I really did try with this book but it just wasn't for me unfortunately and DNF'd at about 40%. I even tried the audiobook too but I think the authors style is just not suited to my tastes as this is the 2nd book ive DNF'd feom them. I also felt this book from what I read was maybe more middle grade and slow going.

A magical and enchanting read. Atmospheric and totally beautiful. A reimaging of an old fairytale and I loved every chapter. The characters are complex but beautiful and enriching. The story is told perfectly and the writing style is phenomenal. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this. I have recommended this to all my magical friends.

This is the first T. Kingfisher book I read, although I had heard a lot about their earlier books. I loved the writing style -- I was immediately immersed in this fairytale-style story. The novella felt enchanted, and it kept me wondering how the story was going to unfold. I didn't realise going in that it was a Sleeping Beauty retelling, but I like that it put a fresh spin on the story!

Really enjoyed. T. Kingfisher is phenomenal at writing short prose that grab your attention and keep you interested.

This was a really enjoyable fairytale with a twist novella that tells the story of Toadling, a fairy cursed to be bound to a tower and Halim, the knight who comes to rescue her. It definitely has influences from sleeping beauty but the hero’s and villains are not who you’d expect!
I really enjoyed the lyrical fairy tale vibe of the story, it was very atmospheric and the elements of fae that were included added a lot to the story!
It was quite short but flowed really well and I didn’t feel anything was missing!
Overall I would really recommend and it was a very cute and sweet story, with a heartwarming message of it’s never too late to start over and let go and stop feeling guilty for your mistakes!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for sending me a copy in exchange for a review.

I had only read one T.Kingfisher book previously, The Twisted Ones, which I did not like with a passion - but I am happy to say that this has renewed my interest in her newer books.

Thornedge was such an interesting twist on the sleeping beauty tale and I really loved it. Toad was such a fascinating character, and I really felt for her in her loneliness, in her feelings of having done everything wrong, and her anxiety in strangers. I loved this book, and will be picking up her other books!

What a stunning re-imagining of the Sleeping Beauty!
This only second book by T. Kingfisher and I can say I absolutely love her writing.
This book was both gentle and fierce, such a moving tale about good and evil, about kindness and love.

CW: violence, murder, blood, dark magic

I have a huge soft spot for this author and I love everything they write. This was another incredible read and didn’t disappoint me. My favourite thing about their books is the way they nail the atmosphere. I felt like I stepped into a gothic world and it complimented the plot and the vibe of the characters. I couldn’t stop reading because I just needed to know what happened next. It’s safe to say that T. Kingfisher has to now be one of my favourite authors and I will wait (not so patiently) for their next masterpiece!

Cute and quick, I just wish it'd been longer. Toadling is a sweetheart. Protect her at all costs. It had bigg Monk and Robot by Becky Chambers vibes in its cosiness and narrative style. The audiobook was great fun. Would recommend 👌

I've been wanting to read T. Kingfisher for a long time but was really intimidated by the horror aspects I heard she instilled in her books. As Thornhedge is a novella and a fairytale rewriting, I thought it could be a good and short way to discover her writing.

The book is indeed pretty short but the story doesn't feel too short or too fast. It reimagines Sleeping Beauty from the point of vue of the "fairy" who puts the princess under sleep.

In her author's note, T. Kingfisher wrote that this book felt like a sweet and cosy story to her, when in fact she mentions torture or children eating monsters. Weirdly enough, I felt the same thing.

I don't know if this is the best book to start reading this author, but I have to say that I'm feeling braver to discover the rest of her books!

Rep: muslim secondary character
TW: torture on animals, death of animals, handling of a corpse, kidnappings

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you so much to Titan Books and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book.

This was a really enjoyable quick read, I would have loved more!

I loved the twist on fairytales and found the writing to be excellent, even with a short story I found the characters compelling and the world fully realised.

This was a great palette cleanser after just forcing myself through another book that did not live up to expectations and took ages for me to finish.

I had seen this book previously on the blogosphere but surprisingly forgot to notice that it was a novella! It was such a short volume that I originally thought I had a corrupted copy, and later, I was surprised at how much of a punch it managed to pack within that slim volume.
This is a modified version of Rapunzel. It makes more sense than the original, especially given the extra background we are given. There is a bit of reality woven into the system with time passing and the feudal system around the world being addressed.
We have an unknown creature guarding a tower that technically does not exist. Seekers have come and gone, and no one has lasted or been as curious as the latest knight. Toadling now has to make a choice, and it is a hard one to make.
We get to know the past a little at a time, and none of the calls that need to be made are easy.
The tale has a reasonably happy ending, especially given the life Toadling had to lead all these years!
I would highly recommend this to fans of fantasy with a twist and would love to try more books by the author.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

An enchanting little novella loosely based on sleeping beauty featuring changelings, curses and a lovely Greenteeth family. I do enjoy Kingfisher's cozy yet dark style of fantasy laced with snarky humour, although this one was a little too short to immerse me in the story as fully as Nettle & Bone did.

(ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley)

This is a fairytale-esque fantasy novella. There's a princess that's been kept locked, sleeping, in a tower for 100s of years. But this isn't her story, it's the story of the fairy-ish person who is keeping her there. She's been equally trapped because if she leaves the princess will get out and bad things will happen.

This was a fun read, it's quite short at under 150 pages. I do like a spin on a fairytale, repositioning who the good guy and who the villain is.

It's a fairly slight story, it's mostly confined to the point in time where a man turns up and decides that he's going to get into the tower and rescue whoever is in there. But it's interspersed with flashbacks showing how and why this situation happened.

4 stars, I'm yet to read a story from T Kingfisher which wasn't enjoyable

Thornhedge is a story of a toadling who is bound to a curse but has to never break it.

She was robbed from her cradle as a baby but when her Fae family asks her to go back to her real parents, she’s sad to part from them.

Time worked differently in Fae and the human realm, so the changeling was still a baby when she came back. On the day of the baby’s christening when Toadling was supposed to offer a blessing to the baby, she accidentally cursed her. The child proved to be a menace and only Toadling could put her to rest.

Toadling was not welcomed easily into the human realm but she soon becomes a person whom everyone turned for help. She felt guilty for putting that curse on the changeling but she worked everyday to keep her from harming others as much as possible. But soon the curse got out of control took and the girl was beyond saving, so she was put to sleep in the tower.

Now Toadling had to make sure no one sneak past her and broke the curse.

This book was a short escape into the medieval world, filled with magic and trickery. I was curious to see how Toadling would undo the curse, and the solution was bittersweet. In this book, the curse was based on semantics just like it did in many other books.

Toadling was loyal and kind. She was constantly debating about her Fae nature. At the end, it was a bit of both (human and Fae qualities) that shaped her morals.

I’d recommend this book to anyone looking for a light Fantasy.

Thanks to Titan Books for the DRC of the book!!

This, along with my recent read of Nettle & Bone have cemented T Kingfisher as an auto-buy author for me.
Thornhedge was a gorgeously written, inventive and heartwarming Sleeping Beauty retelling - as heartwarming as a story can be where the dead are reanimated for grotesque pleasure and the hero prefers the company of man eating fish-monsters.
T Kingfisher is the queen of subversive fairy tales, and I can't wait to read more of her work. 5 stars.

This was my first T Kingfisher and (despite not always being a big fan of fairytale retellings) I read it through in one setting. I was completely enveloped in the world whilst reading, however, I'm not sure how much it will stick with me. That said, not all books need to deeply resonate with the reader to be a great reading experience, and Thornhedge is certainly an enjoyable read. The characters are distinct and well-fleshed out. and combined with the gorgeous prose, I'm very keen to read more by Kingfisher - especially some of her longer and perhaps more complex books.

Another cozy retelling from an amazing author.
You think you have already read enough retellings of this particular fairy tale, and then T.Kingfisher proofs you wrong. I loved the characters and their interaction. The way that Toadling sees the world (for ex. the way she interprets beauty in others as something that makes them powerfull or wise or important to the community and not just looks) is very unique. Even though there are child-eating fish-people and a murdering changeling, there is really not much dramatization in this book. No huge emotions or revenge plots, but rather a quiet form of responsibility and justice.
I loved it.

Yet another T Kingfisher book that I really enjoyed! I loved this mini fairytale but feel like if it had been a bit longer and fleshed out then I would have loved it even more!

Thornhedge is a sometimes cozy sometimes creepy twisted retelling of Sleeping Beauty following Toadling, a kind-hearted, toad-shaped girl who was stolen from her family at birth & raised happily in the waters of faerieland until she is one day tasked with returning to the human world to offer protection to a princess. Centuries later, Toadling lives alone among a towering wall of brambles that hides a castle, & it’s secrets, within until one day a gentle knight approaches, determined to break a curse that Toadling will do anything to uphold.

I really enjoyed this quick & quirky little fantasy, Toadling was a wonderful character who I found was written well - I instantly empathised with her. Despite the creepy/gothic undertones of the tale this was heart warming in many ways. I liked the way the story switched between the past and the present, slowly revealing more about Toadling and allowing you to put together the pieces of her life. This was my first book by T Kingfisher and I felt they had a unique but enjoyable style of writing- I look forward to reading more from this author in the future!