When Toadling was born, she was stolen by fairies and grew up in faerieland. Once an adult, the fae ask Toadling to return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. 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.

This is not the first variation of Sleeping Beauty that T. Kingfisher has written, but this novella works with the premise What if people should have feared Sleeping Beauty? What if she was kept away for a reason? Toadling has kept watch over the tower and the brambles, watching as time went by. She has little magic as a changeling that lived with the equivalent of fairy country bumpkins, so the job she was given centuries ago went awry. I enjoyed seeing her POV, and how she gradually opened up with a knight curious about her and her role in the story. What she says and does matters, and this is more than she'd received from the fairy goddess. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and wished it was longer so I could see more of Toadling's future.

This book felt so cozy and comforting. It made me think of the Grimm's fairy tales, somehow a mixture of feeling like a child snuggled into a blanket with some hot chocolate on a cold day listening to their granny tell them a story and also a somewhat gory and (arguably) not child-friendly story to telling. I pretty much immediately fell in love and found it compulsively readable. Each time I decided I'd pause at the end of a chapter to jot down some notes, I ended up completing skipping that and jumping into the next chapter. The characters were so sweet and not, for once, unearthly beautiful. It was so, so close to being perfect until the ending. Don't get me wrong, if the intention was to be told as a classic fairy tale would be, then I think the ending was dead on - and I do believe that was the intention because I've seen T. Kingfisher do intense endings before. But the resolution just felt so easy peasy.

Another charming-yet-twisty fairy tale from T. Kingfisher, who is rapidly becoming for me one of those authors where I will read absolutely anything they write, without even glancing at the synopsis. Thornhedge, like so many of Kingfisher's works, takes a well-known tale and looks at it from a slant angle, and in so doing gives us one of the most endearing fantasy protagonists I've read in a while. Frankly, it's remarkable how much I've been describing this novella with words like cute, charming, sweet, and earnest, considering how genuinely grotesque a few elements are - but that blend of charm and horror seems to be where Kingfisher excels, as she has with Thornhedge.

Thanks to Tor Books for the advance review copy!

An absolutely wonderful reading experience! To meet Toadling and watch as she makes her way through life was a pleasant surprise. T Kingfisher skillfully worked her magic and Toadling appeared in our hearts. The character feels blessed and believes in sharing with the rest of the world. When her error sets her life on a different path, she faces the consequence with her unfailing faith that everything will come right in the end. And it does.

Can we please have more Toadling stories? This one deserves 5 hearts, but we can settle for stars.

I received a copy of this book for review from NetGalley. Thornhedge is beautiful and sad, twisted but loving, and so very sweet. I absolutely loved it, and it is my new favorite Sleeping Beauty. (Now, to be perfectly honest, I would read just about anything by T. Kingfisher, so this was not a surprise to me.) I love Toadling, and my only regret is that I didn't get several more books of her.

A fairy tale retold, but with a twist? Yes, please!

Here we see the story of Sleeping Beauty retold from the point of view of the fairy. Toadling was supposed to be the princess, but she was stolen by the fae and a changeling was left in her place. She was raised by the greenteeth, trained in the ways of their magic. And when she was grown, the fae asked her to return to the human world, to place a spell of protection on the creature who took her place. But as often happens, the spell goes awry, and Toadling remains with the humans, to protect the princess as best as she can.

But as the changeling princess grows, she shows herself adept at casual cruelty to animals and people alike, and Toadling must more often protect others from her. Toadling’s magic is weak. The creature – for that is what the “princess” is – is strong, and vicious, and without a shred of empathy. The best thing Toadling can do is to put the princess into an enchanted sleep and guard the castle, lest anyone get some foolish idea about castles and princesses and breaking a spell with true love’s kiss. And history passes them by – Toadling, castle, and princess – until one day a knight comes along, drawn by an old, old story.

This is a fantastic reimagining of Sleeping Beauty! The fairy is always evil, come to wreak harm on the innocent human princess. Here, though, Kingfisher flips the whole thing around, and it absolutely works. Toadling is a winsome character, and the knight, though not big on derring-do, is charming in unexpected ways. It works.

It is a novella, not a full-length novel. I don’t think I realized that when I started reading. But that’s long enough. Would I love more of Toadling’s story? Of course. Was this story just right? Absolutely.

The story is gentle, in turns wistful and thought-provoking, touching on topics of love, loss, responsibility, and the deceptive nature of the outer self. It may be one of my favorite books this year. I highly recommend it, and I must read more of T. Kingfisher’s books.

I received an advance copy for review from Netgalley, and I was very happy to. T. Kingfisher has long been a favorite writer and while I enjoy her increasingly creepy forays into horror, I was starting to miss her fantasy.

Kingfisher’s realm is fantasy with actual sensible people in it, and it is delightful and refreshing. And now she’s given us a new look at the traditional Sleeping Beauty tale, with one important twist: What if the impenetrable hedge of thorns and the sleeping spell around the Princess’ castle wasn’t just to keep people away, but to keep something dangerous trapped inside?

Outside is the fairy changeling Toadling, whose fumbled spell started the whole thing off and who has guarded the castle for… how many years? Enough to see the tales fade and the curious disappear. Until one day a knight shows up, eager to prove an old story he read about in a book…

Thornhedge contains Kingfisher’s soft humor, common sense fantasy characters and sideways look at fairy tales. While the threat later is real, it seems very intimate and low-stakes throughout the short book. It’s not as action-filled as, say, her “A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking,” but it’s a fun, breezy, slightly unsettling gem of a book.

Once upon a time, there was an enchanted sleeping princess. This isn’t that princess, and it isn’t even her story. No, this story belongs to the fairy who gave her her gift, and it’s not the gift you remember from the fairy tales either.

In T. Kingfisher’s (@redwombatstudio) unique twist on the story of Sleeping Beauty (out today from @torbooks), she flips the familiar fairy tale over and creates something new and fresh, this time from the point of view of the fairy, Toadling, who is sent to bestow a gift on the newborn princess, but who inadvertently misspeaks the spell and finds her own life altered forever.

When a knight comes in search of the fabled enchanted princess, Toadling’s story is revealed and everything we thought we knew about the sleeping princess is not what we’ve always thought, and the knight begins to question who it is that is actually cursed, the princess, or the fairy?

This is a delicious take on a well known trope and the twist was not what I was expecting at all; leave it to T. Kingfisher to create something wholly original, even in a retelling. There is beauty in this book, but also darkness, as with everything with the fae, and Kingfisher describes both with equal grace; even the most horrifying creatures sound beautiful in her hands.

A huge thank you to @netgalley and @torbooks for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

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There are few types of stories I love more than retellings of fairy tales, especially ones that are as original and interesting as this one. I love T. Kingfisher and this novella doesn't not disappoint! It's charming and eerie and interesting. The line "bones heal faster than spirits, I think" will stick with me.

A beautiful tale as old as time turned on its head.

I loved the characters and how Kingfishers manages to absolute shatter my expectations.

I stan T. Kingfisher!
A re-imagining of Sleeping Beauty, this novella is so simple in its premise and yet makes a truly compelling read.
Our heroine here is not beautiful, nor is she fully human. However Toadling in her averageness shines so beautifully throughout this book. Her relationship with her new family almost moved me to tears at certain points.
Thornhedge tells a whimsical story of changed fates and unconventional found families. The author notes at the end that this is one of her sweetest books and I absolutely agree.
Highly recommended.
Huge thanks to Tor and NetGalley for the ARC

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher is out today and is the BEST novella! It is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty with a fairy named Toadling that you are going to adore! She is dedicated and so incredibly endearing. I would love it if there was another story about her! What a gripping and magical read! I can't wait to get into Kingfisher’s backlist!

4.5 stars

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc!

This novella had the perfect dose of cozy vibes I wanted. I really enjoyed this and would recommend it to anyone looking for a twist on the Sleeping Beauty fairytale!

What a cozy, but also dark and dangerous book. This genre of cozy fantasy with a splash of horror is just perfection and T. Kingfisher is leading that game. I adored Toadling and her history and the way she tells this story. The writing is beautiful and captivating and I honestly could read more and more. The story went in absolutely unexpected places and I wasn't ready to leave Toadling and her family behind (I had genuine tears at one point). I really loved this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review!

Retelling classic fairy tales and myths is a popular trend in fiction right now. However, T. Kingfisher manages to take the familiar tale of Sleeping Beauty and completely transform it into a story that feels genuinely unique. Our main character, Toadling, is a human girl who was stolen and raised by the fae. She’s also the person in charge of maintaining the curse that keeps the princess asleep and brambles growing around the long forgotten tower. Centuries into this task a knight shows up, hearing stories of a mysterious curse.

What follows is a novella filled with the interesting worldbuilding and loveable characters that I’ve come to expect from T. Kingfisher. Kingfisher has a talent for writing characters that feel so incredibly genuine and alive, even the ones who can turn into toads. And then she’ll surprise you by writing a scene that reminds you that yes, she also writes horror. Thornhedge is just the right level of unsettling for a fairy tale retelling - not overboard to the point of qualifying as horror, but enough to remind you that Thornhedge has much more in common with Grimm than it does Disney.

This was overall a wonderful novella, perfect for anyone interested in a refreshing new take on the classic Sleeping Beauty.

Thank you to NetGalley and tor for the advanced copy of this book!

T. kingfisher does it again. This was such a short, sweet, and well developed retelling. I absolutely loved the twist on sleeping beauty. Kingfisher is one of my favorite authors, so I had anticipated this being a good one. It delivered. Perfect pacing, great plot, and a cute little friendship/partnership blossoming.

T. Kingfisher plus a Sleeping Beauty remix. Sign me up. I’m here for it. Mostly because I love Sleeping Beauty, and some of it because I really wanted to see what Kingfisher was going to do with it. I wasn’t disappointed; in fact, I was absolutely, positively delighted. I think this is my favorite Kingfisher novella thus far.

It all starts with an underpinning question that can twist the whole tale on its head: there’s two reasons anyone would go to such lengths to hide a sleeping princess behind a huge mess of thickets of thorns, masses of briars, a forest of trees, and tons of huge bushes. It’s either to keep other people out, or to keep something in. Kingfisher wants us to contemplate the latter: What if Sleeping Beauty is the dangerous one?

Somehow this premise excited me so much I was almost giddy as I read this charming and somehow sweet (I don’t know why my clock ticks this way, but it does and I don’t question it) fairy tale told from the point of view of Toadling, a changeling who was actually meant to be the real princess she’s now guarding as she sleeps. Toadling doesn’t have much magic in her, so almost everything she has goes into keeping the changeling child that’s disguised as a human asleep and trying to make sure no one comes near the hidden tower where the small child eternally slumbers. Not even Toadling goes near her too often, for fear the magic will become unstable and wake her.

The world building in this story is just so unbelievably detailed and rich, even though it mostly takes place in one place. There are interludes as Toadling tells her story to a traveler from (what was then called) Anatolia, as it seems he’s determined to get through the briar thickets and the hedge of thorns and up to the hidden tower to see the princess. Toadling doesn’t have it in her to hurt practically anyone, especially not a nice person who’s the first person she’s spoken to in over 200 years. She thinks it’s important to impart to him the history of who the princess is and why she’s in the tower so he really decides against trying to break the spell. While these could be considered info dumps, they’re really more of a fairy tale inside a fairy tale: two stories nested within one another, and they’re both fascinating and well-written.

This is what’s so vital about novellas: Knowing how to pack the most punch with less than 200 words to work with. Despite this being a novella, this felt like a whole and complete story. Nothing was rushed, nothing felt missing, and it was such a satisfying read. It’s well worth the five stars I rated it.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Fantasy/Folklore/Fairy Tale Retelling/Folklore/Found Family/Historical Fantasy/Novella

A big thanks to NetGalley and Macmillian for providing both an eARC and an advance audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

You've never seen Sleeping Beauty like this!

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher is a fantasy retelling of Sleeping Beauty, but told from the perspective of one of the fairy godmothers. Toadling has lived a simple life in the land of fey, until she is tasked with going back to the mainland to place a blessing of protection on a newborn. Years later a prince hears of castle covered in brambles, and curse in need of breaking. But Toadling will do anything to ensure that curse remains intact.

I loved this retelling, as it gives a breath of fresh air to the increasingly repetitive genre. But with this unique perspective, it turns the entire tale as old as time on it's head. I just wish it was a little longer, instead of it simply being a novella.

This is an interesting novella that doesn’t really resonate Sleeping Beauty until you realize, at the end, the parallels or until you’re told. The found families and joys and heartaches are prevalent in the story as well as deep character explorations within minimal space. The rich story and unconventional plot make this a fascinating story that everyone should read.

I am really finding a groove with T. Kingfisher this year! I've read A House with Good Bones, Nettle & Bone, and now Thornhedge and I was enthralled for all of these novella length reads!
I never thought so much could happen in under 150 pages. Even Becky Chamber's "A Psalm for the Wild Built" falls at 160 pages but a mere 128 for Tornhedge??? I could have read many many more. This novel subverts the tale of Sleeping Beauty and our ideas about changelings/faerie powers/time/ and even fairy godmothers. This was a great read and I think it is one to go in with little knowledge of/expectations because that is the setting where you find the most joy in a T. Kingfisher book.
This is out 8/15/23 and I highly recommend! The audiobook was also very well done.