Posted by I have a tendency to binge read my favorite authors when I’m trying to get out of a slump, so bear with me as I probably will post a few more T. Kingfisher reviews in the days to come.
Okay, this is neat. I have been searching for a retelling that I really enjoy and I think it’s finally happened. I had strong sleeping beauty vibes throughout this, and it turns out that’s spot on because it’s a sleeping beauty retelling from the perspective of the witch who cursed the princess. She did it for good reason. This princess should stay asleep.
I love non-human POVs when made sufficiently “alien” or unhuman-like. Toadling is a kind of a mushroom/bog-person who feels most at home in the swamp. There are a lot of neat physical characteristics like the fact that when she cries, her tears are black like the spores off a mushroom.
She was given the task of trying to keep this princess safe, and those around her safe from the princess. The princess isn’t who everyone thinks she is, her soul is inhuman and she’s essentially just pure evil. The older she gets the more pronounced her anger, indifference to others, and delight in other’s pain starts to show. She kills animals, torments humans around her, and shows absolutely no remorse. So, now she sleeps to keep other safe. It’s been this way for a long time, Toadling has guarded the sleeping castle for many ages. Generations have come and gone, and Toadling stays where she thinks she belongs, gaurding the sleeper.
But then this dude shows up and wants to know what these stories are all about. Toadling is not pleased. She tries to get him to go away but he just won’t leave until he finds the truth to the legends. There’s a theme in this book revolving around stories, myths, legends, and how they stand the test of time. It’s kind of like Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett, there are stories that wrap through time and connect people from generations ago to the present, there are stories that shape societies and individuals, and there are stories that lead to tragedy. Toadling desperately wants people to forget this particular story, and she’s shocked that many years after the tragedy, people still speak of the sleeper in the castle.
T. Kingfisher has a habit of writing not-beautiful female characters, those characters who may otherwise be called homely if judged by “conventional beauty standards.” They tend to be older, or overweight, or “nerdy”, or plain, or in this instance, toad-like. It’s one of my favorite things about this author is not everyone has to be pretty, or handsome, or athletic. There’s no “fixing” her, either. She doesn’t take off her glasses and suddenly become hot. T. Kingfisher also tends to write overly-chivalrous male characters which sometimes I can really enjoy, but sometimes they do get eyerolls from me. The male love interests tend to be hyper-understanding, very, very thoughtful, very, very respectful, just a complete himbo unicorn. I mean, it’s both a complaint and not a complaint. I do keep coming back for more, so clearly it doesn’t bother me too much.
This is a quick, I think it’s a novella and not a full length novel. The pacing is fantastic, it’s hard to be long and drawn out when it’s a novella. Speaking of, I never thought I’d be a novella person, but Kingfisher and Tchaikovsky pull it off for me. So far they’re the only ones who can build a convincing character I am engaged with, a world I can see, and a plotline that ends in a satisfying way. It’s tough to do, but I liked this one!