Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

Reviewed by GGGinny

What I drank: a littel red wine while watching very old tv show (hello Columbo)

Goodreads Overview:

After years of seeing her sisters suffer at the hands of an abusive prince, Marra—the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter—has finally realized that no one is coming to their rescue. No one, except for Marra herself.

Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the tools to kill a prince—if she can complete three impossible tasks. But, as is the way in tales of princes, witches, and daughters, the impossible is only the beginning.

Drunk Overview: This book made me a little bit feral. Marra is the third daughter born in the royal family of a small kingdom in between two much larger kingdoms. Her sister’s were both married off to the same shitheel (first sister died a mysterious death. So Marra, after years of living in a convent, decides she’s got to take things into her own hands and goes on a quest. Which this book technically starts in the middle of.

Drunk Thoughts: Are you ready for specifics?

• Be prepared because I’m not starting with background, but with random things I loved
• So much of the power of the main characters (who don’t seem powerful in their own right) comes from the random shit they know
• I love the way “traditionally feminine arts” were given so much strength
• The romance her was kind of (?) a slow burn and god I loved watching it develop
• I loved the fact that the main character is like “I am not good at machinations and I’m glad othe rpeople are, but I am here to do ONE THING”
• And the way that lets other (minor) characters fucking shine with even limited time on the page.
• The dude (b/c there’s only one that matters) is such a fucking himbo and I love him.
• This book has some of the weirdest random details; the description of an elderly godmother, the demon chicken, the curses!
• Okay, legit, this book opens with a wildly metal scene of the main character building a dog out of bones and basically permanently scarring her hands with the wire used for it. This book is delightfully dark but in the way fairy tales are if you think about it for more than a moment.
• And that set up the rest of the book so well. There are these moments of humor and levity, but at the heart of it, this book never forgets that it’s a quest to save women (and a kingdom) from a man who seems them as property rather than people.
• And this book takes that concept and makes sure to show our band of main characters and the ways they as individuals oppose that.
• I’m not going into details because some of them are so lovely, but the main cast is 1) an almost-nun out to save her sister, a grouchy dust-wife (aka someone who can commune with the dead), a fairy godmother who may or may not have much power (but uses it to bless people with health), and an ex-warrior who looked at a hopeless situation and did the best he could.
• Like, not exactly an army.
• And the puzzle of this book was a blast.
• Surprise surprise, they’re going after the shitty prince, who is protected by a fairy godmother’s spell (not the one who is part of the group). So the story ends up veering into them figuring out how to fulfill their goal while not falling afoul of the spell.
• And, while parts of this book feel ridiculous, the book itself has a weight to it, because the world is so well set up that the ridiculous things could only make sense in this world.
• The details about the different kingdoms (and there’s a whole conversation to be had about Marra’s mother) made the weight of certain decisions really noticeable.
• And the inherent magic that exists gets woven into the world in some really strange or really fun ways.
• This is a book where the journey changed everyone who was closely involved (including the person who inspired it in the first place).
• The biggest trap I see in a lot of fantasy is not knowing where to end the book. I’ve seen too many stop right after the big battle like “that’s enough.” and then you have the other books that give you like four epilogues and a movie which is frustrating in the opposite way.
• In this case, there was just enough to know the direction the characters were heading, but I can also imagine what would happen from there.
• Maybe it’s just me, but I love being able to imagine the different kinds of endings different characters can get, which is MUCH harder when you have an epilogue that takes place 20 years later.
• Don’t get me wrong, a 20 years later epilogue works for some books. But oof.
• Okay, one last note. Legit, one of my favorite things about this book was how permanent some of the changes were. One of my favorite characters straight up disappeared from the narrative.
• It made sense, and I understood that, but boy did this book hit the bittersweet so well.
• Also, it’s a novella and there’s something about a book that’s less than 250 pages that makes me wish for more (while also being very happy with the amount of book contained in that smaller space).
• I only wish this was longer because of how much I enjoyed the world and the characters.

What it Pairs With: Stout. Something with a full body that is filling and just makes you happy.

Rating:5/5