The newest T. Kingfisher novel follows Cordelia, a 14 year old girl, as she attempts to save herself and those around her from the designs of her cruel and abusive mother. I didn’t enjoy this as much as the other works by the author, mostly due to the extent and scope of the abuse Cordelia is subjected to. The book does have humor and a delightful found family to balance out the gore and suspense, but I found the balance a little too dark for my preference. The narration was very good and added to the suspenseful ambiance and the writing kept me on the edge of my seat, needing to know how it would end.

Would recommend to others who aren’t as sensitive to gore, and abusive parent/child dynamics.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for this audiobook for review purposes.

The Fantasy novel “A Sorceress Comes to Call” by T.Kingfisher is a loose retelling of the tale “The Goose Girl” by the Brothers Grimm. It’s written in dual perspective and follows a young girl named Cordelia and an older woman called Hester. While Cordelia is manipulated by her controlling mother, Hester tries to investigate what is wrong with her brother's new female acquaintance. However both get swept up in a tale of magic and the struggle for independence.

I really loved that this novel centers around women. Old, young, cruel, goodhearted, witty and ruthless. The men are actually on the sidelines without being unimportant. Showing a range of female characters in one book in the Fantasy genre still feels a bit lacking in my opinion so this was a refreshing surprise. Not that I would have expected anything else from T.Kingfisher who repeatedly writes complex and strong female leads and amazing side characters.

The writing is engaging and the story starts off slow but kept me hooked throughout the entire book. The subtle romance in this book especially captivated me. I was rooting for them the entire time. I can also applaud the choice to implement the romance in the older womens storyline and not the teenage girl's narrative.

The eponymous magic does play a key role in the story but the ins and outs of the magic system aren’t explored in depth.

I had the pleasure to listen to this as an audiobook. The narration by Eliza Foss and Jennifer Pickens was great and I really enjoyed listening to both of them.

I overall loved this book and can wholeheartedly recommend it!

A big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Macmillan Audio for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! I'm starting to think that T Kingfisher can do no wrong in my eyes? Her writing and her stories just work for me , which can sometimes make it hard to right a review that isn't just "this was so good" but lets give it a try.

This is a story of escaping an abusive narcissistic mother told in Kingfisher’s signature creepy yet cozy writing voice. Kingfishers MC’s are always so lovable and easy to root for, Cordelia and Hester are no exception. I especially loved Hester’s relationships with her brother and her friends and it was great to see Cordelia open up to them and become her own person.

Both of the audiobook narrators did a fantastic job.

Overall, the characters were soo goood, the writing was sooo goood, and the plot was sooo goooood! Highly recommend.

My first T. Kingfisher and it won't be my last!! This is a really creepy book that skirts the edge of horror. Cordelia is the 14-year old daughter of Evangeline, an amoral sorceress. Cordelia's been raised to be a perfectly obedient daughter: no locked doors, no talking back, no free thought... and if she does slip up, she's made forcibly "Obedient" as her mother controls her body from the outside.

One day Evengeline decides that she's going to find a husband for herself. She's chosen the man: a rich squire from the next town over. But his sister, Hester, knows that her brother's new love interest isn't what she seems.

I loved the juxtaposition of Cordelia and Hester: Cordelia is a young teenager who's been raised to be absolutely submissive. Hester, on the other hand, is a woman in older middle age who has always made her own decisions. Kingfisher gives us these two very different women with great interiority and distinction. We see Cordelia learning to fight back, and Hester learning that she can rely on others. And throughout, we get a sense of dread, as Evangeline carries through with her plans without worrying about the resistance Cordelia and Hester put up.

The audiobook of this one is great: with dual narrators, one for Cordelia and one for Hester, you really get a sense of their different personalities. Both performers were great, and the narration added to the fairy tale feel for me.

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the audiobook.

4.5 rounded up. T. Kingfisher always hits, but this might be my favorite I’ve read from her yet. I listened on audiobook and the narration is close to the best I’ve heard all year.

I was hooked from the opening scene - 14 year old Ophelia is trapped in her own body while her mother controls it. A fly crawls across her skin and she is unable to flick it away, forced to feel the itch of it.

The contents of the entire story are horrific and eerie in a way that should have made the story feel like a horror, but it instead feels like an unlikely hero overcoming great odds with the help of others. The entire time reading, I’m imagining the scenes in my head playing out like they’re in a campy 80s movie. If this book was made into a movie and somehow captured the magic of The Princess Bride, I’d never shut up about it.

This was delightful from start to finish. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

A Sorceress Comes to Call
T. Kingfisher

A dark retelling of Grimm’s Goose Girl, A Sorceress Comes to Call has become my favorite of T. Kingfisher’s novels retelling fairy tales (and Poe). Cornelia and her sorceress mother, Evangeline move to a new town, in need of a new benefactor. Evangeline’s diabolical designs are set on the kind Squire, which from the start trigger a premonition of doom in Hester, the Squire’s sister. Thus starts the main conflict between Evangeline and Falada vs Cordelia, Hester, the Squire and the rest of the characters.

Magic, murder, ghosts, and evil sorceress – you’ve got my interest! And this did not disappoint.
The plot and character development were excellent, and along with the smart dialogue and smoothly flowing prose make for a brisk progression of the story with a gradual crescendo of creeping. The masterful storytelling is so captivating.


My appreciation to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for providing me with an advanced copy audiobook for review, in exchange for an original, unbiased, independent review.

Thank you to @NetGalley for letting me listen to the advanced audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

This book did have some paranormal elements and suspenseful points, but the ending fell so flat. They basically just said they didnt know how anything happened, but yay we did it! Like what? I loved the side characters, but the main characters were not my favorite. The narrators were fantastic and made the book seem more spooky.

This book is a beautifully retelling of Grimm's The Goose Girl. While I am not familiar with this fairy tale I was still able to enjoy this book and I was completely engaged with the characters. This is a great book for anyone who enjoys the reimaging of classic fairy tales.

I really enjoyed the unlikely friendship between Hester and Cordelia as they team up to figure out what is going on with Cordelia's mother and the doom that she brings wherever she goes. While I wasn't completely sure where/when this book took place it was still a very interesting story of wanting power over others.

I listened to the audiobook and the dual narration performed by Eliza Foss and Jennifer Pickens truly brought this story to life and kept me wanting more.

"A Sorceress Comes to Call" by T. Kingfisher is a captivating blend of fairy tale retelling, historical fantasy, and possibly horror, depending on one’s threshold for the genre. It intertwines the stories of a fearful 14-year-old girl, Cordelia, and a determined 50-year-old woman, Hester, both grappling with the machinations of a cruel sorceress.

The story is told through two perspectives. Cordelia lives under the oppressive control of her mother, Evangeline, a sorceress who, after losing her benefactor, seeks advantageous marriages for herself and Cordelia. Hester, the sister of Evangeline's target, senses doom and tries to thwart the engagement by inviting friends to their familial home.

The main characters, Cordelia and Hester, are complemented by a brilliant cast of secondary characters. The book delves into themes of parental abuse and found family. Kingfisher’s immersive writing and the exceptional dual narration in the audiobook enhance the story.

Fast-paced and gripping, the book is difficult to put down. Cordelia’s suffocating experiences under her mother's control are portrayed in a still readable manner, and the lovable characters add warmth. The ending is particularly satisfying.

I thoroughly enjoyed "A Sorceress Comes to Call" and will revisit it in the future. I highly recommend this book to fans of fairy tales and fantasy with strong female leads. It’s a 5-star read.

It definitely read like a Grimm's fairytale but I think I was expecting more from it. The story was pretty straightforward and I didn't find it that dark or creepy. My favorite were the characters. The two main POVs were enjoyable and I was rooting for them both. Loved both audio narrations, especially Cordelias. Wish we got more of the magic and Falada the demon horse.

Thank you Macmillan audio for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was so lucky to be given the chance to both listen and read the new Kingfisher book! This was a charming edition to previous fairy tales such as Nettle and Bone or What Feasts at night. I do miss her more gruesome and spooky novels, but these are just sweet and magical.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

This is the first T. Kingfisher book I have read, and I really enjoyed it. I read the book and listened to the audio when I wasn't able to read. I found listening to the audio more enjoyable than the book.

Cordelia is a 14 year girl who is terrified of her own mother. She has a good reason for that fear. Her mother can force her to be obedient, and do things against her will. Hester is an older woman, in her 50s, who wakes up one night with a terrible sense of doom. After a suspicious death, Cordelia and her mother flea under the cover the darkness. Luckily for them, a wealthy man and his sister (Hester) take them in. That sense of Doom has come right into Hester's home. Hester must rely on her friends and wit to save her brother and Cordelia from the evil sorcerer.

This book will not keep you on the edge of your seat with action, but there are loveable characters, humor, and some darkness thrown in the book. Because it is a tad bit slower than what I normally read, the audiobook added to my enjoyment of the story. The narrators did a wonderful job.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free copy of this audiobook in return for a review. I really enjoyed this book. It was written well, flowed well, it held my interest and called to me when I wasn’t reading it. I was invested in the characters, although they did seem a little too perfect for the time period, but nonetheless they were endearing. It was pretty brutal in places, especially when they try to do away with the familiar, so this definitely isn’t a children’s book, I would say probably 16+, although if it was slightly altered and some scenes calmed down and the talk of sex removed, it would have made a great children’s book, and I think the subject and main character perhaps lent itself to focusing more on a juvenile audience. I did find it disappointing that the villain in this story wasn’t able to be saved and rehabilitated: I always wish for rehab rather than destruction. Especially since we really didn’t get much back story on her. What made her that way? How old was she really? Who were her parents and what kind of childhood did she have? I feel like there could be a whole prequel devoted to those answers that would perhaps provide me with more acceptance of the villain’s fate. The narration of the audiobook was provided by two people, and both did well. The younger one was a little overmuch on the “I’m a helpless scared girl” quality of her voice, it was constant, but not super excessive so still tolerable. I would definitely read other works from this author.

I never imagined that dark fairytale retellings could be wholesome, but somehow T Kingfisher always manages to make them so! This is a creepy and delightful story about a girl with a dangerous, abusive mother and her evil horse familiar, and her found family of good-hearted, middle-aged aristocrats. If you enjoyed Nettle & Bone, you will love A Sorceress Comes to Call.

I typically love T. Kingfidher's books and I liked A Sorceress Comes to Call particularly. It has strong overtones of a classic fairytale-- meaning that, in its magic, it is both beautiful and horrible.

Having just recently started on my T.Kingfisher journey, I can unequivocally say that she has landed firmly amongst my favourite writers.

Her characters are compelling in how utterly relatable they are regardless of the outlandishness of their situation. They are so multifaceted and delightful in their flaws. The characters in A Sorceress Comes to Call are no different.

The true heart of this story is the character growth but it is facilitated by a villainous plot, a sociopathic murderess, elements of the grotesque and a healthy dose of comedy.

T. Kingfisher has written a story that captivated me from beginning to end, scratched my brain just right and left me completely satisfied.

Ps. The fact that the primary POV is an extremely naive 14 year old girl yet the storytelling does not feel even the slightest bit juvenile was so refreshing. It’s a skill that I have found to be rarer and rarer.

My new favorite T. Kingfisher book. Perfect, no notes.

I knew I was going to love this book from the very beginning. Well, as long as it had a decent ending I would love it. It did not disappoint.

The themes about parental abuse and forced isolation really spoke to me. Cordelia was way braver and more bold than I’d expected of anyone who has been abused their whole life, but I loved it. It made it feel like there was hope for getting out of awful situations.

This book was doing so much. It was dark, and cozy, and charming. T. Kingfisher has a way of telling dark, horrible, terrifying stories in a way that feels almost cozy and charming. The middle part of this book reminded me a little of Pride and Prejudice, but then something would happen to remind me how dark and twisted this story actually was.

I love Heaster as a protagonist and I love that we have an older person as a main character in the story. I also love that Heaster kept referring to the sorceress as Doom in her head. She used the expectations of old people against the sorceress in the best way possible, and often in amusing ways.

Seeing from both Hester and Cordelia’s perspective really helped paint a better picture of what was going on. Cordelia is socially awkward and doesn’t know how to handle many of the situations thrust upon her, but she knows that her mother is a sorceress and she knows some of her mother’s plans. While Hester might not know everything that is going on, she has a much better grasp on the social dynamics than Cordelia. In addition, we get to see Cordelia’s awkwardness both from Cordelia herself, and from an outsider.

As painful as it was to see Cordelia try and often mess up in social situations, I also loved that she was finally getting out of the isolation she had grown up with. I also love the conflicted feelings Cordelia has when she meets another sorceress who is really nice to her. It forces Cordelia to see things from a perspective she might not have encountered otherwise.

The side characters are wonderful. Practically all of them felt very alive and real. We have so many fun characters to hang out with too!

Basically I loved everything about this book. It’s one of my favorite T. Kingfisher books, and one I will definitely be rereading.

[Spoiler]
Also Cordelia is definitely a sorceress too, but she doesn’t realize it. Aaaah!!

Another enjoyable read from T. Kingfisher. The dark and humorous writing style with a wonderful story to go with it. This title is loosely based on a Brother's Grimm tale with secrets, magic and murder. All the characters were well done and believable, making it a more character driven story. There were some parts that seemed to be a tad slow with the rest of the book, but in the end it was wrapped up rather nicely. A wonderful standalone read that I recommend. The audiobook was done really well and a joy to listen to.

Thank you to netgalley and Macmillan audio for an advanced audiobook of this for my honest review.

This captivating retelling of the Brothers Grimm’s ‘Goose Girl’ weaves forbidden magic, romance, secrets, and murder into a wonderfully dark tale. The skillfully crafted characters shine with distinct personalities. making this book truly enchanting. I finished this book days ago and cannot stop thinking about it, it is a must-read!

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillian Audio for the advance copy of this book!! I listened to it in just a few days and recommended it to several friends before I was even through it. This was my first novel by T. Kingfisher and it will definitely not be my last.

A Sorceress Comes to Call is a retelling of the Goose Girl fairytale from the Grimm Brothers. I wasn't familiar with that tale prior to reading this book, so I went in with no foreknowledge and zero expectations. It was SO GOOD! I listened to the audiobook and there were two different narrators that spoke for the two different POVs that the story was told from. The first POV is Cordelia, the 14-year-old daughter of the sorceress, Evangeline. Cordelia is cruelly forced into obedience by her mother when she doesn't do as Evangeline desires. Cordelia is severely isolated with only one real friend, Falada, her mother's horse. The second POV is Hester's. A woman in her 50s, sister of the Squire, whom Evangeline is trying to marry for his meager wealth and social status. Evangeline's goal is for Cordelia to marry even better and she will stop at nothing to see that plan through.

I'm not sure I can give much more than that without giving much away. This is not a direct retelling of the Goose Girl story. There are definitely some differences, so it won't feel like an elongated version of the same thing you might already know and love. I think that it's something you'll be able to love in a whole new way, though! Kingfisher does an amazing job at staying true to the story, while also putting her own fresh spin on it and telling the story anew. Highly recommend!!! :)