Audiobook Review: Thornhedge by T.Kingfisher

Author: T.Kingfisher

Narrator: Kate Handford
Title: Thornhedge

Genre: Fantasy, Retelling, Horror, Novella
Format: Audiobook
Published:  August 15, 2023
Where I Got It: My shelf (Audible) 

Summary: 

There’s a princess trapped in a tower. This isn’t her story.

Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?

But nothing with fairies is ever simple.

Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He's heard there's a curse here that needs breaking, but it's a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold…

Review:

This author is fun. I love the variety!!!

Here we have a retelling that may have you questioning all the princesses...especially Sleeping Beauty. Toadling was a human, but she was stolen from birth by the fairies and raised as one of their own. However, when she became an adult, the fae asked a big favor from her. It should've been easy.....go to the human world and offer a simple blessing of protection to a new baby. Nothing is ever that easy. Centuries later, a knight shows up to break the curse, but it's a curse Toadling can't have it break. 

I really enjoyed this one. I really had no idea what was going to happen to our lil Toadling. I adored her so much. 

This is a retelling, but you don't need to know the story of Sleeping Beauty in order to know this one. It is sooooo different that you would really need to call this a retelling? It was so different. 

This felt a little...lackluster compared to other stories by this author. It wasn't bad by any means...but.....it was too soft. It lists "horror" on the list of genres, but there is zero horror of any kind. It was sweet with some sadness and a mystery. Toadling is hiding something. Honestly, I think if the author played up the baddie a bit more and made the baddie scarier, it would've made this story really come to life. It was just missing a big spark. 

The ending was nice. I would've liked to have seen a smidge more. Maybe an interaction or two between Toadling and someone else (no spoilers here). 

The narrator did a nice job. Her voice was fitting. 

All-in-all, I did have fun with this one. It just felt...flat compared to other books I've read by this author. We needed more spice. Maybe with the baddie? It was very soft....too soft at times. 3 stars from me. In the end, it was still a lovely story and I loooooooved Toadling so much. 

Reading Challenges

- Audiobook #14

- Library Love #9