I didn’t know much about Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher before starting it, other than the fact that it was fantasy but overall I enjoyed reading it. The beginning was a bit slow and did not set a tone that was consistent with the rest of the book, but I really loved the story and style of writing that was used. The subversions and subtle nods towards the classic fairytale form were ingenious, and the goal that the characters (who were all unique and complex) were working towards made sense and made me root for them. I loved the demon hen and chick that were a part of this mostly crew, and the dialogue kept me entertained the entire time. I am still a bit confused about what the point of the first couple of chapters was and why they were so different from the rest of the novel, but I liked this book as it was a character-driven fantasy story that seemed fresh and interesting to me.

Kingfisher's wonderfully creative new fantasy is a joy to read, featuring powerful females, a loyal dog made of bones, and well deserved revenge.

This was such an enjoyable book which is about Marra’s sisters being married off to an abusive prince and decides to get revenge to save her sister. This book is short but the author brought the story well together in these pages. This book gave me kind of a Wizard of Oz vibe as the characters go on a journey where more join in. The pacing was fast which was perfect for this short book and I enjoyed how the story was laid out. The story kind of picks off in an interesting way but I wish it had more of a simple begging to hook the readers right then and there. I do have to say that I wish we got more of the world building for this story but I guess since the book was short you have to get to some points fast.

The main character is Marra and she is such a strong woman. She would do anything for her sister and you can tell that their relationship is strong. I enjoyed her character development in the story as she has such an amazing adventure. There are many side characters and I enjoyed how involved they were with the story. They help Marra and also grow throughout the story. There is friends to lovers romance in this book but it’s not the main factor of the story.

The ending was well done and this was honestly such a nice read. I love how eventful this book was with Marra’s journey and seeing her character grow. Not only is the fantasy great but you also learn a lot. I did have some minor problems with the book but overall this was such an amazing read. I totally recommend this book especially for fans of Wizard of Oz and Kingdom of Coral and Pearl.

This was a really good, easy-to-get-absorbed-in read! The story starts off with the protagonist, Marra, in an eerie setting doing a confusing task (creating a dog out of bones), and the backstory is slowly revealed in the next few chapters. I appreciated this mode of storytelling, since if the story had started out in the traditional "there was a kingdom and three princesses" it would have been much less compelling, and I would have missed out on a really unique, twisted fairy tale.

Nettle & Bone pays homage to many of the darker aspects of fairy tales: weaving out of difficult materials as in the 'Seven Swans', a demonic chicken reminiscent of Baba Yaga's house, a dashing hero who masquerades as a woodcutter. The story is wholly original, though, and the plot springs from an important topic that fairy tales never quite cover: what if a prince is a literal monster who hurts his wife? Marra is desperate to save her elder sister from this fate, and she goes on a quest to find a way to kill the aforementioned prince that brings her into contact with witches, godmothers, and loyal friends. Marra's growth is fabulous: she starts in a convent, accepting her fate to be squirreled away so she doesn't bear heirs that will threaten the prince's offspring, and is generally very passive. Through completing impossible tasks, she gains purpose, and throughout her journey, she contributes equally to her group, letting others take the lead when their talents are most useful, but using her own ingenuity and dedication to forge forward.

I do wish the story had been a little longer, not because the plot really needed more (the ending in particular was perfect for the story--a bit ambiguous but with every character accepting their growth and knowing they can grow a bit more), but because I would have loved to relish in the delightful gothic sensibilities and rich language for longer. Some of the elements were slightly confusing in how they fit together, and I would have liked to see more of how the supernatural elements interact with the human world and with each other, because there seemed to be many sorts of magic going on.

A great read for someone craving fairy tales with a splash of something new!

*I received an eARC of this title from Netgalley and Tor Books in exchange for my honest review.

A haunting anti-fairy tale, 'Nettle & Bone' is eloquent and beautifully written from page one. Never has it been so hard to make yourself step away from a brutal, flawed world.

T. Kingfisher does it again.

This is a pulsing, dark-hearted thorny nest of a fairytale retelling/reimagining, and I was here for every minute of it. Impossible tasks, dog companions, goblin markets, fairy godmothers, and blessings and curses and a very, very angry feminist ethic.

There is also humor and creepiness and it's all written so skillfully.

Just, a fantastic reading slump antidote all around.

Listen carefully, everything that T. Kingfisher writes is phenomenal. It is fantasy escapism at its finest without all the drudgery, grit, and questionable female representation from the usual wanna be Martins of the genre.

This fantasy quest involves a number of characters who would normally accompany a dashing hero. The quiet nun, our heroine and second sister to a princess, a hedge-witch with a no nonsense approach to impossible tasks and her chicken familiar, the rugged disgraced soldier, and the sweetest, possibly better at curses fairy godmother. Together this troupe deals with Goblin Markets, searching for directions in a large city, bone dogs (truly the best of dogs), and an underground crypt filled with vengeful spirits.

It is an utter delight.

This is only the second book I have read by Kingfisher and I am now 2/2.

Nettle and Bone is the kind of fairy tale I needed when I read it. Marra was just wonderful but the supporting cast is really where it shines. I have preordered a hardback directly from Macmillan and cant wait to add it to my collection.

T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon) has an amazing ability to write adult fairy tales that sound exactly like the stories I grew up with. The tone, pace, and tropes like fairy godmothers in Nettle & Bone are all as should for a comforting reading experience, no matter the grimness of the story.

Marra is a princess who has had to watch first the beloved eldest sister and then the second sister be married off to a prince to protect her country from invasion. If the second sister dies too, Marra will be next, so she’s whisked off to a cloister to keep her safe—not from the prince but for him.

Fifteen years of secluded life later, she’s unprepared, at thirty, to deal with the realisation that the prince abuses her sister physically and mentally, and the only thing keeping her relatively safe is to stay pregnant. But that’ll only last until she delivers a boy.

Filled with anger for her sister, Marra sets out to save her with a vague notion that such a heroic act needs a heroic journey and deeds. She meets a witch who gives her three impossible tasks, and then decides to accompany her on the quest. Good thing too, because Marra wouldn’t have survived without her. They are joined by a knight with a death wish and Marra’s fairy godmother who isn’t quite what she seems.

But it isn’t just the prince they need to defeat. There’s a curse on his kingdom, and until that’s dealt with, Marra’s sister and her child are as good as dead.

This was such a wonderful book. Marra was an excellent character, slightly slow and naïve for her age, but utterly determined to see her quest through. In the end, her role in saving her sister was mostly about getting together the people who could do it for her. The two old witches were brilliant and fun, and the knight a mature man who was just perfect for Marra. The language was rich and the narrative delightful, and if the world was a fairly generic fairy tale kingdom, with Christian concepts like christening thrown in the mix, it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the story.

Nettle & Bone knew how to hook me. It begins with bone magic which will always perk up my ears. While I really enjoyed Marra's character especially her dedication, the action in Nettle & Bone has to be my favorite element. I love this twist on an adventure story. Full of elements you might expect: a group quest, fairy godmothers, and curses, there's always a twist. There's people hiding secrets and running from their past. And there's a demon stuck in a chicken.

I received a copy of this book for review from NetGalley. I grew up reading the original Grimm's fairy tales, and this would fit right in. Nettle & Bone is a magnificent take on every slightly creepy fairly tale about the third child and their destiny for adventures. It asks, what happens if the beautiful princess marries a magical prince who turns out to be monstrous? And what would you sacrifice to save someone who may not even like you, but is still worth saving?

This book is a little dark, a little twisted, a bit funny, and so compelling. Marra's journey to heroism is as complicated and simple as family relationships. The cast of characters was wonderful, and I love Bonedog with all of my heart. Fairy tales are about choices, and in their own way, each character taught Marra (a woman who had never really had the option to make her own path) the power of making her own choices.

I loved this book, and I have a feeling that it will take me a bit of time to fully recover from it. If you enjoy T.Kingfisher's other works, or Naomi Novik, then I would highly recommend this book. (However, the cursed child will be living on in my nightmares, so fair warning and thanks for that.)

OMG, the beginning of this book knocked my socks off! It was the absolute perfect blend of dark fantastical elements and struck me breathless with its intro to the world. We begin with our main character sitting in a pit full of discarded bones in a cursed land full of cursed people who resorted to cannibalism, where she is slowly but desperately assembling a dog from various bones. She was given this impossible task by a dust-wife, which is basically a witch with death magic, and our dear MC really needs someone to die.
Marra is the third princess in the small, yet strategically important Harbor Kingdom. She's not really cut out for the cutthroat politics the way her mother and sisters are and since she seems to be the spare, she's sent off to a convent. This is a relief to Marra - now she can sit and work on her textiles to her heart's content. Eventually, over the course of years she notices that her sister married to the prince of the Northern Kingdom is pregnant an awful lot and her sister manages to tell Marra that he's an abusive monster. So Marra takes the only course of action she can think of and goes off to find a dust-wife of immense power to kill the prince. And thus the opening chapter ties into the story, which doesn't stop there by a long shot. There's still a prince to murder afterall!
I have to admit, one of the biggest selling points of this novel was the demon possessed chicken. Having not met many chickens, I can’t say if this is an accurate interpretation of the feathery fiends but I love the idea. With that being said, Marra is a wonderful main character and I wouldn’t trade her for the demonic chicken. She’s sort of in her own little world, but when her sister needs help she goes to the ends of the world (and completes 3 impossible tasks!) to save her, even if Marra does chastise herself for not acting sooner. As with many of Kingfisher’s main characters, Marra isn’t a young sword wielding ass-kicker like so many female protagonists. She has quiet strength and courage and is a bit clumsy, but darn can she wield an embroidery needle like no other!
I think this might be one of my favorites of the year because it just hit all the right notes for me. I like that it turns some standard fairytale tropes on their heads - skeletal creatures and old witchy type characters aren’t always the bad guys! Sometimes (perhaps more often than not) the wealthy, powerful princes are. I loved the darker elements and the quirky oddness that I find are T. Kingfisher’s signature style when it comes to fantasy. I’ll definitely be checking out some of her horror in the near future and I have a few more of her fantasy books on the TBR as well!

A darkly enticing fantasy from T. Kingfisher, that somehow manages to serve both cosy and creepy vibes perfectly side by side. With a healthy dose of sarcasm AND a demon chicken, Nettle and Bone was a luscious fantasy that I couldn't get enough of!

Included as a top pick in bimonthly April New Releases post, which highlights and promotes upcoming releases of the month (link attached)

Nettle and Bone is an absolutely beautiful story. It's incredibly odd -- it twists back and forth between horror and whimsy over and over again, where half the story is necromantic terror and monstrosity and half of it is fairy godmothers and goblin markets and knights -- and the whole thing is echoed and tied together by more human horrors (abusive husbands, political intrigue, situations that people just can't get out of without dying) and human hopes and dreams. I cried repeatedly while reading it, not because I was sad, or even overwhelmed, but because I was feeling strong feelings and my eyes were pretty sure they needed to come out of me that way.

There were a few places where it threw me -- it's been a long time in the making, according to the author, and there are parts of it that feel disjointed with the others as a result (For one thing, the positioning of the Blistered Lands in the frame made me think what happened there, and their story, would also be due to or at least involved with Marra, and they weren't; other parts, too, like Marra's training with abortifacients, seemed like they'd be important and weren't, or <spoiler>Marra being sent to the convent so she wouldn't have children that could threaten the reign, but also having sex there and nobody being particularly concerned about that</spoiler>). But they didn't matter; if some of these ended up feeling like they had a narrative purpose and ended up being character and setting, that's fine. The story itself feels perfectly balanced at the end, doing everything you want it to and being utterly satisfying and rewarding, while never uncutting the horrors or bitterness that happened in it.

4.5/5 stars. This was a fantastic read. It is a fairytale retelling but of no particular fairytale. It takes fantasy and adds a dash of horror to it, when it comes to certain elements. Oh, and there’s a demon possessed chicken.

I'll be doing a full review on FanFiAddict and will follow up with a link once that's live.

This is a fairytale that is unexpected in every way, a quest to save a princess from a prince, a motley crew of lovable characters with very questionable morals and one doggo that will steal your heart…and your bones.


We follow Princess Marra as she attempts and fails to navigate a world of political maneuverings and scheming royals and finds an unexpected solace amongst the nuns at the convent of Our Lady of Grackles.
But even as she tries her best to avoid entanglement with anything beyond her embroidery thread she can no longer ignore her family’s ties to the Northern Kingdom when she discovers her sister is suffering at the hands of her husband, the prince and heir to that icy Kingdom.

So Marra sets out on a quest to kill a prince and save her sister.
But quests are never as straightforward as the fairtytales would have you believe.
Mortals and fairy godmothers alike will hinder and help her on a journey that will take her from the peaceful convent gardens to the dust filled plains of the south and further still into a land blistered and ravaged by death before she can return with the tools to take down the prince.



Every character in this book is wonderfully realized and delightfully dimensional and complex, from the guest appearances to our main cast.
You will more than once be taken by surprise at the decisions they make, from the dead they deal to the teeth they trade and the souls they save but not one choice is out of character and I came to love this party of unexpected friends - and frenemies- more than I realized.
The primary focus is held firmly on our main characters and their personal growth, particularly Marra who has some brilliant character development throughout this story, but there is a lovely sub-plot romance that is so wholesome sweet it will give you toothache.

There is also more than one member of the main group that I would kill a prince to get a backstory for….just saying…in case the author reads this…

The world building is something completely unique and also, so sue me for using this word yet again, unexpected. As I read I felt like I was visiting lands from every one of my favorite childhood fantasies but this time they were that bit more merciless and that bit more authentically realized.
The plot was flawlessly paced and every time i made time to actually sit down and read i would fly through the pages not even notice how many I'd read until i checked the page count.
Writing style wise I was put in mind of Tessa Gratton and Naomi Novik, whimsical yet tangible, brutal yet beautiful and often charmingly hilarious - I laughed out loud more than once - while also so sharply honest and true to life it would often cut to the bone.

Overall this is a fine edged weapon of a fairytale that pulls no punches where the fairy godmothers will just as lightly curse you as bless you and the princesses wield bones and nettles just as deadly as any poison dagger.


Cannot recommend it enough to fans of dark fairytales and feminist fantasies who want something just that bit different from every other book on the shelf.

It's my first read from T. Kingfisher and I think I'll be reading more from her in the future. If you're a fan of unconventional stories like The Princess Bride or Shrek, then I highly recommend this one. This is my kind of fairy tale. It's a little bit dark, a lot bit hopeful, and features an interesting group of misfits that all work together to storm the castle.

The story sets off running as we follow Marra, our heroine, around the banished lands in search of bones. What does she needs the bones for? Well, she needs them to resurrect a dog. Yes, she's making a dog out of bones. It's the first task of three that she's willing to do in order to garner the help of a gravewitch. If she's able to get the help of the witch, then she can begin her journey to saving her sister.

The beginning jumps between what Marra accomplishes for the witch and what's already happened. Marra is the third princess from a super small country. Her older sister is married to the prince of the Northern Kingdom and deeply abused by him. While Marra is a princess, she's been spending the last half of her life in a convent in the Southern Kingdom waiting out her fate. But after seeing the state of her sister and seeing that no one is willing to help her, she's taken it upon herself to try and save her from a cruel husband and a life of pain.

As Marra completes the impossible tasks for the gravewitch, they head off with a demon-possessed chicken and come across a disgraced knight who can't go home, and a fairy godmother who's only good at casting curses on children. Together, they plan on storming the castle, saving the queen, and breaking whatever spell that lives on the land and keeps the cruel prince's family in power.

Most of the story is the journey to the castle. Marra comes across the different characters of her group as she gets closer to her sister's new kingdom and you see a glimpse of this world through their journey. The world building was exquisite. I was worried that some things would be sacrificed because of the length of the book, but there was no exceptions for world building. You can really imagine this place with strange monsters and weird magic all throughout it. It felt like a real place you can visit and while this wasn't the highest of high fantasy novels, it was nice to escape from reality for a little while. Dogs made from bones and monsters who can play a song to dance your teeth out of your mouth, it was such a wild ride and I found myself enjoying every minute of it.

It's a lot of fun following Marra and the group through their world in hopes of saving Marra's sister before it's too late. Each character is so inspired and hold their own personality. I can imagine the faces they made and the language that they use feels spot on with their personality. I even liked that the chicken had a personality. The fun part is that they were so flawed; as flawed as Marra herself. The gravewitch was just a snarky old lady who takes care of her demon-possessed chicken. The disgraced knight was looking for something to fight for after being banished from his own kingdom. The fairy godmother who can only do bad, but wants to be good. They all had flaws, but I loved seeing them be more than that throughout the story.

It was interesting to watch Marra grow so much from the character she starts with to the character she ends up. At first, she's timid. She's spent most of her life in a convent embroidering tapestries and helping birth babies. Then, she goes off to save her sister without a clue where to start and fosters help along the way. Nothing comes easy to her and she does fail a few times, but I love that she's not willing to quit especially since her sister's life is on the line. I feel like the strength of the people she collects as she's journeying to the capital really lend to help pull her from her own shell and become the stronger person she is. At the end, she knows who she is. She knows what she wants. And she's done playing puppet to a family who only see her as a bargaining chip.

Of course, it also deals with some bigger themes of domestic abuse and violence. Hearing Marra's sister dealing with the pain her husband doles out and the lack of help from the people around her, I really felt for Marra and her situation. It would hurt me to see my sister in such pain and going to such destructible lengths to avoid it. I definitely would leave my life as a nun to help her even if I didn't even know how to help her.

Quite a fun story and definitely the kind I love finding myself dreaming about. I may not want to get in the way of that chicken, but I will definitely read more from T. Kingfisher.

This was my first book by T. Kingfisher and it certainly won't be the last. I love the dark-spin-on-fairytales thing, and this is one of the best takes on that that I've come across. I love that Kingfisher took all the "expected" elements of a fairy tale (fairy godmothers, spells, etc.) and twisted them into this dark and unexpected direction. The setting is so atmospheric, and Marra is an easy heroine to root for. I thought the pacing was a little off, especially when we're bouncing back and forth in time, but this seems to be a pretty common style for books like this.


I think this will be a great hand-sell for fans of A Spindle Splintered, Spinning Silver, Heartless, The Lunar Chronicles, and more.

Thank you to Netgalley and Publisher for this ARC!

After reading this book, i definitely need to read more books by kingfisher. This book was so immersive and well paced.

Marra lives in the harbour kingdom, with her three sisters. In an attempt to build connections, their older sister is married off to the prince of the North, only to die several months later. Then the second sister is married to him. Kania tells Marra that all is not well in the kingdom, which sends Marra off on a quest to break the curses over the land and save her sister from a loveless marriage.

This book, while not a whole lot of romance like I would normally enjoy, is really quite beautiful. I think the friendships in this book are what had me hooked and the magical world building.