Thank you to T. Kingfisher (author), Eliza Foss (narrator), Jennifer Pickens (narrator), Macmillan, Macmillan Audio, and Netgalley for this free advanced reader copy of "A Sorceress Comes to Call" for an honest review.

T. Kingfisher remains one of the greatest authorial finds of my last two years. I have loved her foray into every genre, and this next, newest one into fantasy by way of the middle-of-the-road normal life is no different. I found myself deeply in love with both of our main characters and, at all times, horrified by the actions of our "sorceress." I loved our older love story of taking someone as they are, at their own time, and simply loving them slowly. I'm still and forever horrified by headless horses (thanks, Icabod).

I cannot wait to see what Kingfisher puts out next! I am here and ready already!

Another really enjoyable fantasy book from T Kingfisher. I really like the way she weaves horror elements in with fantasy to create a story that is creepy without being too gory or jump-scary. I loved Cordelia and Hester and was rooting for them the entire time. The dynamic between Cordelia and her mother reminded me a lot of the Rapunzel/Mother Gothel dynamic, just for a more adult audience. Highly recommend!

T. Kingfisher has a reputation for her unique voice of whimsical, 'cozy' horror and fantasy. This is some of her best writing, in my opinion. Some readers gripe about her snarky, twee narrators, but here, the characters, while endearing and colorful, are more universally appealing. So, if you tried Kingfisher and decided she was trying too hard but liked her anyway, this is your book.

Though this is marketed as a retelling of the Brothers Grimm "Goose Girl", it's more like a reimagining. There isn't much of the original story in this book besides the very barest of bones. However, it works out well as this is a great story in its own right.

Cordelia is the the daughter of a sorceress who subjects her to all sorts of abuse. She doesn't think she will ever escape this, especially after learning that a friend is not a friend at all. She feels betrayed and hopeless, until her mother sets her sights on marrying a rich squire. She drags them to the Squire's house, where Cordelia meets the Squire's sister, Hester, and slowly begins to believe that maybe she can finally escape her mother's tyranny. The characters in this are all very well done. You can feel the terror from Cordelia, the cunning from her mother, and the dark humor from Hester, who refers to Cordelia's mother as "Doom". Even the side characters were well-written and added greatly to the story. My favorite of all the side characters has to be the goose army though, It sounds silly, but they fit perfectly into their role (if you've ever dealt with a Canadian goose, you'll understand). The plot moves along at a decent, if slow, pace, but definitely picks up towards the end. You can feel the tension and the terror, and the uncomfortable feeling of not knowing what horrible thing could possibly happen next. I do wish we'd been given a little more information on sorcerers though. They just sort of seem to exist without any explanation as to how they came about or the differences between them. This isn't a huge deal, but would have been nice to add a little background info.

This would be an excellent book to read in the upcoming spooky season, though I recommend it for anytime really.

I was given an ARC from NetGalley. I've been a bit obsessed with T. Kingfisher and I've read almost all of her books. I blew through this book very quickly. It was equal parts weird and exciting. You definitely empathize with the main character and want to cheer her on when she tries to leave. There are moments of terror when you think her mom will destroy her.
I give this book 4 stars because I enjoyed the plot, and the character development. I also really enjoyed the sister and how she immediately saw through the mother's charade.
I highly recommend this book.

Another solid entry from T Kingfisher!
I really enjoyed this dark fairytale. It read like a darker, more serious Ella Enchanted, which I read (and watched) recently. I liked both POV characters, though I connected to Cordelia much more than Hester. I felt they were both interesting in different ways and well developed, but I definitely preferred reading Cordelia's perspective more. I could see Cordelia being a more difficult character to write due to her lack of agency and trauma but the author did a great job with her character arc. The side characters were also engaging and felt realistic, despite the short length of the book. I especially liked Penelope. The plotting was well paced and had good tension throughout. I thought that the horror elements were also very well done. They were creepy, weird, tense but not like disgusting or cringy, which is the kind of horror I enjoy the most.
I did both the audio and ebook copies of this book, so I'll also note that I thought both narrators did a great job, definitely recommend the audio version of this book.
Thanks to Netgalley for this eARC!

Cordelia lives a life unable to make any of her own choices, due to her mother's literal power over her, from her thoughts to her physical body. Her only escape is riding the family horse Farada, and daydreaming of what freedom might feel like.

This little book may very well be my favorite one from T Kingfisher yet.

A darkly inspired Goose Girl fairy tale retelling with some moments of horror that are so strong I still think about them when I close my eyes at night.

And the thing that I think makes Kingfisher's version of horror resonate with me and others so deeply is her ability to take you to the very edge of the idea of something so horrific that you're nearly crawling out of your skin, and then she pulls you back with a familiar character in a slightly cozy setting just for the briefest respite to allow the horror to sink in, the ideas she's talking about, but to not have to dwell in the darkness for too long.

I loved it.
Thank you so much Tor Books for the ARC.

This retelling of "The Goose Girl" takes the story in a very different direction and removes the action from a palace (and its stockyard) to a country squire's estate, but the story is no less engaging for its lack of crowns. The changes Kingfisher makes to the original tale make this even more of a story about women finding (and losing) their voices, and also more of a horror story, though in the vein of The Stepford Wives or Get Out rather than The Omen or September House.

🖤A Sorceress Comes to Call🖤 Loved Nettle & Bone (5/5⭐️), so I was excited for this one! Cordelia knows her mother is strange. Their house has no doors, she’s not allowed to have friends, and her mother is able to force her into mute stillness for hours or days on end if she disobeys. After a mysterious death in town, her mother moves them into the house of a wealthy Squire, with her sights set on marriage. Cordelia must team up with the Squire’s sister to stop her evil sorceress mother. This dark reimagining of a Brothers Grimm fairytale is full of magic, murder, and powerful women.
✨Pub Date: 8/6/24✨
4.5/5⭐️

3.5 stars
I liked this as a murder mystery. Was expecting more fantasy elements, but that doesn't mean they weren't there! It's on brand with some descriptive horror that adds a great darkness and creep factor.
Overall, if you're into mysteries with some magical elements and a protagonist that comes into their power, you'll enjoy this one!

Although I enjoy ghost stories, I am a bit of a scaredy cat. I still enjoy T. Kingfisher's blend of horror and fantasy, even though her stories are definitely creepy and memorable, because her characters always give me someone to hold onto--they offer a hand to hold in the dark. That said, I found A Sorceress Comes to Call the most disturbing of the Kingfisher horror stories I've read, because while it still offers that vital hand--Cordelia, the young protagonist and sorceress's daughter, is engaging, and Hester, her middle-aged ally, is delightful--the hand itself is shaking and not at all sure of what it can do. Cordelia's mother Evangeline is truly terrifying in her casual violence and total disregard of others' wishes; her ability to enforce obedience, by completely taking over someone else, body and voice, is horrifying. When she decides it is time to expand her reach by marrying up (and marrying Cordelia up even further), she seems nearly unstoppable. And because Cordelia is one of her main targets, we get to experience that obedience from inside, and it is truly nightmarish. So while this novel has classic Kingfisher elements such as heroism in unexpected places, including from a short and valiant goose, this book also haunted me in unpleasant ways.

Thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my free earc in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are all my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for an E-ARC copy of A Sorceress Comes to Call in exchange for an honest review.

Cordelia tries to be obedient to her mother. However, not always by choice. A teenager living alone with her mother, she understands that there is an expectation on the perception of who they are. Cordelia knows that some things are abnormal about their life. She is not allowed to shut doors, her mother rarely leaves her alone, and her best friend is a horse. There is also the magic. The power that her mother wields over Cordelia to make her obediant. When a murder takes place in a prominent family in town, Cordelia's mother has them flee to a country manor where she sets her sights on marrying for money. Not to be duped so easily, the Squire's sister, Hester, begins to notice Cordelia's unusual behavior and questions its origin. The more time she spends around the women the more Hester begins to unearth the sinister plot at hand.


*** SPOILERS ***


I truly enjoyed this book! I was drawn in very early by Cordelia's dynamic with her mother and their situation. It definitely reads like a Regency era implied fairytale fantasy. I grew fond of the characters and their quirks! Hester and her friends are what I aspire to be in my old age. Sincere, unbothered, and intentional. I enjoyed following Cordelia's journey of developing her own sense of self. Standing up for what is right is not always easy when it is your parent that you know is wrong. I always love a story with a found family and Kingfisher did not disappoint with this novel!

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got a copy of this book on ebook to review through NetGalley.

Thoughts: I have read almost all of T. Kingfisher's books and this was one of my favorites. I also loved; "Nettle and Bone", "Clockwork Boys", "Minor Mage", "Nine Goblins", and "The Raven and the Reindeer". I have enjoyed a lot of her other books as well. This was an amazing read, it was funny and heartfelt and just all around well done. It is about family, friends, magic, manipulation, and a young woman trying to get out from under her mother's thumb while saving the people her mother is threatening.

Cordelia has suffered under her mother for her whole life when things suddenly change. Her mother comes home in a rage and then arranges for them to move into the house of a wealthy older Squire in an attempt to manipulate him into marriage. Cordelia doesn't realize that the evil sorcery her mother performs isn't normal. Now Cordelia will have to find a way to join with the members of the Squire's household to outwit her mother's manipulation before Cordelia's mother gains even more power.

This book has a humorous and strangely cozy feel to it given that it deals with an evil sorceress and dark, gruesome magic. I enjoyed the irony of this blend of themes. I also really enjoyed the characters here. It was wonderful to watch them form a sort of family of their own and band together to defeat this evil and manipulative sorceress. For Cordelia this is also a coming of age story as she gains life experience and learns to stand up for herself. For Hester (who is in her 40's) this is a chance to revisit her past, make peace with the aging process, and possibly rekindle a love from her past.

The writing style was engaging and easy to read. The story sucked me right in and I found this difficult to put down. Kingfisher has a unique writing style that I always enjoy.

My Summary (5/5): Overall I would highly recommend this book, especially if you are a Kingfisher fan. This is a lovely cozy fantasy coming of age story that involves evil magic, strangers banding together to become a family to fight that magic, and a young woman who is trying to get out from under the control of her mother. There is a lot of humor and a heartfelt feel to the story, as well as some darkness and gore. It's a unique blend that

I am not familiar with Regency romances at all (I think I’ve read one. Maybe two.) but I think I would have read far more of them if T. Kingfisher was writing them.

This is an absolute gem of a book. It mashes up fairy tales, Regency and low key horror and what comes out is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s hard to explain why this is so good, but trust me, it really really is.

A retelling of "The Goose Girl", Kingfisher has an absolute knack for reimagining fairy tales and genre mixing. Recommended for tweens (depending on the tween) and up.


I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

eARC Review: A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher ✨

I think I had a very high expectation going into this book and I think that’s to blame for my really mixed feelings about it. I’ll preface this review by stating that I’m very familiar with The Goose Girl tale from the Brothers Grimm as it was one of the first retellings I read and loved as a child (shoutout to Shannon Hale for her wonderful Books of Bayern series!), and while I knew this was going to be much darker in content, all I felt while reading it was “meh.” 😕

The story follows two POVs, Cordelia and Hester as they are thrown into a situation where a social climber is willing to kill to get what she wants. Cordelia is the abused 14 year old daughter of Evangeline, a sorceress who uses her magic to manipulate her daughter into submission. I found her plight incredibly moving but I was really waiting for her to stand up to her mother only get a rather lackluster version of it. 😣

Hester was my favorite of the two simply because she’s plucky and quick-witted. I loved her relationships with her brother, Lord Evermore, Mrs. Green, and Lady Strauss, and when she started taking Cordelia under her wing, I couldn’t have loved her more. Her refusal to give up her independence was totally understandable, but I feel like Evermore would’ve understood from the get-go and they didn’t have to do this whole charade of “I love you, but I don’t want to marry you.” 🪿

The things that I felt were missing from the book as a whole was a POV from Evangeline’s side. I feel like she was a fantastic femme fatale-like character who could’ve brought some much needed clarity to this story. For one, where and how did she learn magic? Was she self-taught or did she have a mentor? This would’ve also answered my lingering question of how does the magic system work in the first place? I also would’ve like to know why she decided to be a cold and ruthless social climber in the first place and what her real motive with her daughter was. 🐴

In the end, I’m just miffed by what should’ve been a fantastic read for me what with a German folktale retelling and a femme fatale figure in the mix. A big thank you goes to Tor Books and NetGalley for accepting my request to read this in exchange for an honest review; I wish I had enjoyed it more. 😞

Publication date: August 6!!

Overall: 3/5 ⭐️

Another wonderful and terrifying fairy tale from T. Kingfisher. Loosely based on "The Goose Girl," A Sorceress Comes to Call tackles some pretty dark subject matter while still offering assurance that even when the situation seems hopeless, we are not alone and our efforts do make a difference. Cordelia's story was truly horrifying, and seeing her find friends and discover her own strength was powerfully affecting.

Trigger warnings for violence and emotional, mental, and physical abuse of a child. It was intense, but I don't mind giving the spoiler that everything comes out right in the end.

My thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this loose fairy tale retelling of Goose Girl. However, the back and forth between Cordelia’s fear and her mother’s duplicity and evil nature grew tiresome. Cut out some of the middle, including Penelope’s storyline (as much as I liked her character) to tidy it up a bit… This was my first T. Kingfisher and I’m interested in reading something else by them. This story grew repetitive and the story was slow to move forward.

My first T Kingfisher book, and a retelling of The Brothers Grimm “Goose Girl”, both unfamiliar territory for me. This Regency era story starts with our MC being physically controlled by her sorceress mother as a punishment for disobedience. Definite creepy factor to set the atmosphere for what is to come. Young teen Cordelia has no friends, and no activities, just her mother and a horse as a companion. The mother uses her considerable powers to enhance her life style with the ultimate goal of marriage for herself and Cordelia. Setting her sights on a wealthy Squire brings nothing but misery to his family and friends. Fortunately his intuitive sister Hester feels something is amiss, befriends Cordelia and together they try to stop the impending (Doom).
Eerie and alarming events give this story just the right amount of chills.
Thank you Netgalley and Tor Books for this read

🖤 A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. kingfisher🖤

Thank you so much @macmillan.audio, @tornightfire & @netgalley for this beautiful Arc.

Pages: 336 🎧 & 📚
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Book Goal 2024: 80/100 🎧 & 📚

What a grim tale. Cordelia recognized that her mother is odd but doesn’t realize why. She lives in a house with no doors and has no freedoms. Strict rules and limited access to the outside world keeps Cordelia isolated from having friends. As her mothers secrets start to unveil, Cordelia realizes she must confront her mother for her behavior. Cordelia discovers not only has her mother been manipulating people, her actions are causing severe harm.

I loved this book. It was like reading a dark fairytale instead of the fairytales I grew up on and it just spoke to my dark little heart. 🖤

Having the option to read ebook and audio was perfect. The narration was brilliant and I loved having dual narration. It really made the characters personalities come to life and I will for sure be looking for books narrated by Eliza Foss and Jennifer Pickens again.

This latest from T. Kingfisher is a retelling of the somewhat obscure (because Disney never made a movie of it) fairy tale of the Goose Girl. My familiarity with the Goose Girl story is limited to reading the Wikipedia synopsis before starting this book; it was, as nearly all the stories collected by the Brothers Grimm, dark and bloody. That being said, because I was so familiar with the source, this being a retelling was more or less irrelevant to me. But as a book, this was terrific.

Cordelia is the much-abused daughter of the sorceress Evangeline. She is kept isolated and is thoroughly in her mother’s thrall; literally sometimes, as when her mother feels the need she will puppet Cordelia’s body. Cordelia remains conscious and feeling through this, but can’t exercise any control. Cordelia has never had any other life, and doesn’t really expect anything different. This is just how things are. Her only real joy is her daily rides on her mother’s wonderful, enchanted horse Falada.

However, things take a turn when Evangeline (for reasons unclear) loses the support of the wealthy man who has been providing them with support. So she sets off, with Cordelia in tow, to score another wealthy patron. Long-term, she intends for Cordelia to marry someone even more wealthy so they’ll be set.

The only real hitch in this plan: the man she has her sights set on lives with his middle-aged spinster sister Hester, who immediately recognizes Evangeline as trouble (though not as a sorceress) and Cordelia as, basically, a thoroughly kicked puppy. Hester loves her kind-hearted, well-meaning, and not-overburdened-with-intelligence brother, and doesn’t want Evangeline to get her claws in him. She also wants to help Cordelia. So she starts doing what she can on both fronts.

Cordelia was a wonderful presentation of an abused child of a narcissistic parent. Her reactions to the kindness of strangers, her utter terror of anything upsetting her mother - all very well done. Hester, meanwhile, is 100% over everyone’s shit. I love them both.

The story progressed very well, with some expected twists and some unexpected ones. It also gets rather dark - I’d call this horror-lite. How does this compare to Kingfisher’s other books? No idea, as this was my first of hers, but after reading this I certainly intend to find out.