Nettle & Bone started with a dog being built from bones and I knew from that moment that I was going to love this book! All of the characters were amazingly fleshed out and the five leads were delightful to read about. I look forward to reading some more of T. Kingfishers writing!

I love T. Kingfisher’s writing. She’s a buy on sight author for me, even her horror books (and generally I don’t read horror). This is not horror, it’s a fantasy with fairy tale elements: a princess (youngest of three); a dog made of bones; a dust wife who speaks with the dead; a steadfast knight rescued from a goblin market; a chicken inhabited by a demon; two godmothers (fairy variety); and a cruel prince. Marra’s two older sisters have been married off (sequentially) to the cruel prince of a powerful northern kingdom. The first mysteriously died, and the second is wearing herself out, staying pregnant to avoid his beatings. Marra, hidden away in a convent in case the prince kills the second sister and needs a third wife, decides to do something about the situation, and sets off to murder the prince. She knows she can’t do it alone so she enlists the help of the dust wife who sets her three impossible tasks. These are a nice bit of misdirection. This is not the story you think it’s going to be. Marra and the dust wife set off to do the dirty deed (with the demon chicken and the bone dog) and pick up the steadfast knight and one fairy godmother along the way.

Yet another excellent Kingfisher book! Less fuzzy than Paladin books, and probably closer to her darker spectrum but it’s still at it’s heart warm and uplifting. Just, with more blood and bones. The book has the usual good things: a middle-aged romance, no-nonsense witches, and, as a treat, a demon chicken. (Hi, Hardinge’s Saracen!)

Thanks to #Netgalley for an advanced copy of the book.

This was such a fun fairy tale-esque story with wonderful characters and a very interesting world. The book starts on quite a dark note and I expected the tone to stay dark throughout. This isn't the case, which did take me a minute to get to grips with, but once I realised it was going to be a humourous and whimsical offering, I was on board. I loved the quest aspect of this story, with its impossible tasks and goblin market and thought that the plot and writing were engaging throughout. Most of all, I loved the characters. The Dust-Witch and Agnes were both delightful and I would DIE for Bonedog! Overall, this was a really entertaining read and I would definitely recommend it for anyone who likes their fantasy with a touch of humour.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

It's the first time I read a book by T.Kingfisher even though there's a couple in my TBR. It was a fascinating and riveting book that I read in two sitting and kept me reading as I couldn't put it down.
There're fantasy elements, a world building that reminded me a middle age world, and a serious issue like women abuse.
Marra is a complex and fascinating character: she's a nun who choose to be one amongst the other, a sister with a mission, a clever women.
I loved her and I loved the characters that join her quest.
The author is talented storyteller and the tightly knitted plot flows.
An excellent read, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A masterpiece of rich and witty storytelling wrapped up in a new fairy tale dripping in sarcasm.

Kingfisher juxtaposes beautifully, between the plot and its characters, between its prose and its humour. The world-building is brimming with the author’s imagination, a blend of magical and macabre. The writing sweeps you away on such an enchanted journey.

The main character is SUPER refreshing! And the side characters that accompany her are so entertaining and lovable (in their own odd ways). In particular the main character is aged 30 which is heartily welcomed and great to read. The story is infused with so many new fantasy elements that makes it invigorating but not overpowering. Fairy tales get turned on their head in the most unexpected and delightful ways.

I hope the author turns this into a series because there is a vast world within these pages, one I would love to continue to explore.

You’ll devour this like I did if you like kick a princess, evil princes, witches, a chicken possessed by a demon, a dog made of bones, exiled knights, fairy godmothers, and epic quests that lean on the impossible, satirical, and wholesome side of things.

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for this eARC in exchange for honest review

Princess Marra is the shy third daughter, currently living her life in a convent. Her older sister married a prince and later died. Now the middle sister is married to the same prince and it seems her life is in danger too. Marra sets off to kill the prince and sees a dustwife to find out how to do it. She's set some impossible tasks that she manages to get done and when she returns to the dustwife they set off to finish the task. Along the way, they collect further assistance in the shape of a demon chicken, a former knight and a fairy godmother.

This isn't the typical fantasy romance we tend to find. Instead, the prince is a despicable character whose deeds draw Marra away from the safety of the convent to save her sister and rid the world of this evil. I'd say this is more about the journey and the combination of abilities to reach the end goal.

I found this to be quite a good read and loved the steps of the journey Marra must get through to help her sister. The most interesting really was the making of the bone dog from nettle and bone. Perhaps this prominence was key to naming the book after it. I also liked the way the heroine is a princess, but one who breaks all the stereotypes. The ending was satisfying and it didn't feel as though lots of loose ends were left behind.

Overall I give this 3.5 stars. I would like to thank Netgalley and Titan Books for giving me an advanced reader copy. I have provided this review voluntarily.

What I liked the most about this book was its theme. The first line of the synopsis says it all. One woman's quest to save her sister from an abusive husband. While she may start out alone, Marra is joined on her adventure by unusual companions. Following this group on their journey was so interesting, because their bond may have started because of her sister, but they grow close during the book.

This book may be shorter than usual fantasy books, but it's perfect for this story. I love how the author showed us how Marra's life was before she joined the convent and have us some background on her family life. It mixed past and present really well and established the characters and their motivations.

In a way, it like a dark fairytale, with strange magical creature (a chicken possessed by a demon and a dog made of bone), different kinds of witches and some paranormal elements.

I love how this book had a theme of defeating abusive husbands. That was Marra's main goal and it was described really well. It sends a really strong message.

I really enjoyed this dark fairytale inspired revenge fantasy.
Really well written with some stunning inspirations. I merrily highlighted my way through this.
I’ve already been recommending it.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book gets one star more just for having a chicken possessed by a demon.

Nettle & Bone is an adult fairytale that, while being entertaining, failed to truly grip me.

When Princess Marra's oldest sister is sent home in a coffin after a year of being married to the prince of the Northern kingdom, everyone acts nonchalant. To ensure the safety of their small country, the queen promptly marries Marra's second oldest sister off to the prince again. When Marra visits her sister for the birth of her child, she finds out an ugly truth: The prince has been abusing and killing his wives and Marra might be next. Marra sets out to find justice for her sisters and is faced with three impossible tasks, the goblin market, fairy godmothers and ... a chicken possessed by a demon. Thus a quest for revenge begins.

Now I love me a fairytale retelling. Nettle & Bone wasn't exactly that but did utilise a lot of fairytale elements. There was the heroine being given three tasks to complete, animal companions, fairy godmothers and labyrinthine crypts. The idea of making the princely husband a domestic abuser is not necessarily new (Bluebeard, anyone?), but I did like that Marra's quest was about saving her sister. There were also mentions of the Fair Folk, other fairytales and the Goblin Market, which were fun to me as a self-proclaimed Fairytale Fan.

The themes of sisterhood, domestic abuse, motherhood and women's right to choose were prevalent throughout the book. Marra in particular, being an almost-nun, had quite different views on motherhood and marriage which I liked. Her reactions ranged from indifferent to horrified which we almost never see with female characters in fantasy. There was one scene in particular that descriped a birth Marra was present for that had me howling with laughter.

Talking of Marra, her narration and dry humor were quite funny. The thing that bugged me though was her age. While I'm delighted to see a female fantasy protagonist in her thirties, Marra absolutely does not act her age. Her narration read like a teenager. While it is stated that Marra is "slow for her age" multiple times, she acted so naive it became unbelievable. One instance of this is right in the beginning: After her sister is married off, Marra lives at a convent for multiple years. It is mentioned that the convent acts as somewhat of a hospital and womens' shelter. So I would imagine Marra is familiar with domestic abuse. Yet when she learns the truth about her sister's husband, she acts disbelieving.

Nevertheless, I did like Marra as a character and like I mentioned, being in her head was fun. As for the other characters, I thought the interactions between the dust-wife and the godmother were witty but nothing to write home about. The romance between Marra and Fenris was cute, but they literally acted like teenagers, not middle-aged people. Again, Marra did not behave like a 30-year-old woman. She acted like a 15-year-old with her first crush. And that is me being kind. As someone who doesn't need romance in her fantasy, I definitely could have done without it here.

What prevented me from enjoying Nettle & Bone more was the worldbuilding - or rather, the lack thereof. I had read Kingfisher's retelling of the Snow Queen, The Raven and the Reindeer, a while back and really enjoyed it. That story had a really unique animal-based magic systems and included elements of Scandinavian culture that were fascinating. The world of Nettle & Bone however, fell short. The kingdoms were literally named Northern Kingdom, Southern Kingdom and Harbor Kingdom. Come on, T. Kingfisher, I know you can do better.

Since there was not a lot description, I couldn't picture any of the places or figure out what time period or culture Kingfisher took inspiration from. For one, there were medieval castles but then there was also a post-apocalyptic wasteland filled with cannibals. I don't know what to do with that information. There was also a character named Fenris that seemed to be inspired by Norse mythology, maybe. At this point, who knows? Honestly, it was a clusterfuck.

Moreover, I could not get a grasp on the magic in that world. We saw instances of curses and wishes, as well as necromancy and demons. I think I would have preferred it if Kingfisher had stuck with just the one kind. The book having an 'anything goes' approach to magic however, adds to the feebleness of the worldbuilding. While a fairytale might not need extremely detailed description and a certain amount of whimsicalness is expected, I would have liked to see some consistency in the setting.

If you're a huge fan of fairytale-esque stories or want something you can finish in one weekend, I recommend Nettle & Bone to you. If you want a detailed fantasy epic you can sink your teeth into however, this might not be for you. 3/5 stars.

Whimsical Tales, Gothic feels, a Found Family, a Dog that's not a Dog, a Hen with a Demon, Curses, Crypts, Ghosts, Godmothers and a Vile Prince - Nettle and Bone gives you a combination of all of this and some more!

I loved the found family aspect of this story!
We get a delightful mixture of characters in this story.
An ordinary forgotten princess who is really a Nun, a sweet, harmless Godmother, a Witch (of sorts), and a warrior turned slave form an unlikely group to carry out an impossible task - destroy the Evil Prince.

Faced against insurmountable odds and an entire battalion of creepy, evil ghosts and the power of a centuries old curse, their mission seems like a mad venture. But they persevere.

Throughout the book, the author is trying to make a point that often times, people are not what they seem. Cruelty can lie hidden under a veneer of respectability. And the one's towards whom we look with contempt and disgust might have a wealth of kindness in them if we could just bother to treat them properly.

The main group of people in this story are undervalued individuals who are dismissed, forgotten and living on fringes of the society as outcasts. Basically, they are society rejects of sorts. No one cares about them or gives them any importance.
But they are the ones who bother to identify evil and take efforts to uproot that evil.

They are literally underdogs who save the day in the end.

I loved the whole gothic vibes of the story. Its the perfect combination of creepy and whimsical. Its exactly right to give you chills but not so scary that you will lose sleep at night.

I definitely enjoyed reading this and very highly recommend this.

Okay, so I'm a bit of a T. Kingfisher addict.

I started with Minor Mage, then wet onto A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking. Just wow. I then read the Hollow Places and loved that too.

When I picked up Nettle & Bone I was a little worried I was overdoing it and the shine might wear off, but nope! Still amazing!

If you're looking for humour, she's your writer. If you're looking for emotional feels, she's your writer. If you're looking for a modern twist on the classic fairy tale, (drumroll) she's your writer!

I could try to summarise the plot, but honestly, just read the book. You won't be disappointed.

I really enjoyed reading nettle and bone. It was very well written and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Highly recommend

Nettle and Bone is written beautifully, from the start it had a feeling of being a song - it had such a lyrical feeling to the style that I was instantly drawn into the madness of the plot.

This is a book full of dark magic, mystery, sarcastic characters and adventure. The imagination gone into this book is brilliant, and I really enjoyed it! With characters who make every second funny but still maintain a strong plot it's hard not to be gripped.

The descriptions and settings inside Nettle and Bone leave little to the imagination, as I was swept along for the ride along with many trials and tribulations.

With the feeling of escapism, magic and character connections throughout its hard not to enjoy every second of this read.

This is an absolutely incredible book. The plot was A star, the pacing was A star, the writing was AAAAAA star. I can’t recommend this enough! Everyone should definitely go out and read this one, you won’t be disappointed.

t kingfisher delivers another absolute stunner, smashing up a bunch of fairytales and reassembling them into a glittering mosaic made up of fragments of familiar images, filling in the gaps with gems mined from her dark-slanting imagination, creating a whole new, wondrous thing and crackling it into wild, pulsating life.

here, you will find a goblin market, labyrinthine royal burial chambers, a demon-possessed chicken, the blessings and curses of godmothers, a tooth-merchant, a heroine faced with three impossible tasks, angry ghosts, cannibals, a puppet-plagued innkeeper, a thief-wheel, a dog made of bones, and murrrrder.

under the spell of kingfisher's quietly confident storytelling, these mind-bogglingly disparate elements coalesce gracefully into a wholly original story, refracting all the expectations of fairytales and quest narratives into something more stirring, heartbreaking, funny, and satisfying than should be possible.

it's just another story of a girl trying to kill a prince to protect her sister AND THE FRIENDS SHE MAKES ALONG THE WAY.

marra is the youngest of three princesses, and an unlikely heroine:

“Marra had grown up sullen, the sort of child who is always standing in exactly the wrong place so that adults tell her to get out of the way. She was not slow, exactly, but she seemed younger than her age, and little interested her for long.”


her eldest, and favorite, sister damia is married off to prince vorling, forging an alliance between his kingdom and their family's smaller and more vulnerable city-state. however, five months after their wedding, damia dies under suspicious circumstances. mutually-disliking middle-sister kania becomes vorling's replacement-bride, and fifteen-year-old marra is shuttled off to a convent to prevent her from marrying and potentially birthing an inconvenient rival to the throne before kania gives vorling an heir. marra adjusts to the simplicity of a novice's life, and when her sister finally becomes pregnant five years later, she attends the christening of kania's daughter, where she meets vorling for the first time and begins to suspect he was responsible for damia's untimely death, and fears that kania is also in danger, until/unless/after she produces a son.

ten years later, she decides to actually do something about it.

what follows is a heroic, reckless, impossible plan, and i'm not sure i can do better than alix harrow's blurb:

“Nettle & Bone is what happens when all the overlooked bit players of classic fantasy somehow wind up on the main quest. It's funny, frightening, and full of heart; I loved it.”


as much as i cringe at using a cliché to describe something as unique as this story, they are, in fact, a ragtag bunch: a dust-wife and her demon-containing hen, agnes; a flustery godmother, fenris; a disgraced knight, marra; our almost-nun heroine, and bonedog; her lovable bonedog. which is exactly what it sounds like.

"Five of us," said Fenris, looking over at the others approvingly. Marra leaned down and scratched Bonedog's spine until his jaws clattered with pleasure. "Five is a fist. Five is a hand on the enemy's throat."

"I suppose that makes us each fingers," said Marra. She curled her own around Bonedog's spine, taking comfort from the hard ridges. "You're the thumb," she told the dog. Bonedog wagged his tail.


kingfisher is SO GOOD at writing animal characters, and even though i have never seen her kill one of 'em off, in this one bonedog starts out dead, so you don't need to worry about him coming to any much harm.

it's a perfect story, perfectly told. i am so in love with kingfisher's fertile imagination and nuanced character-work, the quiet lines she just tosses out that mean so much more than they seem to at first glance, how nothing is ever black-and-white and the care she takes in managing the gray, even her dang author's notes are fun.

t kingfisher is my fairytale godmother and all her gifts are blessings.

This book is one of my favourite reads of the year so far!

I loved all of the characters (especially Bone Dog and the demon chicken) and I thought the story line was done very well. It moved quickly, without rushing and a lot was packed in to such a small amount of pages.

I now want to read everything that T Kingfisher has written

4.5⭐️

Marra is the third born daughter of a small kingdom's royal family, she has spent most of her life in a convent and doesn't believe she holds much power of her own. When her sister confides in her of the abuse she suffers at the hands of her husband Marra realises she must take the power for herself to save her sister. She gathers her strength (and some unlikely alliances) and sets out to kill the prince.

This was such an enjoyable read I honestly can't recommend it enough. It was a brilliantly structured and paced quest with the perfect little band of misfits turned found family - so good!
The world building in this book was really lovely-it gave a lot of suggestion and implication, and the knowledge that there is probably more but if it's not relevant to the story or Marra's lived experience we don't necessarily need it and therefore don't miss it. We get enough for context and to give an understanding as to how the world works, and what we do get is intriguing so it carries us along.
This story also featured a magic system that is very much my speed and something I don't find often. It's weird and quirky and a little but murky. Everyone's own brand of magic makes absolute sense to them and that's all they need-it works, so why would they question it?
This attitude also comes into play in the glimpses we get of the different kingdoms, the inhabitants of which hold their own personal beliefs around things like royalty, religion, magic and death quite close. We then, as readers, get glimpses of this intrinsic personal belief in our various characters without being overwhelmed with extraneous information. The characters know that their beliefs are their own and not necessarily everyone else's, and that's ok.
The pacing was also really good. As a quest it didn't drag or fall flat at any point, but it also didn't skim over or rush any important parts-it was nicely balanced. It also nicely balanced the character development and the development of the plot throughout.
Finally, I really really loved Marra as a main character. She was the perfect mix of a reluctant but incessantly stubborn and determined hero. She was entirely self aware of her own short comings and the task ahead of her, all dealt with a heavy dose of sarcasm and dark humour which I always thoroughly enjoy.

Again, I honestly can't recommend this book enough. It's a lovely fast read full of eccentric characters and weird magic, it will draw you in and hold you close until the very end.

Thank you NetGalley and Titan Books for my e-arc of this title, received in exchange for an honest review.

This is an odd, fascinating novel with a new perspective on the fantasy cliche of a Princess going on an adventure. The characters are interesting and diverse and there are some interesting takes on typically cliche plot points. It is splendidly written and well-paced. Whilst parts of it did drag a little for me that's a wholly personal preference. This is my first read by T. Kingfisher and I would be interested in reading more in the future.

Have you ever wished the protagonist in your fantasy novel wasn’t a precocious teenager possessed of incredible magical powers or skill in combat? Then you’ll love Nettle & Bone by T.Kingfisher, a moving new fantasy novel about a princess in her thirties without any particular special abilities, who embarks on a quest to save her sister from an abusive marriage.

Marra, the protagonist of Nettle and Bone, is one of the most interesting characters I’ve come across in a while. As she herself admits, she’s not particularly quick on the uptake when it comes to political manoeuvring or noticing the nuances of a situation, which is why she’s happy at first to spend her twenties in a convent, doing embroidery and helping with chores. Everything changes when she visits her sister and her new baby, and realises that her husband, the prince, has been abusing her for years and is essentially holding Marra’s family’s small kingdom to ransom. I liked that Marra seemed to be a pretty average person at first (despite being a princess), not a genius or a prodigy, nor the subject of a great prophecy, like we normally expect in fantasy protagonists. What Marra is, is persistent and honest – now that she’s seen how her sister is suffering, she can’t continue to hide away, but instead travels far and wide to find a solution, picking up a strange assortment of companions on the way.

It was this strange group of companions listed in the blurb of the book that enticed me to read it in the first place. I love a good quest narrative, and stories about an unlikely collection of people thrown together in search of a common goal finding friendship and family with each other. The gravewitch and Marra’s fairy godmother are amazing characters, and I love how much their characters and relationship develop over the course of the novel, again breaking stereotypes of the role played by older women in conventional narratives. I have to say, I ship it. The knight was slightly less compelling to me, but I enjoyed the slow development of his relationship with Marra.

I also love the moments of the grotesque in this book, such as the woman with the puppet that the protagonists meet when they arrive in the prince’s kingdom, and the toe-curling scene under the hill involving Marra’s teeth. It adds a certain fairytale flavour to the narrative, fairy-tales of course being filled with strange and disturbing happenings, from the evil stepsisters cutting off their toes to fit into the glass slippers to Hansel and Gretel shoving the witch into an oven.

I would recommend this book to readers looking for pure fantasy – a compelling, imaginative story of a group of underdogs embarking on a quest that requires courage and teamwork to successfully complete.