A review by inuyasha
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

adventurous dark reflective fast-paced

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

2.5

 i am always getting personally recommended t. kingfisher by friends and i Understand why now, but i wish i had picked up one of her gothic works first. maybe my standards were too high for a novella but i just dislike things like goodness vs evil being explained away as inherent things we are born into - i think it's boring, and it's especially boring in fairytale retellings and dissections. for a subversive fairytale i wish this had..... well. subverted more. imo, as someone who reads a lot of fairytale retellings, i think sleeping beauty is just a difficult one to alter and still make it interesting (i also did not like heather walter's malice, but i really love angela carter's lady of the house of love, so) and i think the concept of a sympathetic ""maleficent"" is just kind of derivative at this point.

if you're someone into really cozy fantasy you'd probably enjoy this but that simply isn't me...... 😔😔😔