Joint Review: Thorn by Intisar Khanani

Hello all! Blodeuedd and I will be discussing "Thorn" by Intisar Khanani. Blodeuedd is in red and I am in green.







Author: Intisar Khanani 
Title: Thorn (Dauntless Path #1)
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Retellings
Published:  March 24th 2020
Format: ebook
Pages: 458 

A princess with two futures. A destiny all her own

Between her cruel family and the contempt she faces at court, Princess Alyrra has always longed to escape the confines of her royal life. But when she’s betrothed to the powerful prince Kestrin, Alyrra embarks on a journey to his land with little hope for a better future.

When a mysterious and terrifying sorceress robs Alyrra of both her identity and her role as princess, Alyrra seizes the opportunity to start a new life for herself as a goose girl.

But Alyrra soon finds that Kestrin is not what she expected. The more Alyrra learns of this new kingdom, the pain and suffering its people endure, as well as the danger facing Kestrin from the sorceress herself, the more she knows she can’t remain the goose girl forever.

With the fate of the kingdom at stake, Alyrra is caught between two worlds and ultimately must decide who she is, and what she stands for.

I read this one when it was self-pubbed, and thought it was wonderful. And then I thought I would read it again, with Carole. It was good, just not as great as back then. Funny that. But then Carole and I are cursed so….

I thought it was really good. Not amazing or great, but really good. I think this is one of the better ones we’ve had. Not Bishop good ;) but still good and different. 

Nothing is Bishop good! Though I do feel sad that I did not love it as much as I did back then, 2013?15? But it was still so much better than much what we have read. Cos we read many meh books, don’t we ;)

I am sad you didn’t love it as much! That makes me worried about re-reading some awesome ones again lol! And yessssss we are cursed! 

I am never re-reading anything again! Well not with you ;) Except for Bishop where I liked them even more. Ok, we have to stop talking about Bishop and talk about this book instead. A re-telling of the Goose girl.

Hehehe. Yes - let’s talk about this book. I loved the whole concept. It was very different and fun. Well...not happy fun, but sad fun. This was overall really sad. I did cry at one point! SOBS!

The concept was great. I liked the atmosphere of the book. When I think back now, sure the world-building could have been more, but I often complain about that when it comes to YA. And here it never did bother me because it was so character-driven. I, of course, knew what was coming so I did not cry, but omg FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.

I was surprised there wasn’t a crazy amount of world-building. I did want a little more, but overall I am content with what we got. We were more concerned about our characters. I loved the focus on them. Right and wrong. Justice and unjust. The author, especially near the end, did a wonderful job showing us that not everything is black and white. Morals and a sense of justice is all grey and depends on perspective. 

Well said! And actually, I did not remember any of those parts. Weird. So that thing near the end did hit me like wow, and wtf, evil! It certainly was not black or white. Not that that made it right, but it made me understand and feel. It made me sad too, and it also made me realize like who are these people. I want more about ya know, those people ;)

I do hope we get a sequel one day because I feel like there is more to the story. I wouldn’t be heartbroken if we didn’t because it ended well enough, but I feel like we could extend and grow more with these guys. I am also a touch biased….I wanted a romance ;) hehe. 

I can’t remember then, but now at least it seems to be a part of a series. But I can not say which direction that series will take. More about Alyrra? About someone else? And yes romance is always good! I did look at my old review and thought she should have been with someone else, and I do still feel that.

Oooooo you’ll have to tell me privately who you wanted her to be with! I had a couple people in mind for her. But yes - I want her to be happy and loved and live an amazing life. She really deserves it. She had such a crap family and then all of this drama. Sighs. Poor Alyrra. 

Omg her family was the worst, her new family sucked too. The only family that did not suck was the one she made for herself. Oh, they were wonderful, and I had totally forgotten what happened there. It hit me like a bus. That was brutal.

100% agreed. Apart of me wanted her to stay the Goose girl and just stay with that family. But destiny...fate...whatever is a cruel mistress. AND YESSSS SO BRUTAL! The scene that the Lady showed was super brutal too. Very shocking. 

Me too, she was a good goose girl, but the author was great at showing how much more she could be as a princess. She knew these people, and she could not help as a goose girl

Meh, you are right lol. I just want her to be happy. I adored her. Sure she isn’t perfect, but she was an amazing character and I want to be her friend. 

I think she will be happy. But I still also feel that the prince was an ass, I mean just come out and say it. Why play those games when you know the truth?

The games made me MAD. I liked him overall, but what an ass he was there. I don’t get WHY he did play those games. SMH. 

Ass! Together they could have worked better! Tsk, some people. Talking about people, how much to we both despise Valka?

Yesss a lot of this drama and brutal stuff would’ve never happened if they worked together. OMG Valka. Ya…..I wanted karma to get her. Her reasonings were crap. She was a crap person. 

What a bitch, ugh. She wanted power. She wanted to be a princess. I wanted to kick her down the stairs. She deserved no pity.

Yessss! She deserved it. I don’t even get why Alyrra was forced to bring her with her especially knowing how much Valka hated Alyrra. That seems to really put the alliance in a lot of danger. Just didn’t make sense to me. SMH 

It’s like you marry her off, ehh, what? How could Alyrra manage that? Someone should have come too and well married Valka off then. But how does it make sense to just send Alyrra and Valka? Yeah, that was a bad move, but I guess there was no other way.

We wouldn’t have a story then. And honestly, we needed a character to hate. I get Alyrra tattled on her and blah blah, but Valka’s reasoning for hating her was stupid. You got caught being bad….you have no one to blame but yourself! Gah. Valka is the worst. 

But then stupid people do not think, they act. Valka ruined it for herself.

Yess she ruined everything for herself. If she had just chilled maybe she could’ve married that cousin of the prince??? Who knows! Sighs. Fool. 

Yeah, I am sure she could have wormed her way into some pants or something. I would not put that past her. 

Right? She really ruined her life for stupid reasons. 

Do we have anything more to say? I can just spew hate over Valka for ages.

Hahaha same, same. I hated her more than that witch/Lady person (blanking on her name) and she was the big baddie of the whole story. I did feel slightly bad for the Lady when she revealed her reason for everything she did and wanted to do to that family. 

Same, I never hated the Lady as much as Valka, which is stupid since the Lady made Valka, but she did not make Valka a shitty person, Valka was already a shitty person. So I could not hate the lady as much, and then I understood the Lady and felt sorry for her.

Agreed. The Lady had real reasons for her hate. Valka was just a petty, spoiled, snotty bitch who got in trouble and got the punishment she deserved. Haha, love how much we can go on and on about Valka who was just a pawn for the baddie. 

Valka crossed a line, she was a bitch, but then she crossed that line because she was a petty bitch. Ugh. I really need to stop talking about her. She gets the prize for Most evil Baddie of the year

Agreed. She really is the Most evil Baddie of the year. We should give her an award at the end of the year. ;) hehe. Do we have anything else? 

I enjoyed the book and there were some wonderful characters in it! And then there was a certain bitch ;) A good story and yes I do want more. I just hope if it is about Alyrra that she will have a better time

A good story! I want a sequel just because I want more of Alyrra. 

I meant to say something smart but meh. Lol. I can’t say something as good as your paragraph in the beginning. A good book, YA, but with some brutal parts, even if not shown.

Too tired to think of smart things. LOL

Then, the end, and next month BISHOP :D

The end!

About the Authors

Carole and Blodeuedd have been blogging for a long while now. The last few years the epic duo has been discussing books, watching movies, and even wetting the pen and sharing their stories with the worldwide web. They both love cats, chocolate, and a good story.