leighbee1 's review for:

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

3.0

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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So much potential for this dark fairy tale adaptation but, after reading through this and half of a much older and unrelated book by the same author, I’ve decided T. Kingfisher isn’t for me. Weirdly, there were recycled plot points, which made me think much less of the author. The pros: the story felt original, the characters mostly entertaining, the inner monologues were often well written (but not always). The cons: 1. the plot points felt totally discombobulated. The most minor points were the most creative, and the major plot points were the most predictable. Overall this made the book feel very unsatisfying. 2. The characters, while entertaining, didn’t feel real at all. They felt two-dimensional and also were annoyingly dim. I found myself thinking way too many times, “is this character seriously not getting this?!? UGH.” This severely diminished even the characters who were meant to be the most likable. Especially towards the end, the writing started to feel lazy and trope-filled. Would not recommend unless you’re only in it for the vibes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail