Once upon a time, I read a book called "Nettle & Bone" by T. Kingfisher, and became utterly obsessed with that specific type of fairytale-esque fantasy. The obsession is still alive and well, and it not only turned Kingfisher into an auto-buy author for me, it also made me weep when I got the arc of this here novella, "Thornhedge".
I am even more obsessed now.
By which I mean, this book is just absolute perfection. It's a spin on the Sleeping Beauty fairytale, and while I wished for it to be a longer novel (mostly because I just adore Kingfisher's writing and the complex and strangely whimsical characters she blesses us with), it's just the perfect quick novella read as it is. This time, Sleeping Beauty's fairy godmother is the one in the spotlight, and she - Toadling, as she's called - might just be one of my favourite characters Kingfisher has ever written. She's tragic in all the good ways, absolutely adorable, relatably weird and simply loveable. It has been her job to guard a hidden tower and it's sleeping inhabitant for centuries now, but her rather monotonous life is about to change when she meets a knight on a quest to find exactly that tower. He's such an intiguing new spin on a fairytale knight, too. I just adored them.
All in all, this is another hit in a row of hits by Kingfisher and if you loved her previous work, you'll love this too. If you don't know her brand of fantasy just yet but are interested in a clever new spin on an old story, give "Thornhedge" a try, too. You won't regret it. 5 stars, easily.

This was such an interesting and unique twist on a well loved fairy tale!

Short but sweet and I loved every second! Fairytale feel with T. Kingfisher’s classic dark and spooky twist.

"The love of monsters was uncomplicated."

Once upon a time there was a sleeping princess in a tower protected by a thick thorn edge. 'Thornhedge' is not about her though. Instead, it's about a girl who was stolen from her family as a baby, and raised in the land of faerie by water creatures.

Toadling, as she's called, grows up being loved, roiling in the mud and catching fish. But one day a goddess comes and says she must return to the land of humans to protect the baby who had taken Toadling's place. But, the spell Toadling is meant to cast goes wrong and now it's 200 years later and everyone is gone from the tower but her.

Then, a knight shows up (as they do), wondering what's behind all the thorns. Toadling tries to convince him it's nothing but Halim has heard a beautiful princess has been hidden.

This is a charming novella that is an inverse retelling of 'Sleeping Beauty'. It's both clever and sweet. l loved Halim's exchanges with Toadling. I loved Toadling and her gentle desire to do what is right. A lovely story that will delight lovers of fairytales.

Thank you NetGalley and for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really interesting twist of Rapunzel, where the ‘fair maiden’ does not always need to be saved by the knight. Perhaps, the curse is there for a reason, and it's better to not break it. Whilst the characters were easily likeable and the plot adds a lot of depth to the fairytale, I got a little bored. There wasn’t enough action or things happening for me, unfortunately, and the pace was a little too slow.

Thornhedge is a retelling of sleeping beauty, in a qwirky T Kingfisher kind of a way!

Our poor protagonist Toadling is a sweet character who was stolen away by fairies but has grown to love her simple life in toad form. However when she reaches adulthood she is asked to perform a blessing on a child which of course goes wrong and turned into a curse.

In true fairytale form the book has deep and colourful world building. The characters are diverse and intriguing to read about and i enjoyed watching Toadling throughout the plot. T Kingfishers weaves a beautiful story that had me from the first page.

Thanks to net galley for the arc of this!

This novella is a sideways look at the sleeping beauty fairytale - why is a castle cloaked in sleep and hidden behind a thick thorny hedge if not to keep someone dangerous from the rest of the world?

So disclaimer, T Kingfisher is an autobuy author for me, I’ve loved every one of her fantasy stories that I’ve read. With that said, I enjoyed this story but it was far from my favourite. It’s short, it’s sweet, it’s an interesting look at a much examined fairytale, but it’s a bit limp at times. Toadling is a quiet protagonist, and I really loved her. The total and inevitable evil of the villain was, for me, overly simplistic, but only when I thought about it once I’d finished, it didn’t bother me while I was reading. I sped through it because, despite the occasionally lacking atmosphere, I was hooked on how the story was unfolding. A mixed bag, but definitely more good that not.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC! I really like T. Kingfisher’s horror books so I wanted to try out one of her fantasy novels.

This is a sleeping beauty retelling with a twist. Toadling was taken from the mortal world when she was a baby and replaced with a changeling. Now she guards a tower surrounded by thorns and stops people from breaking the spell she has put on it.

This was an interesting short story/novella. I really like T. Kingfisher’s writing style; she conjures up some great imagery and the magic system was intriguing. Apart from that I really don’t have much else to say about it, it was just fine.

If you like fantasy retellings and fantasy novellas or any of T. Kingfisher’s other works then I would pick this up but it’s not a must read in my opinion.

In this uniquely twisted fairytale we follow Toadling, a once human born girl, who after years and years of being isolated and alone meets a kind knight, Halim and while they get to know and start to be fond of each other, we learn about the story of the sleeping (cursed) maiden. Not as the storybooks once told it, but as how Toadling remembers, because everything started with her, a changeling taking her place and she growing up in the fae world.

T. Kingfisher’s writing is absolutely exquisite and easy to fall in love with. It grabs your attention and holds until the end. Her creativity shines through the chapters and I really enjoyed this take on a beloved fairytale, where the sleeping princess is the villain, the “Fairy Godmother” fails and gets stuck in the human world.

This book is perfect for reading in one sitting, it is cosy, full of with feelings, trying our bests no matter how we fail — hope remains. It’s also about unexpected and beautiful love, found family and the power of stories.

"Thornhedge is the tale of a kind-hearted, toad-shaped heroine, a gentle knight, and a mission gone completely sideways."

I love a good fairytale retelling.

This was a GREAT fairytale retelling.

I loved Toadling's origin story. I loved her Greenteeth family, and the explanation of Changelings.

I loved the dreamlike quality of her life in the water, her inner monologue, and that the ending was left wide open.

The main male character, the world's worst night, was a bit milquetoast for me, but I liked his interactions with her - that he listened and trusted Toadling. 

I LOVED that creepy little girl, and would read the heck out of a story with her inner thoughts.

T Kingfisher is quickly becoming a Season's Pass for me.

7.5/10

Thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, Tor Publishing, and Titan Books for this ARC.

A short Sleeping Beauty retelling where the author explores why a princess might need to be locked in a tower behind a wall of thorns. Toadling was a phenomenal character and I'd honestly love to have just read about her upbringing with the Greenteeth. A unique approach to a classic fairytale.

Sleeping Beauty with a twist…
Thornhedge is a beautiful story following a changeling fairie as she navigates growing up amongst the water fairies, being tasked to bestow a gift upon a newborn baby, and begrudgingly become friends with a friendly knight.
T. Kingfisher once again has not failed to craft a beautiful story and once again I have been enchanted.
I think the most impressive thing is what T. Kingfisher was able to achieve in such a small amount of pages.
It is very impressive to be able to captivate a reader and make them love your characters in such a short amount of time.

The more of T. Kingfisher’s work I read the more I appreciate her craft, creativity and humor.

Thornhedge is a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale but with a twist. It’s told from the perspective of the “fairy” that cast the spell that put the princess to sleep. To say anything else about the plot would be spoilerific. Suffice it to say that the main character, Toadling, is an adorable monster. Some people say that this story is “dark” or is “Horror”. But I’m here to talk you it is neither of those things. If “Sweet Horror” were a subgenre, this would be it.

Thanks to T. Kingfisher, Tor / Titan Books and Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for a review. All views are my own.

A really wonderful novella from one of our most popular fantasy authors at the moment. Thornhedge is beautifully written and populated by Substantial Characters with real depth to them. An interesting take on the Sleeping Beauty folktale what we will be requesting to stock.

T. Kingfisher´s books are always delightful. I loved the two protagonists and how the passing of history plays into the world and atmosphere. The world of this in general – the fae world especially – was so interesting and the part of it Toadling grows up in is so cozy, too. I´m not a huge fan of the “born evil” trope, but I like the idea of why it is used here so much.

T Kingfisher has been an auto buy author for me since the first book of hers I read (The Wizards Guide to Defensive Baking - everyone should read it) and all of her books have been amazing. Releasing tomorrow, Thornhedge is no exception. Toadling - a fairy of earth and water. Who shifts into a toad and lives among thorns.

Toadling is a changing. A human child swapped at birth with a fae. Toadling gets swept away to the land for Faerie, and tossed to the Greenteeth. Creatures of mud and slime and warm waters. Her home.

But happiness is shattered. She is needed by the fae that stole her. Sent back into the house of her father. She must protect them from a great danger. So Toadling did her best.

That knight camped outside high walls of thorns. Impenetrable, sharp and foreboding. The very ground seemed to warm him away. Bad luck befell his camp. But still he persisted. And in persisting he met the fairy protecting it all - Toadling. She slips out of the cool wet form of a toad, and for the first time in years and years and years. She talks.

A sleeping beauty retelling, but that doesn’t do it justice. It’s about loving the small things, about small dreams that are more the enough. It’s haunting and heartwarming at the same time.

Big thanks to @titanbooks for sending this out to me in exchange for an honest review 🐌

A short and easy read this quirky book packs a punch and I just adored it.

Thornhedge is a sleeping beauty retelling with a twist that you won’t expect!

We follow Toadling, a sweet and anxious ‘godmother’ who is determined to keep the tower and who it contains a secret.

Unwittingly thrown into the role of fairy godmother Toadling does everything in her limited fairy power to keep this tower hidden for hundreds of years yet soon a very persistent knight could change everything.

I absolutely adored this book and read it in one sitting. Toadling was a sweet protagonist filled with a desire to make things right and her interactions with the persistent knight further adds to the cuteness and underlining tension of the story and is so well written.

Lured in by a story and hoping to find a curse to break the knight, an absolute mumma’s boy, is a wonderful addition to the tale and this unique and wonderfully strange retelling will have you wanting more!

So much is conveyed in a short amount of time and the cosy but dark fairytale tones lure you in from the first pages. Yet being dark and gritty in places doesn’t negate the cosiness and sweetness of Toadling and her struggles and I can’t explain how cleverly this was written.

Unique and sweet and wonderfully strange this very short and quick cosy, dark fairytale retelling will capture your heart. My only issue was it was too short!

Thornhedge is out now - what are you waiting for?!

The older we get we know stories offer truths and lies. Why are witches always bad, youngest children always the Chosen Ones and what is it with the rule of three even in this sentence making an appearance. Stories evolve and we’ve seen in recent years many re-interpretations and re-imaginings of various tales. T Kingfisher brings their usual unique view to a certain familiar tale in their fantasy novella Thornhedge and delivers a charming tale with a few surprises.

Toadling is a fairy guarding a tall and incredibly prickly hedge. One that surrounds a castle and it’s Keep, that few know about. The centuries pass and Toadling stays to do their duty but is shocked when a knight appears. Halim has heard about this magical place and wishes to enter it and discover the secret within. Toadling fears a great danger that she feels responsible for could be about to reawaken and so tells Halim her own life-story and how she is responsible for what was to come.

T Kingfisher always knows how to write an engaging story and to bring a fresh angle. What I enjoyed is the viewpoint here is not some super-powered well-dressed witch with interesting headgear but instead Toadling feels more a standard fae who simply was told by their bosses what to do. When your main character can just turn into toads and cast only a few spells we know we’re not dealing with true evil. In fact, Kingfisher makes us witness all of Toadling’s life from being stolen from humans; made to live in fae worlds and then told by a Hare Goddess no less, to visit a castle and do a job. Yes, we’re in Sleeping Beauty territory here but this time from a low-level fae viewpoint. This manages to be both comic and sad at the same time. We really care for Toadling especially as we realise their own connection to the Royal family she meets.

Indeed, Fayette as this version of Beauty here we find is the more alarming character. We don’t though find her unusually evil just very very very creepy and scary. The slow horror we eventually see is that Fayette themselves were basically doomed from the day they were born and they’re a really interesting antagonist that we fear, understand and in some cases feel sorry that despite all the havoc they create. It is refreshing that Toadling though is believed and treated fairly by people simply because Toadling is a kind person. No grimdark fears here to worry about. Finally, there is a lovely inversion as our Prince Charming in the form of Halim is a non-arrogant, soft hearted and very average looking hero that bonds neatly with Toadling. They’re two outsiders who find a connection and it’s a nice simple friendship with a hint of more to come.

The one drawback with story-tales though is even with inversions you know what is to come. This is a tale more of the strange and unusual rather than creepy and dark kind and overall while I really enjoyed it I think people may find the likely path of the story even with these changes still very familiar. Not though a bad thing. I really enjoyed this and read it in one sitting. Kingfisher is always entertaining, and this will warm hearts and bring a smile. Well worth a look!

In a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, or perhaps, an anti-Sleeping Beauty, T Kingfisher gives us, yes, a beautiful princess sleeping in a tower around which thorns and briars have grown up - but the princess is not the centre of the story. Rather the authors asks exactly why a princess would be cursed to sleep, and what the thorns are all about?

Are they, as often assumed, to keep others out?

Or are they to keep her in...?

In a short novel, Kingfisher provides answers but more interestingly she gives us Toadling, the fairy who wrought the magic and who now guards the castle through endless centuries. Generally successful, she's about to encounter a particularly resourceful and determined knight, Salim, who is driven not by desire for a bride or for treasure, but by simple curiosity.

The blooming relationship between the two, people from inimaginably different backgrounds, casts light on the sort-of history to which Kingfisher assigns the story. It's sometime after the breakup of the Roman Empire, in a region populated by Muslins, Christians and Jews, where a knight might be of any faith or none. Fairies are respected and feared but not hated, and people get along in general.

The sleeping princess is, though, a problem, for reasons I won't go into as they would spoil the story. Finding a solution to that problem will require Toadling to explore her own story, confront loss and consider her place in the world. Above all, after being alone for hundreds of years, she will have to learn how to actually be with others - whether these are the fairies that raised her (the Greenteeth of I think Northen English legend) or the humans from whom she was snatched as a baby.

A sweet, engaging story with a core of steel (or perhaps, thorns) at its heart.

Recommended.

3.5 stars!!

I feel like I could have LOVED this story if it was a full-length novel. I just wish all of the characters were fleshed out a bit more and had more screentime. I absolutely adore her characters, but with a story this short, you can only fit in so much.

Ms. Kingfisher, please. I need another Swordheart. I still have her Saint of Steel series to read next, but after that I think I'm caught up on her fantasy backlist!

‘There's a princess trapped in a tower. This isn't her story.’ - cover tag line

My thanks to Titan Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Thornhedge’ by T. Kingfisher.

This was my first experience of Kingfisher’s writing and based on this experience it certainly won’t be the last. It was a beautifully crafted faerie tale that captured my heart from its opening page.

At the hour of her birth a baby is stolen from her cradle and a changeling left in her place. In the Faerie world she is raised by the greenteeth, slimy swamp-dwelling fae. They name her Toadling. When she is fifteen the Hare Goddess comes to her and carries her away to a backwater faerie court where she is educated by the catfish-faced Master Gourami.

She eventually learns that she was born human, the daughter of the king of a small kingdom. While years have passed in Faerie only five days have passed in the mortal world. Master Gourami says that her education will continue and that she will then be sent back to the mortal world to stand on the seventh day as faerie godmother to the changeling baby who had taken her place!

Centuries later, a young Muslim knight named Halim approaches an impenetrable wall of brambles. He is the younger son of a poor noble family and had come across an old book with a tale about a tower and a maiden under a curse. Of course, he felt that as a knight it is his duty to seek the tower, break the curse, and rescue the maiden. Then he encounters Toadling, who will do anything to uphold the curse.

You will need to read this little gem of a novel yourself to find out what happened at the christening, why Toadling is guarding the wall of thorns and the tower hidden within as well as how Halim fares on his quest.

This excellent storytelling is accompanied by a wealth of descriptions of the peoples of Faerie, including a silver furred hare goddess with eyes full of moonlight, fickle natured kelpies, and of course Toadling, who is able to change from her woman-shape into a toad. This lyrical tale is tempered by touches of the macabre and dark humour.

I especially enjoyed the interaction between Toadling and the gentle Halim from their first encounter when she seeks to think him on his way and then sneaks up on him while he sleeps too close to her brambles and starts to weave elf-knots in his curly hair through to its magical final pages.

I felt that ‘Thornhedge’ was an enchanting reimagining of ‘Sleeping Beauty’, a perfect faerie tale. I loved it so much and now plan to explore T. Kingfisher’s back catalogue.

Very highly recommended.