Nettle & Bone

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
Published by Tor Publishing Group on April 26, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Action & Adventure
Pages: 320
Format: eBook
Source: Amazon

Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel
An Instant USA Today & Indie Bestseller
An Oprah Daily Top 25 Fantasy Book of 2022
A Vulture Best Fantasy Novel of 2022
An NPR Best Sci Fi, Fantasy, & Speculative Fiction Book of 2022
A Goodreads Best Fantasy Choice Award Nominee

From Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes an original and subversive fantasy adventure.

*The very special hardcover edition features a gold foil stamp on the casing and custom endpapers illustrated by the author.*

This isn't the kind of fairy tale where the princess marries a prince.

It's the one where she kills him.

Marra — a shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter — is relieved not to be married off for the sake of her parents’ throne. Her older sister wasn’t so fortunate though, and her royal husband is as abusive as he is powerful. From the safety of the convent, Marra wonders who will come to her sister’s rescue and put a stop to this. But after years of watching their families and kingdoms pretend all is well, Marra realizes if any hero is coming, it will have to be Marra herself.

If Marra can complete three impossible tasks, a witch will grant her the tools she needs. But, as is the way in stories of princes and the impossible, these tasks are only the beginning of Marra’s strange and enchanting journey to save her sister and topple a throne.

“Wholly entertaining."—Buzzfeed

“A modern classic.”—Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of Every Heart A Doorway

“Pure delight. T. Kingfisher uses the bones of fairy tale to create something entirely her own.”—Emily Tesh, award-winning author of Silver in the Wood

Also by T. Kingfisher
Thornhedge
A Sorceress Comes to Call
What Moves the Dead
What Feasts at Night
A House with Good Bones

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

My Review

I picked this book up due to the influence of Booktube and I am so glad that I did. This is a fairy tale like non I have heard or read before. Then again I have never read this author before so maybe this type of story is common for her or then again maybe it isn’t but either way I found it to be a complete delight. I am sure that this will not be my last book by T. Kingfisher.

The story starts like all fairy tales talking about a kingdom and the royalty that lives there, particularly the princesses. The kingdom in which these princesses live is a small one that is in fear of being taken over by a bigger one. The solution that the King and Queen come up with is to make a deal with this more powerful kingdom. The deal is that the Prince of the bigger kingdom will marry the oldest Princess from the smaller kingdom. The deal is made and all seems to be going to plan. The smaller kingdom is safe. You would think that this would be the end of the story but it isn’t reader it is only the beginning. I mean if it was then we would be missing out on one of the weirdest couple of characters I have ever seen in a book, a chicken that is demon-possessed and a dog that is made of bones. Only bones. Shall we begin?

When you first open this book you meet Marra who is in a bone pit making an actual bone dog. Yes, you heard that right. A dog made completely of bones and nothing else. Are you intrigued? I know I was and had to keep going. You see Marra was only working on completing one of the tasks that the Dust Wife had assigned her in exchange for helping her to kill the Prince. The Prince whom she is convinced has killed her older sister and is abusing her middle sister. Marra however is just a simple Princess forced to live in a convent where there is no risk of her becoming pregnant before her middle sister. Also, this is a way of keeping Marra safe just in case something were to happen to the middle sister, Marra would be expected to take her place. So how on earth is she going to save her sister? She has heard from people about these Dust Wives that have certain abilities and she figures that maybe this would be the best place to start. So off she goes without explaining herself on a quest in search of the Dust Wife (not just any Dust Wife but the one she has heard about). You must remember this story does not take place in modern times but more in the times of Knights and such. Being a single female and traveling is not always the safest thing to be doing. The only thing she has going for her is that she is a nun or rather she gives off the appearance of being a nun due to her clothing.

Once Marra finds the Dust Wife she discovers that this little old woman is not exactly what she was expecting but non the less that did not stop Marra from seeking her help. The Dust Wife assigns Marra three tasks before she will help her and these tasks are nearly impossible. The first task is to make a cloak of nettles, the second task is to make a live dog from bones and the third task is to catch moonlight in a jar (if my memory serves me right). Impossible to say the least but it doesn’t stop Marra because she is determined to save her sister and not cause a war between the kingdoms. POTENTAL SPOILER but she does manage to complete these tasks. Now the quest begins.

I do not want to give too much away but this adventure is like non-other. The crew that Marra gathers is absolutely ridiculous and one you would think could not succeed. She starts off the adventure with the dog she made of bones and an elderly Dust Wife who also happens to bring her chicken that is possessed by a demon because she did not want to leave it behind to be cared for by another. They later find a disgraced Knight who they have join them and not too long after they find another elderly woman. This woman is not just any old woman but a Fairy Godmother. She is not just any Fairy Godmother because she happens to be Marra’s Fairy Godmother from childhood. Talk about a motley crew right?

I really enjoyed following them along on this adventure to rescue her sister. I enjoyed reading about the Goblin Market and discovering the magic that is hidden in and around the castle itself. Oh and let us not forget the crew of ghosts we come into contact with on this journey. I also enjoyed learning about each of the characters but I do wish T. Kingfisher had included more of a backstory for them meaning the sidekick characters. I do really love the ending of the story but I wouldn’t be mad if T. Kingfisher decided to carry on with the story as in a sequel perhaps or maybe that is just me. Either way, I very much enjoyed this book and would totally recommend it to anyone looking for a motley crew type fairy tale adventure story.

Trigger Warnings:

• Sibling Death
• Murder
• Spousal Abuse