A skilful re-weaving of a classic tale, a familiar story but one that manages to feel, taste, and smell different to those I've read before.

This is the first T. Kingfisher book I've had the pleasure to read, and now I'm going to seek out her other works, because this novella felt so clever, vivid, and perfectly paced for me, and I'm still reeling at how well-written her characters are for such a short work, and how, in a genre filled with faery, retellings of classic fairy tales, romance, this book, which should feel to done to death, stands out and felt like a breath of fresh air.

It is the first novella I've read where the ending didn't feel rushed, and nothing felt contrived, no triumph or character moment unearned. It was creepy, eerie, murky, and at the same time filled with light. Despite the danger, the sharp teeth, and the threatening atmosphere, I agree with the author, in that when I'd finished reading, I felt like I'd read something beautifully sweet.

Loved it!

This was one of T Kingfisher's best novellas that I've read from her. It was magical, joyful and all-encompassing in the writing style.
I think she does fantasy writing so well! These characters were well-drawn out and enjoyable to read. The story was unique yet so familiar at the same time. I enjoy retellings that flip the fairytale on its head and delivers a new perspective and that's what this book does.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Titan books for the ARC. This was even better than expected. Ridiculously good! T. Kingfisher is becoming an auto buy author for me.

This book was so unique. It's Sleeping Beauty but with a twist. The main character in this book is Toadling who was taken and raised by fairies since birth. She is then sent to the Goddess to be educated. She is sent back to the mortal world to give a gift to a baby. The writing is so good and the world building is done so well.

I found myself rooting for Toadling. The author shows us that beautiful actions are better than beautiful appearances. She wants to do the right thing and I like how the author has adapted this fairytale into her own. This is such a good example of a retelling. Light and dark blends together to create never before perspectives of a well known tale.

A magical and captivating tale!

I really hoped to love this book, but I just couldn't really get into it. As it was short, I kept reading.

The writing style is lovely and the I loved the character descriptions.

There is nothing wrong with this book, it just isn't for me.

Thornhedge is a book that feels simultaneously so unique and yet so familiar. Comp titles for this book would be the Fractured Fables books by Alix E. Harrow and Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman (all 5 stars titles, btw) with maybe a sprinkling of Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire but nothing quite compares.

It is a short book and one that is best experienced with as little foreknowledge of the plot going in because it truly is a joy to be swept along as the story flows and unravels on the page. This story has that irresistible mix of fairytale magic with a real vicious darkness that speaks to my jaded heart so strongly.

I really enjoyed how delightfully different this book was and Toadling truly is a wonderful character, I would gladly read multiple books following this character doing the most mundane things because she has a sweetness to her that is totally unmatched. Whilst Toadling is definitely the stand-out of this tale - as she should be as the protag - the supporting cast are incredibly varied and equally-well developed and creative.

This is my second time reading a T. Kingfisher book and I have not been disappointed so I will definitely be looking to read more of her back catalogue as she does a fantastic job of creating stories that keep the reader on their toes whilst falling in love with the yarn that she spins.

Ahhhh this is such a lovely, eerie, lightly-romantic and wonderfully creepy retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story! This time, it's told from the perspective of the fairy godmother who cursed her...and in this version, she had very good reason.

If you're a fan of either Robin McKinley's novels or Sylvia Townsend Warner's short stories about the chillingly inhuman elven courts, I think you'll absolutely eat this up with delight. I did! And I really, really loved the ending.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

I enjoyed a lot of things about Thornhedge. The characters Toadling and Halim are delightful, and I love how their friendship develops and how Halim gives us some 'modern' worldbuilding as well. I like how the plot took a lot of fairytale tropes (largely from Sleeping Beauty) and either subverted or significantly changed them. The magic system was also really well done.

It was a quick read, with great pacing that kept me engaged throughout, and the atmosphere and worldbuilding definitely had that distinct fairytale feel to it (the author describes it as 'sweet' in her acknowledgements and I agree!)

The downsides for me are the ending and the changeling trope.

I'm very wary of the changeling trope. The myth/history of changelings is deeply rooted in ableism, as children with physical or mental disabilities (and who therefore didn't develop or act as expected) were thought to have been fae or monsters swapped with the real human child at birth. This therefore 'justified' abuse and murder of these children. Because of this it can be a very 'problematic' trope in books, though can be done really well (House of Hollow for example!).

This book was feeling like it was going to do it reasonably well. There was a lot at the beginning where the changeling was portrayed as a violent monster with a total lack of empathy, only interested in causing pain. This wasn't great. But then towards the 70-80% mark we had a lot of discussion between Toadling and Halim about the possibility of change. However, in the end, she was shown to be irredeemable and was quickly killed.

This felt anticlimactic to me and left me a little disappointed, not only from a 'bad changeling trope' point of view but as a general ending to the story. It happened very quickly. I'm not opposed to the 'princess' dying per se but it all felt very rushed and left me dissatisfied in a way I can't quite put my finger on.

Overall, I did like this. I don't want to use the term cosy but something about this book felt that way and I would have loved to see more of the world. Folklore/fairytale type stories are something I'm wanting to get into more and I think this is a decent addition to that genre.

I reeeeeally enjoyed this. I love this style of fae story, yes it’s short but honestly it was perfect. Like a mid course palate cleanser. My precious read had hurt my heart and this read was the warm hug I needed to move on.
The story is a sleeping beauty retelling with a twist. Toad Fae and changelings. Loved it.

tl;dr: T. Kingfisher’s THORNHEDGE will indubitably delight her fans. With its short length and bittersweet gut punches, it is likely to convince even more people, though.
THORNHEDGE by T. Kingfisher

An ARC was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. THORNHEDGE will be published on 15 August 2023.

Toadling grows up among the greenteeth, swamp-dewlling Fae known for eating unwary swimmers. When she is asked to deliver a blessing at a christening in the mortal world she makes a mistake and the gift turns into a curse she is forced to uphold. Hundreds of years pass until a knight finds the tower covered in brambles and vows to break the curse by any means necessary.
Bittersweet, subversive gut punches

Compared to A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, my most recently reviewed Kingfisher story, Thornhedge has a much clearer voice, which might partly be due to the shorter length of the novella format or because Toadling came to her “fully formed”, as she writes in her acknowledgements. Either way, the two main characters are well-developed and feel rounded. Their backstories are interesting and revealed in just the right ways so they fit into the overall narrative. For example, both Toadling and Halim, the knight, have mothers that have clearly left an impression on them and shaped their lives. Though there are many and maybe more obvious subversions of classic fairytale tropes in this retelling of Sleeping Beauty, this might be one of the most interesting ones.

Besides subversive fairytales, Kingfisher is also known for her humour and the way kindness and brutal honesty are intertwined in her works. In Thornhedge that combination makes for a particularly bittersweet experience because Toadling’s journey involves learning that sometimes, giving it your all is not enough and that knowing when to stop can be just as important as practicing love and kindness in the first place. There is also no danger at any point that lessons on kindness and love turn saccharine. Both Toadling and Halim approach it with utter seriousness and the horror elements woven into the story ground it further. The latter in particular emphasise kindness rather than dampen it, as some might expect. To Kingfisher’s credit, her way with horror manages to show both the good and the bad that may come from it (e.g., destructive changeling vs. loving greenteeth), giving Thornhedge further depth without adding much in terms of length. No small feat.

Rating

I think I’ve mostly ready novel-length Kingfisher fiction so far and though I liked all of it, it hardly ever crossed the threshold of “really good”. Thornhedge felt somehow different and manages to get four stars. It might have been the thorough bittersweetness of it all but I also suspect the shorter format helped. Unfortunately, I haven’t read any of her other novellas (e.g., What Moves the Dead) but am curious to test my hypothesis.

Perfect storytelling and a wonderful novella, an ideal addition to any fantasy section and particularly good for a cosy autumn read.

I honestly read this ARC more than once, because I loved it so much - I am coming fast to the conclusion that T. Kingfisher could never make a bad book, and this is another good example of that.

I can't explain how much I love Toadling. When all the pages were done, all the filled up 89 pages of this book of my copy, I was not ready to leave her. I need more of Toadling, she's such a wonderful character who really delivers on every page. I want a play of this book, it would be so good (in fact a play of this book with the Horrible Histories cast, don't at me).

The plot moves well and leaves you wanting more. I loved every page as this story develops and it takes its twists and turns. What I really love about it is how Halim's and Toadling's characters develop and how their relationship blooms throughout this story. I wanna talk about this book to so many people. I wanna force it in people's hands.

I loved this book, I will read T. Kingfisher's work as soon as they appear.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I do love T Kingfisher so was so excited when I saw this and I wasn’t disappointed at all, ! Thornhedge is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, wuth theKingfisher douch expect a lovely tale but with dark themes. The story grabs you and I was hooked, given it’s a novella more, it really does go too quickly (not a criticism more because it was so good) I did wish I could have more but I’m always greedy,fabulous read

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thornhedge is a fairytale. It's not really about good or bad but something in between. Somehow these short pages were nearly capable of giving me an existential crisis (I say nearly because I'm trying not to think about it).

I have been intrigued about T. Kingfisher for a good while but I don't think her books are for me. This would be great for anyone who likes books about fairies, but I'm more into faes.

4.0/5.0

I do not know how Kingfisher managed to create such endearing characters and such a captivating plot in 120 pages but wow did she manage it. A true masterclass of novella writing.

Despite its size, Thornhedge is a fantastic twist on the classic sleeping beauty tale chock full of fae and water magic. I'm eager to see T. Kingfisher tackle other traditional fairy tales in a similar way

Huge thanks to Titan Books and NetGalley for the arc of Thornhedge by T Kingfisher aka Ursula Vernon, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
I couldn’t help myself – fairytale retelling + T Kingfisher (UV) = MUST HAVE! And, yes, I know, I shouldn’t start a sentence with and but, I have and I am, so there! And boy does Kingfisher deliver, this book is a retelling of the age old fairytale Sleeping Beauty but, with the best twist ever. Whereas the original focuses on the sleeping maiden in all her beauty and goodness being rescued from the evil fairy by the handsome prince, here we have a good semi-fairy, a not so brave or handsome muslim knight and the sleeping beauty is definitely not on the side of those who are good, honest and kind!
Kingfisher is very clear that this is a novella and not a full blown novel and for that reason it’s easy to forgive the lack of depth in the story but, despite this the tale is engaging and empathetic, Toadling the ‘fairy’ is a wonderful character. She isn’t beautiful, she isn’t really a fairy but, she is good, kind and easy to fall for. Her honesty, patience and endurance are truly wonderful and you can’t help but, be on her side.
Toadling was swapped at birth with a changeling, taken from her human family and dumped in Fairy land, where she was fortunate enough to not only survive but, be raised by water creatures isolated from the majority of the fairy world, with a loving kindness that undoubtedly contributes to her inner beauty as a character. Toadling isn’t perfect and is very aware of her faults, she is quite introspective and abhors conflict and violence, all of which contribute to the plight she finds herself in. She is a wonderful, sweet character and I will fight you if you say different!
Toadling finds herself in a conundrum; After years of guarding her ‘sleeping beauty’, her isolated world is interrupted by the arrival of a muslim knight, who epitomises all that isn’t knightly, he isn’t really a fighter, he’s more of a thinker and is immensely curious, wanting to know if there is a ‘sleeping beauty’ hidden behind the brambles and thorns surrounding the castle. This creates a huge problem for Toadling, and she has no idea how to deal with it.
Kingfisher keeps the worldbuilding for Thornhedge vague enough that it resembles middle ages Europe but, she doesn’t specify nor does she info-dump, instead she weaves in the myth and magic of the Fairy world alongside the human world, creating a setting that is almost comforting in it’s vagueness. I adored the atmosphere that this created, which allowed Toadling to grow and explore the limits of her magical abilities and the development of the story .
This is a definite 4.5 star read for me, my only disappointment is that it wasn’t longer. I didn’t want the story to end. This is definitely a hug of a story, it has an atmosphere and feeling that is gentle and sweet and I totally recommend it if you’re looking for something that puts an engaging and interesting twist on an age old fairy tale.

By Kingfisher's own description Thornhedge is a 'sweet' story. If course there is evil and monsters and death and torture.. but the overall tone is kind and loving.

Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty combined and turned entirely upside down- Thornhedge is written in third person, past tense centering on the life of Toadling. Toadling stolen as a babe from the King only to be returned later as keeper of the powerful changeling the Fae had replaced her with.

The two main characters are wonderfully naive and loveable, Kingfisher nails the world building as always with beautiful description in step with a well paced plot.

Thornhedge is the perfect light-hearted novella with enough grit to keep us dark dwelling adults on our toes.

This was such an interesting read! I found myself so engrossed in the story, the characters had such incredible arcs, and I can't wait to follow this author's journey!

'Thornhedge' is a 'Sleeping Beauty' retelling with a twist: the protagonist is not the sleeping maiden or the brave knight coming to her rescue, but instead the creature tasked with keeping her there. It's an intriguing premise and deftly told, but lacks the depth needed for full investment in the story.

It is Toadling's purpose - and penace - to guard the tower and the sleeping maiden inside. Surrounded by thick walls of brambles and thorns, Toadling watches the centuries go by. However, when a particularly persistent knight appears searching for the story of a princess locked in a tower, Toadling finds herself grappling with her purpose - and with her wishes for the future.

Toadling is undoubtedly the highlight of the novella. Taken at birth and raised by the fairies, she's not quite human - but not fully a fairy either. Despite her age, she's spent the majority of her life in isolation, leaving her a quiet and introspective character whose first instinct is to flee from conflict. She's kind, sweet, and huge hearted, and an intriguing mixture of innocent and observant. It's clear that she struggles to feel comfortable in her own skin, and that colours the way she acts - even when no-one else is around. Toadling is a fascinating character to be in the head of, and while innocent outsiders are a fairly common trope in fantasy, she feels fresh enough to be engaging.

The worldbuilding is simple but effective. Kingfisher avoids info-dumping, using flashbacks and introspective moments to introduce gradual titbits about the world and characters. The setting is reminiscent of historical Europe without committing firmly to any specific place, with the fae aspects seamlessly woven alongside. The descriptions of the tower setting, the passing of the centuries, and Toadling's life in the flashback sequences are all well-written, descriptive in a pictorial way without being too flowery or distracting.

Where the story falls down a little is in how superficial it feels. In working hard to achieve a fairytale, whimsical atmosphere, it loses some of the character depth that would elevate it to a five-star read. There are glimpses of Toadling's longing for a different future but this is barely explored. Similarly, there are hints at depth for the knight Toadling meets, but his character is - intentionally or not - allowed to remain fairly two-dimensional, talking about rather than showing any further facets to his personality. The gentle, sweet aura of the book will strongly appeal to other readers, but I always like a bit more emotional depth in my reads.

Overall, this is a readable and engaging novella that puts an intriguing twist on the tale of 'Sleeping Beauty'. It reads quite superficial in places, but for those looking for a cosy read it ticks plenty of boxes.

Not for me! I've been hoping to find a T Kingfisher book that works but I just don't think their writing is for me. It is what is is. I think others will enjoy this book.