Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for an Advanced Reader Copy - pub date 8/6/2024. Full disclosure: I am a completely fairy tale nerd. I once took a class about fairy tales and was the only one with my hand still up after he got through a list of obscure ones. So a retelling is right up my alley and this? This is an amazing, wonderful, dark, powerful retelling of a fairy tale that is so often overlooked - The Goose Girl. TW: If mental and emotional child abuse is not something you can read, give this a pass. Kingfisher means it when she says it's dark.

Cordelia and her mother and the horse Falada live a very insular life where everything mother says is law and Cordelia is somewhere in between servant and daughter and puppet. Quite literally. You see, when she says her mother makes her obedient, this is not just an overly strict parent. Evangeline is a sorceress and she periodically takes control of her daughter's body if she thinks Cordelia is not behaving enough. She needs Cordelia to be very obedient and very well-behaved because she intends to marry the poor girl off to the richest man she can find and thus finance a life of luxury for herself... and nothing will get in her way. Evangeline and Mother Gothel from Tangled would get on like a house on fire while comparing parenting techniques, let me tell you.

The motion of the story erupts when Evangline sets her sights on an older, simple-souled bachelor Squire who happens to have a very sensible and capable sister. Suddenly, Cordelia has other people in her life and the fears she has lived with no longer can affect only her. Woven in a magical tale, the themes of obedience and bravery and making your own choices stand out like bold bright ribbons. What does it take to be brave? How can someone overcome their own self-doubt? Or how they've been trained for endless years? What do you risk for love?

The story POV splits itself primarily between Cordelia and Hester, the Squire's sister, but as they head further into the darkness and find each other more, things blur in a delightful way. Found family is precious and good people are like diamonds and these are lessons that Cordelia discovers by herself and from Hester. Everyone can have a purpose. Everyone can have choices.

There are some delightful twists from the origin tale and a lot of the original bits are buried and masked in very skillful ways to the point where finding those clues was like discovering gold. Aha, my brain said, I see you! But those just serve as bonuses because, really, the story stands up perfectly well if you don't know The Goose Girl from a hole in the ground. I am 100% going to have to buy this and add it to my Fairy Tale Shelf, though. Just so I can re-read it again - thus fueling new moments of heartbreak, uplift, and Fear of Horses. Please go read this and join me!

I'm a big fan of fairy tale retellings, especially dark ones, so was excited to read A Sorceress Comes to Call. I was a Kingfisher fan before, but I'm even more of a fan now. This is a well written fantasy I could hardly put down once I started. I felt as if I were a part of the fictional world created. I loved all of the characters, especially Hester and her band of collaborators. With a truly evil villain, magic, and dark humor, I really enjoyed this book. I can't wait to see what Kingfisher comes up with next.

If you’ve been following T. Kingfisher (like I have) and loving her fantasy/fairy tale retellings (again, like me), then you’ve been waiting for A Sorceress Comes to Call. Though I’m not all that familiar with the Goose Girl tale used as a muse for this latest novel, I knew I’d be on board with the women-centric storyline, the big themes, and the expectation of the ultimately heart-warming resolution – so I was not disappointed.

Things that were a surprise:
* This book felt darker to me than previous novels! And I know that is weird when previous novels included undead dogs and domestic abuse. However, there is something about how the titular Sorceress in this novel takes over the actions of her daughter (“makes her obedient,” as the wording has it) that made my skin crawl. Plus, Cordelia’s voice was pretty depressed (how would she not be after all that?) and that voice made the novel darker, too.
* The older lady(ies) being a big part of the resolution. LOVED this. Dunno why it was a surprise, but I guess I was expecting the normal single POV plotline progression and I really enjoyed the addition of Hester’s “OK well, let’s do this” to Cordelia’s fatalism.
* Demon horses. Surprise! But also delightfully unhinged.

As always, Kingfisher’s books are wonderful. If you’ve not experienced them before, you should dive on in. My thanks to Tor Books and the author for providing this e-arc for review. And, happy pub date Tuesday, Sorceress!

This is my second T. Kingfisher novel, and I really enjoyed it. The book is told through two perspectives: 14 year old Cordelia, whose mother is a sorceress that can force obedience, and Hester, the 50ish year old sister of the man Cordelia’s mother is trying to ensnare. You don’t see a lot of older female protagonists, especially in the fantasy genre, so I really liked this aspect… Women still have lives and struggles after the age of 30, and I think this needs to be represented more in fiction. Despite how dark the book can get with the sorceress capable of forcing obedience, humor shines through in the writing and the quirky side characters. I also love a regency setting, which I wouldn’t really associate with Kingfisher, so that was fun.

Overall, I would rate this four out of five stars and recommend to Kingfisher fans and fantasy fans in general. The obedience aspect reminded me of Ella Enchanted, and the found family aspect reminded me of Sharon Shinn’s Twelve Houses series.

This is so good I literally ordered a copy midway through for myself to give you an idea of how compelling it is. I think it's another grandstam for T Kingfisher

Yet again, another faerie tale retelling from Kingfisher that knocks it out of the park. The Goose Girl has long been one of my favorite stories (thank you Shannon Hale) and since Kingfisher excels at twisting expectations, I was fascinated to see how she would handle this one.

Cordelia's mother was a masterclass in writing a narcissist - and one made much more powerful due to her magic. Narcissistic abuse is incredibly difficult to describe to others, and Kingfisher highlights this through both Cordelia's physical, mental, and emotional mistreatment as well as her mother's powers (and the other characters disbelief).

As is usually the case in Kingfisher works, the woman are the stars of the show when it comes to the cast of characters (although I was particularly fond of some of the male characters this time around). Hester and Cordelia make a charming pair and the older woman's wisdom serves as a needed counterpoint to Cordelia's naiveté. In general, Kingfisher's character work is a big part of what makes her stand out above other authors - she's so good at crafting compelling, realistic characters with depth and growth in such a short amount of space (alongside a beautifully crafted plot!).

Overall, this continues the trend of my preference for Kingfisher's horror over her faerie tales, but this remains a strong recommendation for anyone who enjoys her writing, faerie tale retellings, or are just looking for a fresh fantasy read to get them out of a slump. Kingfisher's writing is so tight, her characters are lifelike. and her humor is subtle, making this an incredibly enjoyable read when you slow down and enjoy all the little details.

Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was in such a reading slump before I turned to this book, and then A Sorceress Comes to Call got me right out of it! I wasn’t familiar with the Brothers Grimm’s story Goose Girl, but I don’t think you need to be in order to follow and appreciate this book.

It becomes apparent very quickly that Cordelia’s life is anything but ordinary. Her mother has the ability to control her and make her obedient - in control of her every move and word. If that weren’t enough, Cordelia starts to realize her mother’s larger plan and how she’ll stop at nothing should anything get in her way.

I loved the compelling community that forms around Cordelia amid her mother’s scheme - Hester, Penelope, Imogene, Willard, Richard and Alice all bring the story to life with richness. There are certainly dark and unsettling eerie moments throughout the book, but the author’s writing is captivating and fast-paced. I devoured this book in less than a day, and would love to read more of T Kingfisher’s novels!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely loved this book! It's the perfect mix of fantasy, mystery, and a little bit of horror. While I really enjoyed the main character Cordelia and her journey of strength and courage to stand up to her mother, I think the real magic came with the side characters of Hester, Strauss, Penelope, and Richard. Their fun friendly banter was a delight and the little romance between Hester and Richard was really cute!
Overall, I would HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone!

4.5 stars
Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited to read more Kingfisher novels, as I enjoyed 2020's "The Hollow Places." This new novel is inspired by The Brothers Grimm's "The Goose Girl." The prose is beautiful and characters were easy to root for. It has more fantasy elements than horror, but still includes the dark undertones that reflect the source material. The ending let me down a little, but there are a lot of places to go with the main character, Cordelia, which could potentially lead to a sequel if the author wanted.

I was very excited to be offered an eARC of this book! I love T. Kingfisher's work and going the premise interesting. It lived up to my expectation! Reading about the clearly abusive mother in this story was truly heart wrenching, but it was deeply gratifying to see the main character develop over the course of the book. That was the main hold for me, as the direction of the plot was fairly straightforward, as is the case with most retellings. I enjoyed the historical setting and the prose, and would recommend this to people who like historical fantasy and books featuring fraught family relationships.

E-ARC generously provided by Tor in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!

4.5 stars. Harrowing, richly drawn, and containing that meld of horror and fantasy that I've come to love from T. Kingfisher, A Sorceress Comes to Call is a gem of a dark fairy tale that is as arresting as it is compelling.

Not my favorite Kingfisher book, but I always enjoy her brand of semi-cozy, slightly horror-tinged fantasy with a cast of well-written characters (who are often snarky in the best way).

Cordelia isn’t allowed to close the door to her room.

As a matter of fact, there are no closed doors allowed in her house at all. It’s not as if she has any way of truly keeping her mother out anyway, not when her mother can directly affect her will and make her completely obedient without even raising a finger.

Her mother is a sorceress, and Cordelia can’t remember a day when she didn’t cower in fear of her. Now it seems her mother is ready to instill that fear in others for the sake of money and she expects Cordelia to be obedient and do exactly as she says in the process.

I found this book to be a great deal lighter than most of Kingfisher’s works (the ones I’ve read, at least), along with being a lot more jovial in tone. Normally I’d love this, but for some reason it just wasn’t working for me in this story. I usually love a juxtaposition of dark subject matter and humorous tone, but it felt (for lack of a better way to put it) like the angle these two things were meeting at was just off, somehow. Like it either wasn’t dark enough or wasn’t funny enough for the two to match up. As a result it ended up feeling rather awkward at times.

The story itself was engaging and entertaining, certainly enough to sustain the book and make it worth the read. The characters were great too, if you take them out of their context and examine them just as characters. It’s when you put them all together that things start to fall apart. I think part of it has to do with how large the cast of characters is compared to the scope of the story.

It’s hard to convey via text that I really did enjoy the story, even though I found a lot of flaws with it. It was overall a very enjoyable story. I do highly recommend it. Would I re-read it? Probably not. I also don’t think I want my own copy. But if you love fairy-tale retellings that aren’t spicy or Kingfisher then you’re likely golden.

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: Coming of Age/Fairy Tale/Fairy Tale Retelling/Fantasy/Folklore

Thanks to TorDotCom for an eARC via NetGalley!

DNF at 22%!

I was hoping I could push through and wait before calling it quits, but alas. Simply, I lost interest in this story. Every time I put my kindle down, I didn't want to pick it back up. Unfortunately, I was bored. Cordelia is a solid child character but not interesting enough to keep me feeling engaged. Really cool to find an older woman prominent character named Hester, but she didn't stick with me in terms of personality. The plot is slower than I would have thought and couldn't keep my intrigue high. The descriptions on the setting didn't paint an interesting picture for me. Nonetheless, I am not the target audience. It is possible to plot could have picked up later on, but I lacked the patience.

Content Warnings (so far): child abuse

Thank you Netgalley and Tor for access to this arc.

Oooh, this one sent a shiver down my spine a time or two. The opening scene involves a kind of horrific “thing” that gets worse each time we hear about it and especially when we see it in action. It’s like ink in a glass of water, spreading from one drop until everything is coated with darkness and evil.

I’ve tagged this one as Young-Adult, and Cordelia is certainly one of the MCs but she is not the only main character. While I certainly understand Cordelia’s initial demeanor given how much her mother has put her through, Cordelia’s stammering, meekness, and frightened rabbit-ing would have gotten old in a hurry if that had been all we get from her. When the rubber meets the road and she realizes she has to, Cordelia screws her courage to the sticking point, stands up and speaks out then becomes an integral part of ending the horror.


Yes! Older people standing up to evil and making a difference. Hester is an astringent fifty year old whom I adore. Imogen, the card sharp aristocrat, is also not to be messed with while Richard is a love who has faithfully loved Hester for decades. Old retainer Willard somehow manages to retain his butlerly dignity even while letting his hair down a bit – and keeping a sharp pair of scissors where they are needed. Alice is brave and kind while Mary is devoted to her lady. And Penelope – I want to be Penelope. They are all ready to pitch in where needed and kick some ass if it comes to that.

Another good point for me is that Hester remains skeptical of Cordelia for a while. Cordelia is, after all, the daughter of Doom and it would have been silly for Hester to immediately trust the daughter of someone she knows is there to wreak some kind of havoc. Many of the other characters are, believably, hesitant to buy into the full immensity of what they’re up against because of the prevalent belief that, hey, all sorcerers are dead, right?

One thing to mention is that Cordelia is, basically, abused by her mother for almost the entirety of her life. The full weight of dread that the story evokes takes a while to build, brick by brick, horrible action by horrible action. And at times, yes, the action slows way down. People die in this one so Here Be Death. I’m still mentally debating if the deaths here are gentler than those in the Paladin books. Quicker perhaps but still, dead is dead.

So yay for older characters and creeping horror. Thumbs up that Hester and Richard finally work out their relationship. Hmmm for some slow moments. I will be honest and say that for those who have not enjoyed Kingfisher books in the past, this one will be unlikely to win them over. But for me it’s a solid entry that I inhaled in a day and a half. B

What an amazing retelling! I had never heard of "The Goose Girl" before reading this book, and I found Kingfisher's writing to be so unique and unlike any retelling I have ever read! I finished this book in two days and it fully got me out of my reading slump. Loved Cordelia's character as well as Henny's character and they had such good chemistry! The plot twists got me every time, and I remember dropping my jaw multiple times or reacting in public, completely forgetting where I was. 4.5 stars!!!!!

There were good discussions in A Sorceress Comes to Call, but I was never engaged in the plot. I liked Hester as a character more than Cordelia.

I will still definitely pick up more books by T Kingfisher, but unfortunately this one just didn’t work for me. I do think it will appeal to readers who enjoy darker retellings.

This story reimagines a Brothers Grimm story, a fantastical jumping-off point rather than an original concept. The writing is clear and approachable. It was easy to differentiate between internal thoughts, spoken words, and silent communication. However, the main character, Cordelia, felt insufferably slow and naive, as if she were written for a much younger audience. Her ineptitude made her unrelatable as a narrator and diminished my enjoyment of the book. I was more engaged when it shifted to the older character, Hester's, perspective. The plot itself was interesting but felt predictable. It had its moments, and the overall concept was interesting. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this story in early access, thanks to Net Galley and the publisher, Tor Books. If you don't mind a younger-feeling protagonist, you might find this book to your liking. For me, it didn't deliver enough to warrant a strong recommendation.

Initial thoughts after finishing this book: not my thing.

The story is a dual POV from Cordelia and Hester. Cordelia is the daughter of the main sorceress in the story, and her world collides with Hester's as the Sorceress does her best to satisfy her greed and need for social climbing. Cordelia is a young teenager girl, whose mother is controlling, manipulative, and of course homicidal in the means to get anything she wants. Hester on the other hand, is an older woman who suspects the Sorceress to be up to no good, and does her best to undermine their evil ways. Both characters in the end team up to work against the Sorceress, and along the way a strong relationship is built.

A Sorceress Comes to Call is my first book by T Kingfisher. I had high expectations of this book because I have had seen great reviews about their work. It's not my thing! But I can definitely say that it could be for someone else. It's light murder mystery, some what in the vein of an Agatha Christie type of book, with magic thrown in there. The second half of the book was definitely favored over the beginning, which was difficult for me to get through. Overall, it was a good read.

Thank you Netgalley, Tor Publishing Group | Tor Books and the author for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.

I will be posting to Instagram, Goodreads, and Storygraph.

T. Kingfisher is back in excellent form with this dark retelling of the bloody fairy tale, "Goose Girl." Somehow in my formative years I missed this particular story, so Kingfisher's new novel and Wikipedia gave me a quick run dow on this version and the different variations of the story. Kingfisher's goose girl offers sympathetic characters in the parts of Cordelia, the sorceress' abused daughter, and Hester, the spinster sister of the old Squire upon whom the sorceress has cast her evil plans. This was a great read that kept me up way past my bed time, and I was especially intrigued by the enchanted horse Falada.

My thanks to Netgalley and the Powers That Be for an ARC of this book. It was lovely indeed.