Thistlefoot is a wildly imaginative and deeply moving tale that feels like stepping into a dream stitched together with folklore, firelight, and family secrets. GennaRose Nethercott brings the legendary Baba Yaga myth into a richly modern setting with a sentient house on chicken legs (yes, really!) and a pair of estranged siblings whose reunion sparks a journey of magic, memory, and reckoning. The story is both haunting and heartfelt, woven with poetic prose and a powerful sense of inherited trauma and resilience. It’s a story about what we carry in our blood, what we choose to remember, and how we can shape the stories that shape us. Strange in the best way—this is one of those books that lingers long after the last page.

Who could resist a book where there is a house on chicken legs? Not me! A great fantasy that includes a little bit of every thing you think of when someone says BABA YAGA. An interesting break from my normal reading.

THISTLEFOOT is an emotional and sensitive tale based on Slavic folklore that shows how history can repeat itself. I am willing to give it another go a little later to see if my feelings change. There are many of my peers that have picked up on other aspects of this book that I don’t think I am particularly qualified to comment on, so I urge you to peruse a few other reviews as well. It was just not a good fit for me at this point in time, but I am confident that that may change. GennaRose Nethercott certainly has potential, and I will closely watch her future projects and will happily put her next books on my TBR pile.

A grim fairytale-like premise with a Russian influence. While I enjoyed it, I found the characters to be hard to root for! Clever depictions of the house and all of its magical iterations.

I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this book.

I am obsessed with Baba Yaga and love how many retellings and reimaginings of her story and her character have come out in recent years. Thistlefoot is definitely one of the crown jewels among these stories. Incredible world building, and amazing interwoven characters among the Yaga siblings.

What a fascinating & original story! At first I wasn’t sure I was vibing with the writing style or the worldbuilding (it came across as a little Neil Gaiman-y which isn’t really my thing) but I’m so glad I stuck with it because the characters ended up being the whole point of the story for me. The depth & complexity, their relationship, & their vulnerability! So good. I’m already wanting to read it again!

This was a well written story based on Eastern European folklore, specifically the story of Baba Yaga. The story follows her great grandchildren who are estranged from each other when they inherit her house on chicken legs. This triggers a missionary group who have been searching for the mysterious walking hut of Baba Yaga to target them, and the adventure ensues.

Thistlefoot was a story that intrigued me in the beginning but unfortunately didn’t work for me in the end. It felt like there was too much to take in and I struggled to finish it. Hopefully, the book will work better with other readers.

I DNFd this book at the 68% mark and here's why:
Ok... well, please hold off on the lynching until I finish explaining. On the one hand the premise had tons of potential... potential for days and days, in fact it was so promising that I kept coming back to it again and again hoping it just needed some more of my time... NOPE... it just slogged on and I dreaded each time I chose to come back to it. I even bought it on Audible hoping a fresh voice would help this magical tale ensnare me but alas, it was not meant to be. C’est la vie,


Now, on the other hand, I'm not saying that the writing was terrible... it was... nice. It was decent EXCEPT it was also blatantly, unapologetically, savagely, overtly descriptive AND then there was Isaac... Isaac was tough to like and not in that misunderstood, morally gray, relateable underdog/antihero kind of way. He just rubbed me the wrong way and I wanted to skip over his parts... skimming urges are a surefire sign of a laggy, boring, faltering read. Dreading spending time doing my favorite activity is no bueno so it left me with little choice. You'd think that a book about Baba Yaga's decendants would be chock full of Baba Yaga or at least a comprehensive magic system that's explained. Whelp, nope, not here. With how descriptive everything else was, you'd think that EVERYTHING would be explained, and maybe it was explained in the last 32% of the book, but I think I gave it the good old college try.


This was a chaotic read. There were multiple POVs, and they jumped around without warning or preamble. I relied on picking up clues/names in order to discern who's voice I was listening to. AND for a book populated with characters possessing magic, they sure were flat. Now, I think that Bellatine did save the tale (as much as it could be rescued from itself). If the book had cut out the insane amount of descriptives and been only about Bellatine and this chicken leg facilitated mobile home, I think I would have been able to finish. I did like how the book highlighted the plight of the Jews and some of the antisemitic discrimination that they unbelievably/tragically still experience even until this very day.

On to the World... the world building (minus the descriptive overload) was decent. It's just hard to get fully immersed in a book that devotes chapters to mundane things... how much time do you expect us to devote to hearing about (chapter's worth of) Bellatine's hands... no action, no anything... just descriptions about hands albeit magical hands but hands nonetheless.

Overall:
I know I'm in the minority here, but decent writing, okay world building, and a noncapitalized upon (yet interesting) premise weren't enough to snatch and hold onto my attention thus the DNF and the low rating. I feel slightly guilty not finishing this book especially since I was so graciously given a copy of it to read for free but I even bought the audiobook so I can say, with a (mostly) clear conscience that I tried... I really did.

~ Sorry

*** I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. ***

4.5 rounded up!

This was a wonderful, winding reimagining of Baba Yaga as a widowed Jewish mother raising two daughters in an early 20th century Russian shtetl. If you are looking for a traditional retelling, this will not be your jam. In this, Baba Yaga and her daughters are both long dead, but live on through genetics, generational trauma, and stories. And the survival of Baba Yaga's mythic house on chicken legs. If you are looking for triumph or heartwarming reassurance, this is not where to find it.

The negatives- this one takes a bit to settle into itself, putting the plot before the audience buy-in of the characters a bit. It is also long and could have been improved with a couple of scene cuttings. The lavender prose worked great here, but many of the lead up scenes fell flat or didn't seem very relevant when it was all was said and done.

Pick this one up, and let it take you for a ride!

This took me several tries to get through - quite a long read for me. It wasn't that I didn't like it. It just felt heavy at times where I felt incredibly bogged down reading it. The idea was interesting though.

I put a one star for this, I actually ended up dnfing this book. I had a hard time being interested in what happened. I didn’t care what was happening, I also didn’t care about the characters.

This story is both gritty and whimsical at the same time, that sounds slightly bizarre but it’s true! I enjoyed it but for whatever reason it took me forever to get through, something about it was just heavy and I felt it most when we were in Isaac’s head. Overall though? Good read. Definitely an autumnal book. Grab your pumpkin spice latte and comfy leggings along with this book, your fall is full underway!

I thought this book had a really great take on sibling relationships. I am also very impressed by the use of folk lore and the general vibe this book gave. I think some parts did tend to lag for me, which is why this dropped to a four star instead of five. The pacing might suffer from the fact that there is so much world building going on, figuring out who all the players are and what they want. Overall though, a very enjoyable read and one that I would definitely recommend.

Thistlefoot is a charming modern retelling of a Jewish folktale that is reminiscent in style to a novel by Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett. A story about family, home and finding strength in your roots Thistlefoot was a joy to read. Nethercott pulls her audience in with her lush style of prose which builds the dense, descriptive landscape of the Yaga twins travels to unbelievably engrossing heights.

Thistlefoot tells the story of estranged siblings Bellatine and Isaac Yaga who have been brought back together by an inheritance from a long lost relative. When the shipping container housing said inheritance is open they find neither gold nor jewels - instead they find Thistlefoot, a charming country home ... that walks around on chicken legs. But this gift doesn't come without drawbacks and a dark evil from the Motherland isn't far behind.

Thistlefoot is both nothing and everything that you expect. It's a magical fairytale told for young and old alike but the plot twists and turns just enough to keep you anxiously turning the page to see what happens next.

It's a good Baba Yaga retelling but I found the writing a bit over descriptive at times and the magic system not always very clear. I still enjoyed it though!

This was an interesting contemporization of baba yaga. It was difficult though because so much of this felt older, puppet shows and the monsters, but then we'd talk about cell phones and social media, it was a little disorientating. The was a decent story and has an audience to recommend to.

I loved the concept, the premise, the folkloric background, the characters, the story... in other words, I loved many of the important things about this book. However, for some reason (the language? the pacing?) I really struggled to get through it.

I am an absolute sucker for fairy tale retellings and as someone with Russian heritage I couldn’t resist a Baba Yaga story. I thought this would be amazing, but I ended up finding it weird and not in a way that sucked me in.

Enjoyable romp with Baba Yaga. Nethercott builds a lovely world which I hope we can return to, even if it’s just to visit other characters.