Title: Thornhedge
Author: T. Kingfisher
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Publication Date: Aug 15, 2023
Format: Audiobook
Length: 4 hours

Read if you like: dark fairy tales, twists on classic stories, flawed heroes, dark coming-of-age stories , botched missions

Rating: 

Thornhedge was both exactly what it said it would be, and not at all what I expected. It’s pitched as a dark twist on a classic fairy tale, and it was definitely that, but in many ways, it also broke the main moulds of a typical fairy tale in achingly real ways. It’s been weeks since I finished this book and I feel like I’m still thinking about some of the creepier aspects of it and the underlying messages that unaccompanied the story. 

Thornhedge was a concise novella, but it packed a real punch. It’s a story I think that’s likely to stick with me for quite some time.

The Book Synopsis: Thornhedge by T. Kingsfisher

There’s a princess trapped in a tower. This isn’t her story.

Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?

But nothing with fairies is ever simple.

Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He’s heard there’s a curse here that needs breaking, but it’s a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold…

The Review

This was a fascinating story, one that presents in a very familiar, sleeping beauty way, but quickly morphs into something more sinister and dangerous feeling.

In terms of the overall story, I liked the combination of fae and dark magic with the classic fairy tale twist. It’s clear from the main character Toadling’s stress that the sleeping maiden she’s protecting holds a darker secret than the usual fairy tale holds, but you only get to learn the true depth of this darkness slowly over time as small snippets of Toadling’s life and mission unfold in pieces of memory. Eventually, it’s not just her, but also a would-be saviour of a prince who seeks not so much the maiden herself, but the secrets that she represents in the dwelling she occupies. Toadling has spent much of the past couple hundred years attempting to erase this history from memory but it seems determined to re-emerge despite her efforts.

Speaking of the sleeping maiden, I can’t think of a creepier would-be heroine gone wrong. While Kingfisher establishes a very fantasy setting, she also ties in realistic aspects, like settings connected to familiar historical places and characters that feel more human than magic, and it humanizes the sleeping maiden in the worst possible ways. Her evil is rooted in her history as a changeling, but her actions echo those typically observed in real-life sociopaths and present social dilemmas that arise in real life as well. What do you do when loving someone isn’t enough to change them? What do you do when the one you love has an irreversible tendency towards harm?  How much harm is too much? They’re all questions the characters find themselves asking, and then facing the consequences of the answers. It’s surprisingly painful to witness and entirely unsettling. 

I think one of the things I appreciated the most about this book was that Toadling and her knight weren’t exactly conventional heroes. They were just beings, trying to make the best of a bad situation. They know the outcomes of the decisions they’ve made aren’t always noble, no matter how noble the intention, but hope that the benefits outweigh the harm. It’s the best that they can do in an exceptionally difficult and morally perilous situation. 

I’ve had this book on my TBR since it was released but it still took me completely by surprise. I wasn’t expecting it to take the dark turns and twists that it did, even knowing it was a dark take on a classic, but weeks later I’m still thinking about it, so it worked for me. I also listened to this book on audio and felt like it was a superb delivery. 

If you’re looking for a quick fantasy novella that packs a punch, I’d pick this one up.