🐸💚 Thornhedge ARC Review 💚🐸

Thank you so much to T. Kingfisher and Tor Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book!!

Thornhedge is a fairytale fantasy read. Toadling is a Fae who was sent to the human realm to protect a child by creating a wall of brambles around a tower. This protection works for centuries, until one day - a knight appears and turns her life upside down

This novella is so refreshingly sweet and different!! Toadling is an adorable character who doesn’t quite feel like she fits in when she’s sent to the human world. Halim was a cinnamon roll as well and just curious about stories he’s read about the mysterious tower hidden in the brambles. This was a beautiful twist on the Sleeping Beauty story and I loved every minute of it!

Overall this was a 4 star read for me - though the story felt complete, my greedy self wishes it was longer…I would have devoured a full length version of this! This story did potentially set up a sweet romance, but there was nothing on page, so one flame for spice

If you’re a fan of novellas with awkwardly adorable MCs, Fae magic, and fairytale retellings, then definitely pick this one up!!

Review will be posted to Amazon upon publication.

T. Kingfisher books never disappoint. Thornhedge now holds the runner up position behind Nettle & Bone as my faves from her. This was a quick one sitting novella read. I was surprised by how much story, world building, and character building was fit in to such a short book. Thornhedge is a twist on the classic Sleeping Beauty and I was utterly entranced with Toadling and the Knight. Kingfisher always writes the best quirky characters that have me hoping for sequels for each of her stories. If you're a fan of this authors previous work I would highly recommend picking this one up when it releases August 15th, 2023. Thank you to Tor Books for my advance readers copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for making this available in exchange for an honest review! T. Kingfisher is always an auto buy author for me. Thornhedge did not disappoint.

Kingfisher twists the Sleeping Beauty fairytale and skews it into a delightful new and refreshing story. Toadling is a fantastic main character that you can’t help but cheer for. Kingfisher has created another character that doesn’t fit the standard attractive lead and the beauty of this writing strength is that the reader doesn’t find it important. Then Kingfisher doubles down and gives us Halim, the knight that isn’t good at being a knight. I can’t say enough good things about this story.

10/10 recommend for anyone looking for a quick, comforting read.

A new take on Sleeping Beauty that only T. Kingfisher could write. This book has the feel of Kingfisher's Ursula Vernon-authored titles, which is a good thing. I loved the alternating between present and past timelines, as well as how vividly Toadling's emotions about her situation came through the writing. Overall, a lovely re-interpretation of an often-reinterpreted fairy tale.

Nobody is too old for a fairy tale.

T. Kingfisher works her magic, once again, in a little novella that brings about beauty, beasts, curses, and everything in between. She takes you there.....and you'll be all the better for it.

Time measures a pace in hundreds of years. The head tilts back to see the amazing growth of the Wall of Thorns. It twists its way from once a seedling to a monstrous snake-like appendage curling and obscuring a tower within its grasp. People have passed through the ages in ancient garments and modes of transport. No one enters.

But there is a watcher in these woods. Little Toadling sits and observes with her greenish tan skin and her unusual frog face. Her waterweed hair tumbles forward. She sees him.....a knight on horseback. He introduces himself as Halim. He's heard of the curse and has brought everything possible with him to break it. Toadling wishes for him to leave. A bond soon begins to form between them and she tells Halim just how she got there.

Thornhedge is a treasure of a read. Kingfisher creates such a memorable character in the likes of Toadling. She's a bumbling and fumbling fairy who once was human. You'll be caught up in all her efforts to make things right once again. And her unusual backstory is highly inventive and magical in the hands of the talented T. Kingfisher. Thornhedge will bring you back to that little corner of your mind reserved for favorite stories on the top shelf.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Tor Publishers Group and to T. Kingfisher for the opportunity.

T Kingfisher is my new favorite for horror and now fantasy! Another amazing fairy tale that seems to draw on multiple classic tales while also remaining wholly unique. I will be pushing this on all my friends and patrons!

This little novella is an absolute delight! A fresh take on Sleeping Beauty, Kingfisher weaves a tale that is light and sweet, but perfectly balanced with dark themes. As always, her characters are charming, her writing is excellent, and the story is totally engrossing. She's one of my favourite authors and a new book is always a treat!

GOSH. I went into this knowing nothing about it, and having read none of the author's other work aside from her children's books, and now here I am in that extremely pleasant dreamy state where my heart is so full of love for this book above all others.

This is top tier galaxy brain fairy tale retelling. Roles are twisted around, not in a way that makes the story's origins unrecognizable, but in a way that gets my brain whirring wondering what's going to happen next. Even when it became clear what the "twists" were, I was shocked and terrified at just the right times, I fell in love with sweet and sheltered Toadling, I fell in love again with gentle Halim, I cried buckets as usual, I want to go to sleep with my face just above the surface of the water in a swampy tangle of my magical pond creature adopted family. It's a changeling story, a story about persistently choosing kindness and love even when it doesn't change evil, and it's a story about perspectives. It's also a quick read, such a lovely bite-sized delight, and while I hope someday Kingfisher returns to these characters for more adventures, it stands perfectly complete and compact on its own.

Thornhedge is an absolute delight of a novella! I started and finished it in one feverish sitting. The classic and beloved tale of Sleeping Beauty undergoes several transformations here, turning into something completely fresh. We have a knight, but he is not courageous, dashing, or a prince. We have a fairy, but she is just misunderstood. And of course, the maiden in the tower, who probably should be left there. T. Kingfisher keeps it short and sweet - Thornhedge doesn't overstay its welcome in the slightest. The Brothers Grimm would be proud.

What if there was a good reason that Sleeping Beauty was locked away beyond a wall of thorns? What if the spell was protecting the world from her wickedness? If that intrigues you, then Thornhedge is going to be the re-telling for you.
Toadling is a small faerie who can turn into an unobtrusive little toad. She guards a hedge of thorns, which in turn guards a crumbling tower. Every day Toadling prays that enough time has passed and everyone will have forgotten the story of a bespelled princess sleeping in a tower. Unfortunately for Toadling people record things like that in books, and sometimes people actually read them and go searching for the source of the fairytale. This is where we meet Halim, a kindly Muslim knight who wishes to know if there is truth behind the story he read.
Thornhedge is a novella so I won’t go into further detail and spoil the story. Rest assured, Toadling and Halim are both wonderful characters. As the story goes along, there are flashbacks that catalog Toadling’s life and how she came to guard a cursed princess and why that particular princess was cursed in the first place. The story is melancholy yet sweet and perfect for a short weekend reading session. I can guarantee if you’ve enjoyed T. Kingfisher’s other books you’ll enjoy this as well.

Wow, this was an easy 5 stars for me! I loved Toadling and Halim. I really liked the Muslim representation here because it's not a plot point or a statement, it is just a fact or the story. I loved how we were told Toadling's story. I loved how she accidentally changed the curse. I loved the ending.

THORNHEDGE, by T. Kingfisher, is a novella that turns a well-known fairytale upside down, and examines "What if the sleeping princess in the tower was the villain in the story?"

With a cast of instantly lovable characters: Toadling, a "once-human" taking by fairies after her birth, Halim, a knight who has too many manners to make for a very effective knight, and a cast of side characters--both human and different kinds of fairy--this story instantly captured my attention, and held it throughout. Aside from the twist on the "sleeping beauty" tale, this book takes us into the depth of "found family", and how the people who love you the most aren't necessarily the ones you were born to.

The banter between Toadling and Halim was just as perfect as I've come to expect from this author.

"This would be easier if you could turn into a toad....."
"I can safely say that in all my life, no one has ever said that to me before...."

The twist of the story was executed to perfection, in my humble opinion. Another top read by an author I anticipate each new release from.

Recommended.

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher takes a dark twist in this short story retelling of sleeping beauty. We follow Toadling who is doing everything she can do to uphold a curse, along with a knight who heard of this curse and wants to break it.

Toadling is our main character, who is struggling to complete her mission that was given to her by the fairies.
She is guarding a tower, and over the course of the book we get glimpses into her past that come to explain why she is there, and what she is guarding. This is story is beautifully told and kept me hooked from page one. Even thought we have so little time with these characters they are fleshed out well, and each given a personality. The twist for me was easy to figure out however the way it all unfolded made it satisfying. I would love to see more stories set within this world.

You will enjoy this if you like:
-Fairytale retellings
-Shorter stories
-Dark twists

Trigger Warnings for
-Suicide
-Animal abuse
-Death of both humans and animals

A twist on Sleeping Beauty. It is crazy what beautiful writing Kingfisher accomplishes in such a short amount of text. Normally we are rooting for the princess trapped in the tower, instead in this novella we are rooting for Toadling (a baby replaced by a changeling). You get so engrossed into her story so quickly, and I truly hope that we get more from this storyline.

This book is a spin on Sleeping Beauty, and one that will keep you guessing as to where it’s going. The main character is a road, and you fall in love with where it goes from there.

Overall, it is a cute story that had its own charm which I genuinely enjoyed, but its not one that I will be revisiting.

I really enjoyed this take on the Sleeping Beauty story. The twist where the princess was not the "good" girl, and the struggle to overcome the thorns were wonderful. I just wish this was longer.

I received a copy of this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a surprising little story. I had never read anything by T. Kingfisher before so I had no idea what to expect. I do love fairytale retellings so I thought I would give it a try. The characters were so endearing, and there was such a quiet loveliness to the writing. It was like being told a bedtime story, with a couple of sharp-toothed monsters thrown in. I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a quick and refreshing read!

Thank you to NetGalley, T. Kingfisher, and Tor for sending me the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love Toadling, and I love this book! I don't want to spoil anything, but this is honestly one of my favorite novellas I have ever read. 5 stars for this book that made me feel all the things; I just wish there was more.

T. Kingfisher has become a must-read author for me, so I could not have been more excited to have the opportunity to read an eARC of her upcoming work, "Thornhedge." The novel, which clocks in at just under 100 pages, continues Kingfisher's tradition of well-crafted stories that move fleetly and ably, condensing what in another, less capable, author's hands might have become a slogging tome of unnecessary filler into a piece that cannot be put down. This reimagining of "Sleeping Beauty," where the sleeping princess is kept locked up for the safety of others, and where the "monstrous" fairy godmother - here named Toadling, a human adopted by the Greenteeth after a changeling was left in her place in the human world - is a well-intentioned heroine. Compelling and captivating, "Thornhedge" will definitely leave readers pondering our collective understandings of good and evil, beauty and ugliness, and what happens when those notions are flipped on their heads.