A-
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
TW: stillbirth and death of infants, domestic violence including rape (all of these are alluded to but not shown or explicitly described)
Take the horror elements from T. Kingfisher’s novel The Hollow Places and combine them with the character dynamics and gentle, slow-burn romance of the Paladin series and you get Nettle and Bone, a fairy tale in which a princess enlists the help of a witch, a warrior, and an evil godmother in her efforts to kill a prince. I ate this book up to the detriment of several other things that I was supposed to be doing. I regret nothing.
Our story opens with an exhausted princess who is also almost but not quite a nun (it makes sense in context) struggling to build a dog out of bones, so right away we know we are not in for a light hearted romp. Even in a desperate situation such as this, Marra (the above mentioned princess/almost-nun) is capable of dry humor. Marra is attempting to complete the three impossible tasks that will convince a dust-witch to help her kill a prince.
If the above paragraph seems like a lot, fear not, for all shall be explained, although the plot will become increasingly complex as more characters join Marra on her quest. Marra’s older sister is married to an abusive prince, and Marra is desperate to help her, through murder if need be. As Marra continues on her quest she is joined by the dust-witch, an evil godmother, a demon chicken, and a warrior named Fenris. There is horror, action, humor, tragedy, a slow-burn romance, and a lot of fairy-tale tropes both invoked and subverted along the way, grounded in a lot of realism.
I love the world-building which portrays places and people that feel completely real while also appearing to be utterly fantastical. I like how the world-building smoothly incorporates politics, messy family relationships, and difficult moral choices in a way that feels organic and inevitable and deeply tied to place. Everything and everybody feels just right, fitting or failing to fit into a structure of magic, survival, and politics that reads as ancient and established.
The characters are all wonderful and many are characters we don’t often see take central roles in fantasy quests. Marra is thirty years old, has renounced being a princess to the best of her ability, and is accompanied by the aforementioned Bone Dog as well as two old women (and the demon chicken, let’s not forget that). Fenris is the closest thing to a typical fairy tale hero that we have and he is happy to play a supportive role. I adored these characters on an individual basis but the true joy lay in their funny, poignant interactions with one another. I also adored the emphasis placed on crafts and talents that are generally thought of as “women’s work.” The plot relies heavily on Marra’s ability to spin thread, weave, and sew.
The only thing that saddened me is that I wanted more. I wanted to know more from the point of view of Marra’s sister, Kania, who shines at the end of the book but has very little agency until that point. All the plot threads are neatly resolved at the end, but I wanted to keep reading and reading and reading.
Regarding the dog, I know many of our readers want to know one thing and one thing only: does the dog die, and also how is the chicken? Well, technically the dog is dead to start with but if you MUST KNOW:
There is an upsetting scene in which his skeleton is destroyed causing him to “die” again.
But
He gets better, so don’t worry about it. The chicken and a chick that joins the party later are both fine also.
Others among you only want to know whether Marra and Fenris hook up. This is a slow burn romance which is G-Rated in the sex department. However, if you enjoy slow burn romance, you can’t do much better than these people who instantly depend on one another, providing each other with steadfast loyalty and trust. Fenris is a quiet man who is not intimidated by loud women. He and Marra literally lean on one another moments after they meet, and this constant, calm, steady support gives the group a solid backbone. There are no fireworks in this love story; rather it’s like a hearthfire, with Marra and Fenris being consistently mutually respectful and supportive and also considerably attracted to each other.
This was a lovely story and, as I mentioned above, I never wanted it to end. I hope for many, many sequels, not because of any dangling plot threads but because I just want to hang out with these people for longer. It is a fairytale that is, mostly, about grown-ups, many of whom have Seen Some Shit. It isn’t always pretty, but it’s always emotionally gripping, new, and wonderful.
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I am currently on a T. Kingfisher binge (reading the third book in the Paladin series, with The Clocktaur War series waiting on my Kindle), so this review is most welcome.
I think one of my favorite things about T. Kingfisher’s books is that so many of her heroines have Seen Some Shit. There is a world-weariness that’s somehow very comforting in this day and age. Looking forward to reading this one!
I’m reading this right now and I appreciate the spoilers, because I worry. My favorite line so far is a harried mother speaking: “I swear to the saints, Owen, I will take you to market and sell you for a three-legged goat!”
I am also considering signing up with Our Lady of the Grackles.
Sadly, I’m guessing there will be no gnoles in this story.
I read this the second I got my hands on it because I adore T Kingfisher, but I was worried because I have an incredibly low tolerance for horror. Maybe I don’t understand what horror means though? Pleased to report there was nothing in this scarier than a normal fairytale. Which, obviously, can be quite gorey and grimm (not sorry). But maybe because of that fairytale structure, maybe because of her incredibly safe and consistently delightful tone, certainly because of the trust she has nurtured in me with her gnole books – I was never once even a little scared. There were maybe two or three brief occasions where I thought oooh gross, but like, the kind of gross like clearing out the dish drain, where you don’t particularly want to touch a soggy thing, not the kind of nightmares for years fear I associate with horror, or even the kind of doubt about how it’ll all work out in the end that I get from extremely angsty romance.
Watch me have endless drain related nightmares now.
Worth it.
This isn’t up my alley at all, but I want to know about Bone Dog, because I love the Bone Dog from The Corpse Bride sooo much. And of course his predecessor Zero the Ghost Dog in Nightmare Before Christmas.
@kkw – Thanks for the clarification. “Horror” used as a descriptor is enough to make me immediately shy away so your comment is very helpful.
I’m another who steers clear of horror, but this sounds as though it won’t cross my limit. Thank you for a fine review, CarrieS!
Whence the minus?
I preordered this by accident, talked myself out of un-ordering it because of how much I LOVE T. Kingfisher and I knew I would probably buy it anyway, then kept forgetting about it until it popped up on my Kindle. I finished it in one day and it was SO WORTH IT. I don’t know if it’s possible to have a genre called cozy horror? Or maybe just cozy fantasy? But if so, Kingfisher knocks it out of the park. There are some laugh-out-loud lines, but in particular I just enjoyed how firmly implacable all the women are. Agnes’ version of Malicious Compliance (being cheerfully confusing until the people you’re talking at just give in) is something I’ve used to advantage myself and I absolutely adore seeing it in a character.
(first, l don’t know how to put this in a spoiler tag, can anyone help?)
My question:
Can anyone give further insight on the content warning on infant death? Is it just mentioned in passing or is there extended description?
CW: infant death. Also, minor plot spoilers! Dreamingintrees, it’s mentioned in passing but there is a point in the story where it is frequently referenced (Kania miscarries often, but it’s not described; there is some suggestion that the abuse by the prince causes some of the miscarriages; there is a death of a child due to illness, but it’s hearsay and not described in detail). Hope this helps! Mods, feel free to put in spoiler tags or delete if you feel appropriate, since I don’t know how.
I think she deliberately left Kania somewhat nebulous until the end because of that thing where she’s set up as the sister who doesn’t love Marra. It’s even more impactful that she’s trying to save her sister (though also herself) when she believes Kania doesn’t love her and the nicer sister is already dead. I think if Kingfisher had given her a bigger role sooner, it would’ve been hard to maintain Marra’s conviction that they don’t have much of a relationship, and it would’ve been a totally different (but probably still very cool) book.
I actually thought that the author’s empathetic description of Kania’s endless string of pregnancies, far too close together, and frequent miscarriages to be one of the few real horror elements of the book. The protagonist is acutely aware that being forced to live in a state of near-constant pregnancy is a horrifying fate (and honestly, a part of the historic princess deal which romance and fantasy authors rarely want to touch).
I think that immediately following my miscarriages, I’d have found this book a difficult, if empathetic read. With some distance, I loved it.
One thing I’ll add based on a comment somewhere else – I thought the first few chapters (like what you get in the sample) were the most horror-forward and the rest was closer to Kingfisher’s other fantasy adventure books vs like, The Twisted Ones, which really creeped me out.
@Emily I had the same thought. When I read the first few pages, I thought we were going down to Zombietown, but then we ended up in Fairy Godmother Village instead. And it was great.
@Tam and @BrandiD thank you both so much, that was incredibly helpful. I think I’m going to wait a bit to read this one.
@Tam
Very sorry about the losses you have suffered.