My critiques of her other books have all come back to the idea that something vital was missing that would catapult the book over the edge for me. On the surface so many of her books are right up my alley, but I was left feeling uncertain, unable to fully commit to loving one of her books. This book though combines everything that is great about Kingfisher’s writing into one (almost) perfect package.

The book is a dual POV between Cordelia, a fourteen-year-old girl, and Hester, a woman in her mid-fifties, and the relationship they build because of Cordelia’s mother, Evangeline. Evangeline is the titular sorceress, and she is not a good person, in fact, she is a very abusive person, who does not care one whit about anyone else. She fully views her daughter as an extension of herself—and I don’t mean that metaphorically. Evangeline takes control of her daughter’s body to force her to do and say what her mother wants. Evangeline makes her living as a mistress of wealthy men, but when her current victim (for lack of a better word) breaks things off with her, she needs to find a new “benefactor.” This is where Hester comes in, not because she is going to be a benefactress though. No, Evangeline has set her sights on Hester’s brother, Samuel. Once Evangeline and Cordelia move in as part of Evangeline’s quest to get Samuel to marry her, Hester becomes increasingly suspicious of the woman and her relationship with her daughter. Thus she begins a quest to save her brother, get Cordelia away from her mother’s clutches, and hopefully send Evangeline packing.

As with Kingfisher’s other books, the book moves on the power of its characters and their relationships. Even with a perfectly good teenage girl right there, Hester is truly the book’s heroine. I deeply respect Kingfisher’s insistence on basically screaming from the rooftops that we need to stop letting teenage girls take care of all the world’s problems when there are perfectly good adults around. Cordelia is a victim, and she needs an adult to step in and care for her because she’s a literal child. This was most evident previously in A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, but all of Kingfisher’s heroines are adults, usually adults in their 30s or older. It just isn’t something you see very often, and I really think should be more prevalent.

Cordelia’s plight as a victim of abuse is so heartbreakingly depicted, particularly when paired with Hester’s slow realization of what is going on. As the reader, we know everything Evangeline is doing to Cordelia, so when we see Hester trying to assume the best or repress her suspicions we want to scream at her. But at the same time, most people don’t want to assume a parent is abusing their child, we want to find another explanation for a child’s strange behavior. Kingfisher presents us with a clear picture of why so many children are abused and no one ever finds out. Even when Cordelia is living in Hester’s house she isn’t able to figure it out for weeks.

Evangeline is probably the weakest character because she isn’t given too much of a backstory; she is more of a bogeyman. But this also makes sense. Most of what we see of Evangeline is from Cordelia’s perspective and her mother is a bogeyman to her. Incredibly isolated, Evangeline is pretty much everything Cordelia knows. From Hester’s point of view, Evangeline isn’t a person to get to know in any way; she’s just a problem to be removed. So the lack of characterization makes sense, but I am curious about her backstory as we get a few snippets—but of course Evangeline could be lying about everything.

The cast of other secondary characters were all absolutely charming. They are primarily Hester’s friends and have known each other for decades, so they have the easy camaraderie of people who have grown up together, who have years of inside jokes and history and shared experiences. I fully believed that Penelope, Hester, and Imogen were long-time girlfriends who had gotten up to all kinds of mischief together. They were a delightful trio, and I hope that every woman has friends who will immediately agree to destroy an evil sorceress with you. Samuel, Hester’s brother, is such a guy. He is affable, not terribly bright, and generally just wants to have a pleasant time with pleasant people. He’s the closest thing this book has to an actual damsel in distress, because the time bomb of the plot is saving him from Evangeline. Finally, Hester’s love interest Richard. They have a very complicated history that serves as a vehicle for Kingfisher to explore Hester’s insecurities as an older woman in some vague Victorian-esque Britain—her looks, her standing in the world, the fact that she’s only allowed to be an unmarried woman in her 50s because of her brother’s sufferance and his money. Richard himself is a delightful person (albeit something of a rule-follower), who is madly in love with her, even if she resists his advances.

My biggest critique is that there is one fairly minor plot point that is briefly made into a bigger plot point near the end and then never really resolved. The action of the book moves in a completely different direction, and we leave that question unanswered. The answer isn’t necessary any longer, I’m just left wondering why we made it a big deal to begin with. All-in-all though I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has previously enjoyed Kingfisher’s work or to someone who didn’t quite like her previous work but like the concept of her work. Or, if you’re unfamiliar with Kingfisher at all, I would recommend this to anyone who likes twisted fairy tale retellings (this is apparently a retelling of “The Goose Girl” which is a fairy tale I’m unfamiliar with), found family tropes, and characters with mommy issues.