Kingfisher has been taking up space in my “must read list” for a few years thanks to her horror novels. Nettle & Bone is a slight veering from those horrific, uneasy tales, but there’s an undercurrent of dread nonetheless. Most princesses want to marry the prince, in this case, the princess wants to dispose of the prince.
This isn’t the kind of fairytale where the princess marries a prince.
It’s the one where she kills him.
Marra never wanted to be a hero.
As the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter, she escaped the traditional fate of princesses, to be married away for the sake of an uncaring throne. But her sister wasn’t so fortunate—and after years of silence, Marra is done watching her suffer at the hands of a powerful and abusive prince.
Seeking help for her rescue mission, Marra is offered the tools she needs, but only if she can complete three seemingly impossible tasks:
—build a dog of bones
—sew a cloak of nettles
—capture moonlight in a jar
But, as is the way in tales of princes and witches, doing the impossible is only the beginning.
Hero or not—now joined by a disgraced ex-knight, a reluctant fairy godmother, an enigmatic gravewitch and her fowl familiar—Marra might finally have the courage to save her sister, and topple a throne.
Marra is the youngest princess in the Harbor Kingdom, her eldest sister Damia was sent to marry Vorling, the Prince of the Northern Kingdom in the hopes of strengthen an alliance between the two nations. Marra, as the youngest of three, is sent to a convent for the Saint? Goddess? – Our Lady of the Grackles. She soon learns the eldest sister has died under mysterious circumstances. Marra’s second sister, Kania, is sent off to marry Vorling, naturally Marra fears for her sister’s life and the fact that she may have to marry Vorling. Complicating the situation is that Vorling’s “godmother” enchants the family and heirs.
Thus begins Marra’s quest to bring about an end to the Prince. A “dust wife” charges her with three tasks to complete in order for Marra to “qualify” for the dust wife’s assistance in her quest. One of those tasks is to construct a bone-dog, made of bones and wires, which in my mind had a very Tim Burton-esque feel. The dust wife is accompanied by a demon-possessed chicken. They travel to the goblin market and rescue a hulking extremely well-mannered knight from captivity and along the way, Marra and the dust wife bring into their band of misfits another godmother (who seems to be unconnected much like a Ronin) whose sole power is to grant good health.
With this coterie assembled, Marra seeks to enter the Northern Kingdom, kill Vorling, and rescue her sole surviving sister, Kania.
What a delightful and intelligent novel! Let’s unpack that. Kingfisher (a.k.a. Ursula Vernon) has a great penchant for story and having a great understanding and love of classic stories. She uses the framework of a classic fairy tale only to upend some of those conventions, thus allowing her to highlight some of the inherit modern problems with those kind of stories, like the assumed goal for a woman is to become a princess which allows them to live happily ever after. Or the assumed convention that godmothers are always benevolent. I also thoroughly enjoyed how Kingfisher imbued elements of the story with an air of fairy tale, like the bone dog and “dust wife.” She never explains what a “dust wife” is, the story allows the reader to infer what she might be, but the aura around the character (who never gets a name) is that her role is something that is assumed to be known in the world. Those kinds of small details give the story gravitas, weight, and power. It makes the reading experience that much more immersive.
Nettle & Bone is a story about belief, compassion, and family. It is a story of female empowerment set in a framework that traditionally tells a story that isn’t so much about female empowerment and women taking their destiny in their own hands. There’s a wry sense of humor throughout, as well. Readers who enjoyed Naomi Novik’s Uprooted, Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children books, or the works of Alix E. Harrow will likely enjoy Nettle & Bone.
Highly recommended
© 2022 Rob H. Bedford
Trade Paperback | 320 pages
Tor Books | April 2022
Excerpt: https://www.tor.com/2022/04/05/excerpts-nettle-and-bone-by-t-kingfisher/
Author Website: http://www.redwombatstudio.com/
