REVIEW: Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

Publisher: Tor Books

Date Published: 4/26/2022

Genre: Fantasy, Horror

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Award(s): Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fantasy (2022)

REVIEW

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I have heard nothing but praise for T. Kingfisher, and having not read anything by her yet, I just put everything on hold at the library. Since this had been nominated for the Goodreads fantasy award, and I try to read as many as possible from that list, I'm glad this was available first. However, it was a bit disappointing to the hyped up praise. 

SYNOPSIS

"After years of seeing her sisters suffer at the hands of an abusive prince, Marra—the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter—has finally realized that no one is coming to their rescue. No one, except for Marra herself.

Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the tools to kill a prince—if she can complete three impossible tasks. But, as is the way in tales of princes, witches, and daughters, the impossible is only the beginning.

On her quest, Marra is joined by the gravewitch, a reluctant fairy godmother, a strapping former knight, and a chicken possessed by a demon. Together, the five of them intend to be the hand that closes around the throat of the prince and frees Marra's family and their kingdom from its tyrannous ruler at last."

MY THOUGHTS

I'll start by saying I loved the beginning of this book. Until about the 40% mark or so, it was feeling like it may be my first five star read of the year. I love a good vengeance plot and seemingly impossible tasks give to the MC are always enjoyable. Marra was a great character. I thought she had a very interesting backstory and it made complete sense how she got to be in the position she found herself in. 

However, everything sort of began to go downhill when the her troupe was pulled together. It became somewhat cliché of every fairy tale. There was a fairy godmother, a goblin market, an evil royal, a witch, and an animal companion. There was not nearly enough worldbuilding done for everything to feel cohesive. It was such a short book that it turned into a methodical dark fairy tale that was predictable rather than a new twist on a retelling. 

T. Kingfisher is a talented writer, no doubt. And that did come through in the book. There were some very intriguing ideas but nothing felt fully fleshed out. It just needed more. I really did enjoy the issues that it tried to discuss, like domestic violence in marriage. It's not something that I've read much about, and when I do, it is often used as a plot point to make the character suffer to be "strong", than an actual exploration and discussion. Regardless of how strong the book started, it definitely dragged throughout the second half. There was also a strange romantic subplot that didn't make enough sense for it to feel necessary. It also didn't feel like horror to me at all. Overall it was just a middle of the road short novel. I really hope the next book I read by this author expands more of the plot as, for one of my most anticipated reads this year, I was rather disappointed.