My love for T Kingfisher knows no bounds. These fairytale retellings are always so intriguing and humorous. The magic system in this one did confuse me quite a bit, but that could be because of my own state of mind currently rather than the authors describing of it. I think the central love story needed to be fleshed out a bit more. It didn’t really feel earned to me. Other than that, this was another great addition to T Kingfisher’s collection of retellings. Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for this free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this dark yet whimsical reimagining of Snow White. I found it very atmospheric and full of wit. It had likeable characters, light character development, and a wonderfully original plot. I did find the first quarter very slow and a little boring, but after that I was completely hooked.

YES! I love a dark reimagining of Snow White! This book had such a firm hold on me from the very beginning! I love the POV and how we really get into Anja’s mindset with all of her asides and running commentary. Her hyper-fixation on solving problems and creating antidotes and cures is sure to resonate with anyone driven/and or neurospicy. I will be adding this author to my classroom library for sure.

Thank you!

“I had nothing. I had tested everything but the walls. And yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something important.
And I’ll bet gold dust against sand grains that Snow knows exactly what it is.”

I absolutely adored this. T. Kingfisher is my favourite author hands down, and even among all of her fairytale retellings this one may be my favourite of them!
I couldn’t get over Grayling, he was perfect. Javier was perfect, the romance between Javier and Anja was perfect, I could truly gush about this one for hours.
The mystery was fun to follow, the magic was neat and incredibly strange (in true T. Kingfisher fashion) and the ending was perfectly sweet.
Anja as a main character held her own, and I was so happy to see her become more confident over the course of the book.
Overall a very unique take on the Snow White fairytale with all of the grotesqueries you’d expect from T. Kingfisher. I can’t wait to read it again!

Kingfisher amazingly enough seems to surpass herself with every new novel. A herbalist, an ordinary, introverted, woman is called in to try to save a princess who appears to be the victim of ongoing poisoning. Another superb feminist fantasy from one of the best storytellers in the world.

Poisonous Intrigue in the Desert: A Review of T. Kingfisher's Hemlock and Silver
T. Kingfisher's Hemlock and Silver is a “can’t put it down” fantasy mystery driven by its unique protagonist, Anja. This 30-something prickly scholar with a fascination for poisons is tasked with uncovering the truth behind the suspected poisoning of young Princess Snow. Anja's intellectual approach and unusual expertise make her a refreshing female lead, bringing a sharp and intriguing perspective to the investigation.
Along with Anja is Grayling, the seemingly ordinary one-eyed cat who plays a surprisingly crucial role in uncovering clues. The vulnerability of the twelve-year-old Princess Snow adds urgency to Anja's task, and their interactions highlight a compelling dynamic.
Beyond the central plot, the novel explores the complexities of sisterly relationships, adding depth to the characters and their motivations. While I would have liked the character of Javier to be more developed, his presence is nonetheless engaging.
The vivid desert setting especially created a unique and atmospheric backdrop that enhanced the narrative. As a desert dweller myself, I appreciated Kingfisher's portrayal of the arid landscape and the villa.
In essence, Hemlock and Silver is a well-plotted,fast paced mystery with a distinctive protagonist in Anja, an elusive feline sidekick in Grayling, a slow-burn romance and a captivating desert setting. The book's well written, engaging characters, and poisonous charm make it a five star book recommendation for me.
M.Roberts with the help of AI

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC!


If there's one fairy tale that I have never felt particularly attached to, it’s Snow White. But I figure if anyone could put a spin on it and make me actually like it, it'd be T. Kingfisher. Though Hemlock & Silver is a very unique take on the fairy tale, I didn't find it as compelling as some of the author's other works, like A Sorceress Comes to Call, Illuminations, or A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking.

“I just want to save people and then have those people go away and, ideally, not take arsenic again. Is that really so much to ask?”

Hemlock & Silver follows poison expert Anja as she gets sucked into a desperate plea from the king, who believes his remaining daughter, Snow, is being poisoned. Realizing she can't really refuse a king and afraid of the repercussions of her failing to save Snow, Anja reluctantly leaves her workshop to journey to Witherfield where Snow is housed. Anja doesn't fit into the ranks of either the servants or courtiers, but still manages to alienate everyone to whom she speaks with her incessant talk of poisons and deadly plants and animals.

Unfortunately, Anja doesn't have much of a personality outside of her poisons, which makes her less relatable. Poisons and cures are her entire life from an early age into her adulthood. She doesn't seem to have any other hobbies or pastimes. It is all poison, all of the time. She's definitely not one for children, people in general, or mincing words either. Though I found her social awkwardness endearing at times, it did get a little stale listening to her prattle on. It distinctly reminded me of the female protagonist in another of Kingfisher's books, Swordheart, who purposefully went on long rambling speeches in order to appear innocuous and unintelligent. 

The one person who seems unbothered by her preoccupation with scholarly pursuits and poisons is, of all people, her bodyguard, Javier. When Anja gets sucked into a magical world even more dangerous than that of the royal court, he is there to aid her every step of the way. Unfortunately, I wasn't really attached to either character, as they seemed to be more of their role in the story than actual developed characters themselves. Javier and Anja’s burgeoning relationship felt very random and sparkless to me and I was indifferent to whether they ended up together or not. 

My favorite character in the novel by far is a talking cat, who steals the spotlight on every page he occupies. Nobody does sentient animals like Kingfisher. She always somehow manages to make talking animals feel like a no-brainer natural thing. To top it off, she always manages to capture their personalities in such a believable way. If a cat could talk, it would obviously be very contrary and Kingfisher sells that as truth with effortless aplomb.

Like all Kingfisher books, her unique brand of mixing darkness and humor was fully on display. The banter between characters adds great moments of levity to this darker fairy tale retelling. I spent a lot of Hemlock & Silver feeling very in the dark as to what was going on and how it possibly connected to the story of Snow White, which frustrated me a bit, but the quirkiness helped to keep me invested. It takes a long time to get to the part of the story that bears any resemblance at all to Snow White, and I struggled to want to pick up the novel until I got to that point. 

“‘This is absurd. Mirrors don't have other sides. They're just glass.’
‘Windows are just glass,’ said the cat, ‘and they manage to have another side.’”

The connection to Snow White is very original and explores a part of the fairy tale that often gets lost in favor of other parts of the story, the magic of the mirror. Though I loved this idea in theory, the execution was less enjoyable for me. Anja is relentlessly inquisitive and takes her time trying to test and figure everything out, which is true to her character, but substantially slows the plot down to a halt. I was surprised when suddenly everything was coming to a head, even though Hemlock & Silver was nearing its end.

Outside of the choice to focus on the mirror and not the seven dwarves, a jealous stepmother, or a prince, I was also interested in the world-building. In this world, the gods were terrible and unjust, so people turned to animals to worship, who consequently became saints and overthrew the gods. Though these saints don't play a huge role in the story, Kingfisher manages to wryly pay homage to them in a fun way at the end of the story that had me smiling. 

Though this wasn't my favorite retelling of Kingfisher’s by any means (that title goes to Bryony & Roses), but it displays all of the hallmarks of her work—dark themes, humor, and incredibly unique ideas. I never regret reading any of her novels. I think Hemlock & Silver is a must read for any of the author's fans, for those who love Snow White or darker fairy tale retellings in general. However, Snow White fans who are expecting a cut and dry reimagining of the classic, with just one or two spins on the fairy tale, might be disappointed.

This is such a creative and new fairytale-adjacent book. I've really read nothing like it, unless you count other T. Kingfisher novels. Love the characters, love the writing, love all of it. It's got enough creepy in it that if you like T. Kingfisher for her horror, you'll probably like it, and definitely if you like her Paladin or Clockwork series, you'll love this. There's humor and of course, since this is T. Kingfisher, interesting animal characters, too. It's so nice to read a book where the majority of the people in it are fundamentally kind (well, except the villain, obv.). Highly, highly recommend.

4/5 stars
Recommended if you like: retellings, fantasy, fairytales, healers, mirror portals

This review has been posted to Goodreads as of 3/19, to Instagram 3/29, and to my review blog 4/3.

I love T. Kingfisher, but I have to say, I think I prefer her horror and dark fantasy to her 'regular' fantasy. A Sorceress Comes to Call and Thornhedge were both also not *quite* there for me, so it's becoming a trend. This book was good, but it was just missing something that would push it into the 5 star range. Perhaps emotional connection with Anja? Considering the format of the title, I was thinking it would be similar to Nettle & Bone, which might just be my favorite T. Kingfisher book, but alas it is not.

We start off with the king's request to Anja to tend to his daughter, who he fears is being poisoned. Not an unreasonable assumption considering her symptoms. We then get a nice peak into how Anja became a healer in the first place -- something of a misnomer since she's very specific that she's a poison doctor and not particularly good with the other aspects of healing. I actually enjoyed seeing Anja's background and how she went from a merchant's child to someone dedicated to the poison arts. I actually wish we went more in-depth here since the trial-and-error aspect of poisons and antidotes is pretty interesting to me, and I like how Kingfisher depicted it.

Relatedly, I was expecting to see more of Anja tending to Snow than we actually got. I was hoping to see a lot of said trial-and-error and Anja testing Snow's blood or testing different antidotes, but for the most part those aspects are just glazed over. A lot of other healers have already seen to Snow, so the nitty gritty (i.e., interesting) basics are out of the way. What's left for Anja is to try and figure out how this poison, and there is clearly something wrong with Snow, has managed to evade the best healers in the kingdom and continually make sick the most watched child in the kingdom.

The mirror dimension is interesting, albeit about what you would expect from such a thing. This aspect of the book is pretty similar to The Girl with No Reflection , though the reflections overall are less sentient here than in that book. Honestly the bits that took place in the mirror were kind of boring until closer to the end of the book. This was particularly disappointing since I do love Kingfisher's work and was hoping to get some of her signature spookiness. Alas.

There is romance in this book, between Anja and one of the royal guards, but I wasn't really feeling it. There was little substance there aside from a shared interest in figuring out what was wrong with Snow and thinking the mirror dimension was creepy. Sure, the guard (Javier?? I honestly forgot his name) cares whether Anja is safe, but....that's literally his job. Keeping people safe. I would hope he wants to do that. Also the book takes place over the course of perhaps a week or two, so it's also instalove.

I think Snow is a very interesting character and it's a shame we have to wait so long to explore her. I think a dual POV à la A Sorceress Comes to Call would've been fantastic. Unfortunately, we don't spend that much time with Snow, so most of what we learn about her occurs in a couple of pages at various points in the book. Also, like with Girl with No Reflection, I did find the mirror world aspect intriguing, but it just didn't feel well utilized here, and I really wish it had been.

I think the premise of the book was really interesting and I wish it had been delivered upon in a way that really made use of those interesting aspects. I have Swordheart that I'm also planning to read this month, so it'll be interesting to see if it continues the Kingfisher fantasy cycle or breaks out of it. I really do love her horror books.

Is Snow White my favourite fairytale? No. Did I throughly enjoy this twist? Most definitely. Instead of young Snow being our protagonist, we have Anja, a woman with a love of learning of and curing poisons since a tragic loss when she was just a young girl. She’s so tenacious in the seeking of answers for all her questions, but she’s also strong and knows when to step back or ask for help which is a breath of fresh air in fantasy novels. This book had the perfect balance of horror, fantasy, sci-fi and romance. It had me in the edge of my seat at one point and cracking up at another. You’re never too old to learn something new, nor are you ever too weird to find your people. Highly recommend

This is the first book I read from T. Kingfisher, and I want to read more. I like the story elements and the chapters that they come up with. I overall enjoyed Hemlock and Silver along with the characters in it.

It started off slow in the beginning with all of the world building and the introduction of characters. However, when the story picked up it was a fascinating and intriguing read that made me want to know what happened next.

I loved Anja and how she interacted with the world around her. She was brilliant and tried not to be too haughty about it and was very inquisitive, which I adored.


I got this arc from netgalley in return for an honest review. Thank you!

T. Kingfisher and I have an interesting relationship. Either she writes a book that has me consuming it within days ad yearning for more weeks after finishing it, or I can't find it in myself to continue. Sadly, this one is more of the latter.

Hemlock and Silver is much of Kingfisher's typical style: middle aged protagonist who isn't very adept at what the plot is requiring of them but goes forward anyway as a result of the character's morality or sense of justice. It begins slowly, as Kingfisher's novels typically do, but with an amount of imagination and style that I've come to expect from her. She creates worlds that are so fascinating, down to their religious beliefs (something often forgotten in modern fantasy novels), that stuns me. I think it's one of her best qualities as an author - the world just takes you in and you want to know more.

Unfortunately, a lot of what follows lost me. The story takes a long while to start picking up, which again is not unlike Kingfisher to do, but this one rally takes its time. The "story" doesn't start until halfway through the book and while most of what happens before is fun, it loses its charm when you can't see particularly where this is meant to head. Anja starts to lose her charm by that point as well and then her love interest and romance seems to be haphazardly thrown into the mix (another recurring issue I have with Kingfisher's works). It's sad, but it felt like a chore to read after a while.

Where people found A Sorceress Comes to Call to be quite boring (which I didn't understand as the dialogue was the best part of that book), I found in this book. A wonderful premise that can't quite get out of its chair to greet you before you've already headed back to the front door. 3/5 stars. If you are a diehard T. Kingfisher fan, you will love this one. If not, I would read Nettle and Bone instead.

A fresh novel with all the charm we've come to expect from Kingfisher. A little light on character development, like much of her stuff, but the magic system is fascinating and it is always good to see a female protagonist over the age of 20

The Snow White reimagining was done very well and it was quite unique. But apart from that, the plot and story didn't really sparkle. I found the story dragged and the romance was forced, like it was added in after with little thought.

I really enjoyed this novel; the characters felt real, and the well-paced plot kept me engaged from start to finish.

I was absolutely thrilled to get approved to ARC read Hemlock and Silver by T Kingfisher!

Thank you NetGalley!!

It is my first book by her and will not be the last.

I immediately enjoyed Anjas character.

She finds a passion for poisons and studying them at a young age after a senseless death she witnesses and devotes her life to trying to help people and find as many cures as she can. Ever the realist though she knows what she can and can’t do.

I love how blunt she is and her sense of humor kept me chuckling the entire time. She is visited by the King who tells her his youngest daughter is sick and requests that she come to the kingdom with him. Accompanied by her two guards, Aaron and Javier they set off with her chime-adder in tow.

Anja makes it to the villa where the princess Snow is staying and immediately get to work trying to find any properties of a poison. Quickly she is stumped as each avenue she tries meet a dead end.

Then there’s Snows odd behavior and weird things happening around Anja when she is supposedly alone in her room. I absolutely adored this book!

There was so much to unravel in this and the plot was perfectly paced out in my opinion.

I really enjoyed the small bits of what felt like horror and the tidbit of romance as well.

I’m glad this was my introduction to this author and I’m very, very excited to read more from her!

For those who love fairytale retellings but long for something new, Hemlock & Silver hits the mark. This dark reimagining of Snow White is steeped in poison, mystery, and magic, told from a new perspective: a kind healer named Anja, whom the king has hired to figure out what is killing his daughter, Snow. Traverse the mysteries of poison, magic, and a world beyond the service of the mirror in this new dark fantasy.

4.5 stars! Perfect for fairytale-retelling readers; fans of the author will want to place their library holds early-- it's good!

There were a few questions that remained unanswered for me, that felt just a little like they were swept under the rug. If this ends up being a series and these are addressed, I would definitely revise my star rating up to 5.

While I am loving a more mature heroine, I am getting just a bit tired of hearing repeatedly that these poor women are decrepit and creaky at the advanced age of 35. Enough is enough!

eARC from NetGalley.

Another great novel from T. Kingfisher. A woman who has made the study of poisons and their antidotes the purpose of her life is commissioned by the king to find out who is poisoning his daughter, Snow. If you guessed it was an evil witch with poison apples, you're right, but it's much more complicated than that. Fast-paced, wonderful read.

4 Stars
I am never disappointed by a T. Kingfisher reimagining or retelling, and this book was no exception, it was such a delight!

In this retelling of Snow White, Kingfisher takes a darker, more unique approach. Rather than focusing on Snow herself, we follow Anja, a woman who has dedicated her life to mastering the art of antidotes. When her father brags about her saving a horse from a poisonous snake bite the King seeks her out to help with his daughter, Snow, whom he fears may be poisoned. This is one of the first things I adored about the book: even Anja's father is so endearing and lovable. He’s genuinely proud of his daughter and can't wait to tell anyone who’ll listen about how brilliant and clever she is. This was incredibly sweet.

As with Nettle and Bone and The Paladin series, the wit and humor in this book is absolutely top-notch. It’s subtle and dry, and that's exactly what makes it so perfect. There’s a quiet charm in the way Kingfisher’s humor weaves through the story, never trying too hard but always landing just right. With all the characters, Kingfisher adds such beautiful, thoughtful details that you just want to live with them forever. The Mirror Geld, for example: a supposed terrifying creature who can't speak and only communicates through hilarious charades. By the end, I had these emotions I never expected I would have and just wanted it to be happy.

I also love that Kingfisher's characters always feel real and relatable. Just like in her other books, the main character here is a middle-aged woman trying to find her place in the world. She may not fit the conventional mold of beauty, but her kindness and inner strength make her truly beautiful in the eyes of those around her. People love her for exactly who she is.

Now, the book wasn’t perfect. It had its slower moments, and the middle dragged a bit, becoming somewhat repetitive. But honestly, those little bumps didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment. There’s something truly magical about Kingfisher’s take on fairy tales, and I just can’t get enough of them.

If you’re looking for a fresh twist on the Snow White story, where Snow is more of a side character, and you enjoy witty, clever storytelling, this book is definitely for you.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing for this advanced reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own.