This is my second Kingfisher book and I think I'm now hooked!

What stuck out were the characters. They all felt lived in and filled with history. Cordelia was a delight, her growth from this timid, abused child into someone who has seen the world opened up to her. I LOVED Hester! There is something about older female protagonists that speaks to my soul. She's felt a full and complex inner life that felt lived in and bigger than her relationship with Cordelia and the plot.

Kingfisher does a good job at making Evangeline delightfully evil but also grounded at the same time. I get the whole being scorned by a man and how not being given the life you wanted for yourself could drive a person off the cliff. It's clear that no one has ever given her much of a challenge and her downfall is expected but so good to watch.

I was surprised by the regency setting!

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Books for this arc!!

A Sorceress Comes to Call
By T. Kingfisher

No surprise, I absolutely loved it! Kingfisher just has this way with characters and ideas that make her books so magical. There’s humor and tenderness and a little bit of the horrific. Definitely add this one to your list!

Thanks to @netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Femme fatale with creepy horse

The publisher identifies T. Kingfisher's (AKA Ursula Vernon's) A Sorceress Comes to Call as 'a dark reimagining of the Brothers Grimm's "The Goose Girl," rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic'. That's fairly accurate. The Goose Girl (Die Gänsemagd) is one of the more obscure Grimm's fairy tales, by which I mean it has never, to my knowledge, been the basis of a Disney feature film, and therefore is less known than, say, Cinderella or Snow White.

If you're familiar with Grimm's Fairy Tales, you might be inclined to remark that they're pretty dark already. We owe the familiar upbeat children's romances mostly to such Bowdlerizers as Andrew Lang and, of course, Walt Disney. However, The Goose Girl strikes me as dark, even for Grimm. Most Grimm's Fairy Tales are more gruesome and bloody than scary. But The Goose Girl is more than that. There are terror and psyops. In The Goose Girl a servant woman tries to trap a prince into a marriage under false pretenses, by taking the place of a princess, whom she intimidates and from whom she forces an oath of silence.

Also, there's a super creepy horse called Falada. This is right in Ursula Vernon's wheelhouse. She's still working through some trauma resulting from a scary horse incident when she was twelve years old. Set her lose on a story with a Falada in it, and she'll give you one Hell of a scary horse. Give her the opportunity to include some heroic birds, and she's right at home. (There are no Evil Rose Bushes in this one, though.)

"Reimagining" is a good word. A Sorceress Comes to Call is not so much a retelling of The Goose Girl as a new story built on its bones. In A Sorceress Comes to Call the seductress Evangeline is a powerful sorceress -- a classic femme fatale with extra magic mojo. Much of the story is told from the point of view of her oppressed daughter Cordelia, who in part plays the role of the princess in the original story.

The first 80% of the book is a straightforward femme fatale story -- the entrapment of the male quarry by the sorceress, resisted by his and her relations. But at 80% the "dark, weird" turns up to 11. The story ends with a satisfying Bang.

I thank Tor and NetGalley for an advance reader copy of A Sorceress Comes to Call. Release date 6-Aug-2024.

I'm a huge T. Kingfisher fan so I was really excited to get this ARC. I'm a bigger fan of her fantasy books specifically her Paladin series. I'm not as familiar with her horror writing but I liked that this book fell somewhere in the middle. I would put this book in the same category as Nettle and Bone or What Moves the Dead. I really liked the characterization work and the suspense was artfully done. I loved the dry, witty humor and I liked that we got to bounce between POVs of the daughter Cordelia and the sister, Hester. The story kept me on the edge of my seat and I really liked how the plot wrapped up in the end.

Absolutely amazing! T. Kingfisher has truly done it again, I'm a huge fan of everything they've put out and this didn't disappoint at all! It gave that usual cozy fantasy vibe while providing such a unique plot line. That's my favorite aspect of their writing! It never feels like a story I've even somewhat heard before. Will absolutely be recommending this to others! I'm hoping this can be a purchase for our library as well. It's at the top of my list!

This was a fabulously satisfying read, full of magic, found family, and drama with just the right amount of tension. Cordelia’ struggles with a wicked mother who aspires to wealth and status finally finds herself in a small community that teaches her what love truly is. This story grabbed me from the first page and didn’t let go. I will definitely share this with our customers and I am adding T. Kingfisher’s other books to my TBR.

Omg. How can she scare me , make me comforted, and then break my heart?

Likes:
Well it's T. Kingfisher and she is one of my favorite authors. I will love and support her work whenever it comes out.

The characters, especially Hester. I enjoyed her character and point of view the most. I have a friend that reminded me a lot of Hester, and so was able to envision her. Let me just tell you, it was like having my firend I haven't seen for years besides me for a few days.

Penelope Green - ugh! She seems like an old-school cool type person that I know I will never be, but have tried many times to emulate.

Lady Strauss - just an all around defender of her friends. I love it.

Willard and Alice. Dependable, good-natured people to be surrounded by.

Finally the bad guys! They are actually bad you know? Like there is no redemption for them and they were truly scary. For example, being made obedient, and just watching your mother use your body as a puppet... The opening description of being made to sit still in a church pew, unable to move, as a fly walks across your hand. Feeling the individual hairs of the fly's foot pierce the skin, the idea gives me the ick. Look, here's a picture of a fly's foot. No thank you.

(I wasn't able to post the picture here for Netgalley. Believe me, lots of prickles .)

Ok, enough about flies. I know they are mostly harmless, but I would definitely have sent that fly flying.

The amazing thing about T. Kingfisher's writing here is that all the characters are flawed, but it isn't portrayed negatively. I have never cared for books where the main character is flawless, beautiful, and perfect. I have never met anyone like that in real life and it all feels so fake. I mean, I get that fiction is usually a suspension of disbelief, but I want to be able to relate to most of the characters I am reading about.

Dislikes:

The pacing. I adore novella's and T. Kingfisher writes the best of them. So when I saw that this was over 300 pages I was a bit surprised, and this might be why I felt that it got a little slow to the action.

The romance. Listen, it might not even be fair to write this. I was not in the mood for a romantic tale. I found Hester's reasoning's to be selfish and frustrating. Also, when I talk about flawed characters, this was the one spot where I was the most disappointed. Every single time she talked about how old she was and how undeserving she was for love, made me roll my eyes.

Anyways, this is a 4.5 star book for me. I loved it. I wish T. Kingfisher would actually hire me as a beta reader and email me everyday with her newest writings. I think it would be a win win really. She would get my undying loyalty (which I mean she already has), and I in turn would get awesome things to read without having to wait.

Which actually brings me to the last bit of my review. As I don't have an in with T. Kingfisher, I'd like to give my thanks to the awesome people over at Netgalley and Tor who approve my requests for her books. THANK YOU!


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　Chapter 8 -- Page: 68
“None whatsoever,” said Hester dryly. “Otherwise people might get on them.” She turned to Doom. “There was a terrible murder in Little Haw, you see, and your daughter was overset by the thought that she might know the victims.”
-=-=-=-=-=-
　Chapter 8 -- Page: 69
Doom’s glance was quick and cold. Hester smiled comfortably and adjusted her shawl.
-=-=-=-=-=-
　Chapter 10 -- Page: 82
“Walk,” she ordered finally. “To the far wall and back.” Cordelia obeyed, trying not to stumble. She wasn’t used to thinking about how she walked, and suddenly the whole concept of walking seemed completely absurd. You fell forward and put out a foot to catch yourself before you sprawled on the ground. And then you did it again? And this was normal?
It’s like thinking about blinking. The moment you think about it, you start to worry that you aren’t blinking often enough, or too often and now I’m thinking about blinking, oh dear . . .
Still, her feet took care of themselves while she was worried about blinking too much, so that was a small mercy.
-=-=-=-=-=-
　Chapter 17 -- Page: 154
“The student has, I think, outshone the master.”
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　Chapter 20 -- Page: 180
She let her mouth witter on, hoping that her brain would come up with something brilliant in the interim. It declined to do so.
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　Chapter 28 -- Page: 244
and dogs made of bones.
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　Chapter 28 -- Page: 247
Willard
-=-=-=-=-=-
　Chapter 29 -- Page: 248
Worse than the eyestrain was the fear that she would miss something vital. She would often find herself halfway down a page with no memory of what she had just read, and would be forced to start again.
-=-=-=-=-=-

I cannot even put into words how much I loved this book. Okay, I mean, I guess I can put it into words since that's kind of the whole point of this review, but I know I'm not going to do it justice at all. I've been in a minor reading slump lately and have just been slogging my way through even my most exciting reads, but I finished this one in under twenty-four hours. And the reason for that is because it's awesome!

Based on the NetGalley and Goodreads blurbs, I figured that this book would be rather dark. I've read a lot of really dark books lately and wasn't sure that I was quite ready for another one, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised. Sure, there are some dark parts and the villain is very, very evil and, um, villainous (I'm not Shakespeare, okay?), but overall it's a delightful tale full of heart and bravery and … defense geese. There's humor and (admittedly dark) magic and even a little bit of romance, and if you've read my previous reviews, you might recall that I'm I'm not a big fan of the lovey-dovey stuff. This romance is absolutely perfect, however, and Hester and Lord Evermore make quite the entertaining (non)couple.

And, oh my gosh, the characters in this book are simply outstanding. Cordelia is a perfectly fine main character, but it's really the side characters that make this book what it is. Hester and and Imogene and Penelope and Willard are all wonderfully witty and entertaining, and they are totally the type of people that I'd want to be friends with. Other than the obvious villain (and her creepy familiar), there's really not a single unlikeable character in this book.

Honestly, I can't think of a single bit of criticism for this novel and that's a rarity for me. I've enjoyed most of T. Kingfisher's other books, but she's definitely outdone herself this time – it's by far my favorite of anything she's written.

I feel as if this review should be longer considering how much I enjoyed this story, but I guess it ultimately just boils down to me saying that you should read this book as soon as possible because it is seriously brilliant.

My overall rating: a resounding five stars! A Sorceress Comes to Call will undoubtably be one of the highlights of my 2024 reads.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review. The expected publication date is August 6, 2024.

Got the email that I was approved to read this.
Thought, "oh, I'll just download that so it's ready to read."
Thought, "oh, I'll just start it to see what it's like."
A few hours later, thought, "oh. Now I've finished it and I no longer have a Kingfisher novel to look forward to."

So that's my tragedy. Of course, I DID get to read it in the first place, so it's not MUCH of a tragedy.

This book is, unsurprisingly, fantastic. I adore Kingfisher's work and this is another exemplar. Cordelia's mother is able to literally control her body - she calls it 'obedience' - and as a result, even when she is in control of herself, Cordelia is always on her best behaviour. She has no other family, and no friends except for Falada, the horse, and the passing acquaintance of a neighbouring girl. She has no control over anything - doors are never to be closed in their house - and all she expects of the future is that she will marry a rich husband: so her mother has told her.

Things begin to change when her mother's current 'benefactor' decides to stop seeing her, and providing for her. In order to remain in the style to which she is accustomed, Cordelia's mother decides to find herself a rich husband, both so that she herself will be looked after and to aid in the effort to marry off Cordelia. This brings the pair into the orbit of Hester and her brother, a rich squire. Through the mother's machinations, they come to stay at the squire's house, and Cordelia's mother sets about wooing the squire. Meanwhile, Hester gets to know Cordelia, and... well. As you might expect, there are ups and downs and revelations and terrible things happen and, eventually, most things turn out okay.

The writing is fast-paced and glorious. The characters are utterly believable. Apparently this is a spin on "The Goose Girl" but it's not a tale I know very well, so I can't tell you where Kingfisher is being particularly clever in that respect. But it makes no difference; this is a fabulous novel and Kingfisher just keeps bringing the awesome.

I absolutely love retellings and this one did not miss. Kingfisher is a masterful storyteller and writer and I cannot wait for more books from this author. I loved the prose and the fairytale elements that added such a nice pace to the story. Good read.

I just finished A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher, provided as an eARC by NetGalley.

Cordelia knows something is weird about the way she grew up. For one, it's just her, her mom, and their impossibly beautiful horse Falada. Cordelia is 14, and since she has aged out of school her social interactions are limited to basically only Church. But she's pretty sure other people don't get puppet controlled by their sorceress mothers, right? When Cordelia's mother decides it's time for her (Evangeline) to leave their town behind so she can get married, Cordelia must stop her before there's more death and devastation left in her wake. Inlcuding a fabulous cast of characters, from Alice the maid to middle aged Hester, Cordelia learns about found family, and finding herself at last.

This one was really fun. It's a very loose retelling of the Goose Girl by the Brothers Grimm. Kingfisher turns basically every fairy tale trope on it's head, Cordelia is not described as particularly pretty, the noble steed is not in fact noble. I really loved the space given to these middle aged women too-- the POV swaps between Cordelia and Hester. Middle aged women never get to be heroines in fairy tales, and I loved Hester and her plotting. It was a quick enjoyable read, not quite as dark as Nettle and Bone, but refreshing in its quest to place female agency at the forefront of a classic fairytale. Highly recommend, as I do with all T. Kingfisher novels!

Is there such a thing as cozy horror? If there is, T. Kingfisher is the best at it. She can make you laugh and shiver in the same sentence. I think the most remarkable feat of imagination in the book is how brilliantly she describes what it feels like to be compelled or, as she puts it, "made obedient" by a sorceress. In this case, the heroine's mother. And just how the heroine finds her way to a life with friends and free will in spite of her mother's gift for compulsion is a tale to tell. Excellent Regency setting, by the way, for those who started with Georgette Heyer, a long time favorite. The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is because the horror part was a bit much for my taste and so I wouldn't re-read it. (I only give 5 stars to books I would re-read.)

A Sorceress Comes To Call is T. Kingfisher's reimagining of the Grimm's fairy tale, "The Goose Girl". Cordelia has long lived under the thumb and *absolute* control of her mother, Evangeline, a solitary sorcerer who maintains a home of no secrets or closed doors. Evangeline forces Cordelia to operate as maid and cook for their home while also being able to take absolute control of Cordelia when she so desires. When Evangeline's benefactor cuts her off, and the unfathomable and suspicious murder of a family occurs, Cordelia and Evangeline flee in the night on their mother's horses Falada, seeking a societal leg up from the Squire, a wealthy older man, and his unwed sister, Hester.

Determined to marry the Squire, Evangeline's plan form and quickly spirals out of control as Hester tries to protect and save her brother, friends, and Cordelia.

In true Kingfisher title, this story pulled me in immediately. Kingfisher has such a way with prose, imagery, and the ability to make shiver as you wait to see what's coming through the trees. I was not familiar with The Goose Girl prior to this story, but I really loved how it threaded into the broader story that Kingfisher wrote. This book reminds me of a folk horror classic, with a flavor of historical fiction and magic.

Thank you to Tor/Forge for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of A Sorceress Comes to Call.

I loved this! I have been recommended T. Kingfisher's books often enough that I was curious and wanted to see what all the fuss was about, I get the hype now! This was a reimagining of Brothers Grimm fairy tale 'The Goose Girl' though honestly kind of a different story entirely, but featuring a lot of the tropes/ideas from the original. No romance. This follows a 14 year old protagonist Cordelia and a secondary POV of an older woman named Hester. Cordelia's mother is a powerful sorceress who keeps her daughter essentially in thrall. Tiring of her lover, the witch Evangeline wants to sink her claws into a new, more permanent relationship- a marriage to a wealthy squire. The only thing standing in the way of her plan is her daughter Cordelia and the squire's meddling spinster sister Hester. Definitely will be recommending this to customers.

T. Kingfisher is killing it. Her latest tale gets another five stars from me. This reimagining of “The Goose Girl” turns everything about the original tale on its head. From the very beginning, we know that Cordelia’s mother is someone not to cross. I felt Cordelia’s pain and anxiety every time she was forced to be in her mother’s presence. Kingfisher’s skill at creating unforgettable characters is on full display here.

I flew through this book and was genuinely sad when it ended. I want more, as is always the case with Kingfisher’s books. I’m glad she’s such a prolific author! I’d love to return to this world in a future book! 😉

Many thanks to NetGalley, Tor Publishing Group and the lovely T herself for the advance copy. All opinions are mine alone.

T. Kingfisher can do no wrong in my eyes, and A Sorceress Comes to Call is no exception. A unique retelling/adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairytale 'Goose Girl', this version finds our 14 year old protagonist, Cordelia, physically subjected to the whims of her sorceress mother. Literally, she's physically forced to obey her mother through magic. The descriptive and straightforward writing that Kingfisher is known for really drives home the horror of her situation. Being able to think and process but unable to even twitch a finger? While assuming your peers all live the same way? It gives an underlying creep factor to every moment, even the ones that aren't particularly action packed or gory. There's funny moments, relatable ones, a small love story, and of course, an epic villain. I found this one to lean much more dark than other Kingfisher works, just because of Cordelia's point of view and the horror of the mother/daughter dynamic there. But it is well balanced with the other 'good' characters and light hearted moments. Overall, completely recommend!

Controlled by her mother, Cordelia’s life is miserable, especially when her mother controls her body and thoughts as punishment. Losing her current benefactor Evangeline decides to get married to Samuel, a wealthy lord and weasels her way into his life and heart. But his sister Hester knows there’s something wrong and she’s determined to stop Evangeline and help Cordelia. A fast paced, fun read I didn’t put down.