This was my first Kingfisher book. I thought the plot was a great idea and retelling of goose girl. I do think at times it was slow but it was atmospheric and creepy at times. I would recommend this as a fall time read for sure.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for this arc!!!

5/5 stars!!

I absolutely loved this book! Perfect creepy fall vibes. Honestly though, if you have parents or parental figures who are manipulative, controlling, and have narcissistic/abusive tendencies, tread lightly as Cordelia's mother Evangeline is truly evil, very reminiscent of mother Gothel in Tangled. She was a fantastic villain and I absolutely hated her and was so anxious for Cordelia and Hester the whole time. I love the dual POVs between Cordelia and Hester, and how their relationship grew from wariness to genuine love, giving them the family they never had. This was beautiful, gruesome, haunting, and oh so good. I love how it ended. Perfect fall read!!

Review: A Sorceress comes to call by T. Kingfisher

Quotes: "The knowledge that she was alone and no one could see her that she could do anything, say anything, think anything and no one would be the wiser- made her feel fierce and wicked and brave."

"The problem with being rich is that you simply have no idea how expensive it is to be poor."

"I had a terrible feeling when I saw her. You know how people talk about love at first sight? This was like... fear at first sight."

"Something's weighing on you," he said, looking down at her. "What can I do?" ...
"You're here," she said. "That helps more than I can say,"

"Hester was no hero, but there was nothing in her that would allow her to turn away from a person who had been dropped on her doorstep. Even if that person had brought Doom along with her."


Review: A Dark reimagining of The Brother's Grimm "The Goose Girl"
Cordelia has been under her mother's control her entire life. Her mother, Evangeline, has an ability to make her "obedient" and can do so for days at a time. She has no control over her body when this happens. She lives in constant fear and anxiety about it. When their benefactor is no longer supporting them, under gruesome circumstances. They move in with a new rich man. Who happens to have his sister living there as well. Enter Hester. She quickly realizes something isn't right about this mother and daughter and must save her brother and, somehow, Cordelia along the way.

This reads like a regency classic novel with a little blend of fantasy and horror. Dark in moments. I feel like it approaches parental abuse in a fantasy setting quite well. You immediately hope for Cordelia to get away from her mother. Hester was very likable and an unlikely hero in some ways. The cast of characters introduced are tremendous as expected from a T. Kingfisher story. Some found family too. A perfect read for someone wanting a not top scary sort of read for spooky season.
I give this 4.25 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks for reading 📚

I received an advanced copy for my unbiased review from Netgalley & @torbooks and thank them for the opportunity.

Sweet, scared Cordelia has been raised in fear that she will do or say something wrong and be punished by her mother, Evangeline. With no privacy and little autonomy, Cordelia has never been able to escape her mother or confide in another person, until she meets Hester, the sister of Evangeline's next wealthy target. Hester is a clever, independent woman living with her brother. She immediately recognizes something is wrong, although she never imagined the extent of how wrong things are.

Hester gathers a small group of people entirely unsure of what they are dealing with, but determined to stop the evil sorceress and free both the Squire and Cordelia from her grasp. It's dark and tense and full of magic. With a bit of humor and a hint of romance, this wonderful cast is worth rooting for and worrying about as they risk their lives attempting to stop something they know nothing about. Overall, a gripping and enjoyable retelling.

I absolutely love T. Kingfisher's retellings. This one was no exception. It was creepy and somewhat disturbing. I loved Cordelia and her bravery to stand against her evil mother. The writing is amazing and the setting is dark and gothic.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and the Author for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was so stoked to recieve this arc! I'm a huge T. Kingfisher fan and I would eagerly read her grocery list. It was a little slow paced to start, but I trust Kingfisher to see it through. I highgly recomend this fairy tell retelling to any and everyone!

T, Kingfisher is such.a prolific author and I was thrilled to read and love this story as much as I did.

I will be recommending this to people who love fairy tales that go a bit sideways!

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher is a loose retelling of Goose Girl by the Brothers Grimm. The original story Goose Girl by the Brothers Grimm is 5 pages long and involves a princess, a little sorcery, and a horse named Falada who talks. T. Kingfisher has told an original story borrowing Falada the horse that talks, cutting all the princess stuff, and adding a lot more sorcery. The Brothers Grimm story was not that good and had not heard of it before this book. T. Kingfisher has added so much to the story making it scary, compassionate, and adding a lot of heart. The story is pretty simple a mother raising a daughter by herself is tired of being poor and wants to marry into a better class. She finds an older man to do just that. The sister can see that the mother isn't marrying her brother for love, and tries to stop it. What makes the story interesting is the mother is a murderous sorceress who will stop at nothing to move to a higher class of society. The story is well-paced and very focused. The length of the novel was perfect. The were lots of surprises within the story and there was a "holy shit" moment that was so intense and went the opposite of where I thought a scene was going that was so exciting and scary. The climax could have been a little better but it was followed by such a shocking scene that it could not be topped. The novel is full of such wonderful characters that are very memorable and very unique. This book surprised me in a good way and is in my top five novels published this year so far. This is the second T. Kingfisher novel I liked The Twisted Ones but prefer A Sorceress Comes to Call. I read A Sorceress Comes to Call thanks to Netgalley and Tor Books for giving me a free copy. A Sorceress Comes to Call was published on August 6, 2024.

Plot Summary: Cordelia is a shy sheltered kid who lets her mother, Evangeline, push her around and occasionally embody her like a puppet. Evangeline is a sorceress at a time when sorceress's lives are more a rumor than true and can only do paltry tricks like making a face look like it has no blemishes and enchanting animals to look prettier, no one is prepared for the dark magic that Evangeline can do. Cordelia wants to run away and tries with her horse Falada, but soon finds out her mother controls him and he can talk and tell everything she says about her mother. Evangeline leaves for days and comes back telling her daughter to go with her and that she is staying with an older man she intends to marry for money that Cordelia will play the good little daughter or her mother will make her. When they get to the house they meet Samuel the head of the household and Hester his sister who sees through Evangeline's plan to marry her brother for money, not love. Hester is a little sympathetic to Cordelia but notices that she is sometimes like someone else entirely. Hester doesn't know she's dealing with a sorceress and invites an old flame of her brother's to stay at the house. Things don't go the way Hester plans as murder, beheading, and possession enter their home when a sorceress comes to call.

What I Liked: The characters make a great ensemble. When Cordelia and Evangeline get to the house every character that we meet gets a little moment. I like that we see how the gossip spreads through the house from the maids and butlers to the lords of the manor. There's a scene that I don't want to spoil for anyone that involves Falada, the horse, that is so shocking, scary, and just crazy. The scene kind of steals the novel because when the climax comes there is no way they could top that scene. I loved the friendships and how people worked together for a common enemy. I liked how the novel doesn't go into cliches with Cordelia learning sorcery and in a short time can beat her mother who's been practicing it for 30 years. I was happy not to see the novel go in this direction. I loved all the card-playing scenes they were funny and a great way to provide exposition. I liked the balance of horror, fantasy, and heart that the novel had. Hester was my favorite character and I love her character arc. I liked the way the sorcery was used.

What I Disliked: I wanted the scene of Evangeline and Samuel meeting for the first time, we see so little of Evangeline's charm I wanted to see it in action. The climax was a little bit of a letdown because of the "holy shit" scene that steals the novel. I was thinking how is T. Kingfisher going to top that and she did not. The climax was just okay, but I wanted better.

Recommendation: A Sorceress Comes to Call blew me away with how good the story was. The pace was great throughout, the novel had some shocking moments, it had scary moments, and the novel had so much heart. I fully recommend you check out this great story. I liked A Sorceress Comes to Call a lot more than The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher but it was a book that was very atmospheric and great with scary imagery.

Rating: I rated A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher 4.7 out of 5 stars.

A big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an egalley in exchange for an honest review!
The first 10% or so was a little bit on the slow (and depressing) side, but I trust Kingfisher to always deliver a good book, and was not disappointed; after Cordelia and Hester start being friends it gets very hard to put down. All of the friendships in this one are good, really.
I love Kingfisher's commitment to giving middleaged women fantasy adventures (and romance!), as well as this line that I will be thinking about forever and ever*:
"She didn’t have a headache but it felt as if she ought to." Girl me too


*shh it's ok I made sure this made it into the final version (because I bought it because I liked the book very very much)

I'm a Kingfisher fan, so I was very much looking forward to this, and it didn't disappoint! Even though her books are often straddling or just over the line of too romantic for my taste, she has this way of writing that's so compelling! I lose myself in the story every time, and I read this one almost entirely in one sitting.

The setup here is so chilling, and the perspective is crucial—from the first moments, we understand that Cordelia is being abused, and we quickly know that some kind of magic is involved, but seeing the story through her eyes means that we know as little as she does about the world she's trapped in. The world of her household, alone with her mother and their horse, and the world outside that she's never been allowed to see or learn about. How common is this magic? How easily, or not, could Cordelia get away? Every new progression of the plot reveals more and keeps drawing you forward, trying to get your bearings as much as Cordelia is.

And Hester, the other perspective we get! What a joy she is, I can't help but fall in love with a fat middle-aged woman with a bad knee, being one myself. She's a breath of fresh air through the whole thing, the voice of stubborn wisdom. I'm delighted by her no-nonsense-ness and her love of geese. Honestly the whole ensemble cast of this book is great, each lovable in their own ways with the notable exception of Cordelia's mother, who is satisfyingly and realistically awful.

My eyes were glued to the page from start to finish, which is always a treat.

A delightful blend of fairytale fantasy and horror, A Sorceress Comes to Call follows the story of 14-year-old Cordelia—the daughter of a sorceress who has spent years under her mother Evangeline’s control. Evangeline’s favorite punishment? To take control of Cordelia’s body and make her “obedient,” doing whatever Evangeline needs. We also meet Hester: a middle-aged spinster who lives with her still unmarried and wealthy brother, a Squire. When Hester gets the feeling that Doom is coming for her family, it is only a matter of time before Evangeline shows up at the Squire’s door with Cordelia in tow, enacting a plot to get the Squire to marry her. The longer Cordelia and Evangeline are guests at the Squire’s house, the more Hester starts to notice something is terribly wrong. Can Cordelia trust Hester enough to let her know how dangerous her mother is? And can Hester stop her brother from falling under the Sorceress’ spell?

❤️ What I loved: This wonderfully written, fast-paced novel captivated me from beginning to end. I loved the darker fairytale-inspired magic in this story, and there was just enough world-building to make the plot convincing—a tough feat for any shorter standalone! The great cast of characters, especially our two protagonists Cordelia and Hester, made this a slam dunk for me.

Though this is written for an adult audience, older teens would also find a lot to enjoy about this book. This was my first T. Kingfisher novel, and it definitely won’t be my last!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 (4.5-5)

Acknowledgments & Disclaimers ✨ Thank you to NetGalley, T. Kingfisher, and Tor Publishing, for providing an ARC and the opportunity to share an honest review of this book. ✨ All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. ✨ My reviews and ratings strive to evaluate books within their own age-demographic and genre.

It's no secret that I am a bit of a wimp, and last year for r/Fantasy book bingo I reluctantly picked up a T.Kingfisher book to fill the horror square. I was very pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying that book (A House With Good Bones), and so I went into this newest book with some excitement. I am so glad I took that chance last year because I have found that I really do enjoy Kingfisher's writing a lot.

I'm not familiar with The Goose Girl, which this story is based on, but I don't think you need to be to enjoy it. This book is quite dark as we have familial manipulation and trauma, so be warned. Cordelia is controlled by her mother the Sorceress - and when I say controlled I mean literally here, like a puppet. The pair of them go to visit our second main character Hester, and her brother, staying at their large house for an extended period of time.

The character of Hester was a delight, an older woman with bad joints and a heart of gold. Aside from the young Cordelia, the rest of the cast were older adults and it made for some really interesting character dynamics.

Characters aside, Kingfisher is a master at building tension. Right from the off we are uneasy thanks to the treatment of Cordelia, but as we progress through the pages things get darker and more wicked and the stakes steadily grow. We have many twists and turns but the whole thing is punctuated with wit and small sparks of humour from the supporting cast which help the overall tone not be too oppressive.

All in all, this was an excellent read, if darker than what I would usually pick up! I will definitely be reading more of T.Kingfisher's books in the future.
Many thanks to Tor and NetGalley for sending an e-arc my way (and yes this review is late!).

T. Kingfisher does not miss.

After greatly enjoying her Paladin series, I was eager (and maybe a bit trepidatious) to pick up a “dark retelling” of a Grimm fairytale – um, aren’t the Grimm originals dark enough to start? But I didn’t know the Goose Girl so I really didn’t know what to expect. Cordelia is the sheltered and abused daughter of Evangeline, a sorceress who sets her sights on a hapless but wealthy Squire for marriage. Fortunately for Cordelia, the Squire’s sister, Hester, sees right through Evangeline’s designs. But Evangeline is no low-level card sharp using base magic to cheat her opponents: Woe betide those who get in her way.

I’m sure there are references and layers of meaning that went over my head, but even so, A Sorceress Comes to Call is frightening in both its scary evil sorceress and lurking demonic creatures, but also because of the banality of the horrific abuse Evangeline visits upon her daughter. Cordelia lives in justified fear of the nightmarish things her mother does, ostensibly, for Cordelia’s future financial security. Cordelia, though young and terribly skittish (for good reason!) is nevertheless a compelling character on whom to situate that majority of the narrative. Hester, though 50 and decidedly “on the shelf,” is wise, irreverent and the beating heart of the story. Evangeline is chillingly sinister – and would be just as frightening, even if her magic weren’t real.

CW: Parental abuse, graphic violence.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kingfisher does it again, spinning an interesting take on a well known tale. I was delighted by the alternating points of view between teen Cordelia and middle-aged Hester. With a cast to fall and root for, except in one particular case, this book surprised me, horrified me, and kept me tense all the to the end. I highly recommend for fans of reimagined fairy tales!

After a first bad experience with T. KINGFISHER (The Hollow Places, 2 stars) I wanted to give her another chance and this book was the right pick! It hit all the right spots: a 14 year old girl (Cordelia) living an isolated life because of her mother (Evangeline)
It gave me Rapunzel vibes with the evil mother putting spell on the daughtercyo make her act the way she wishes she'd act, and how betrayed Cordelia felt when finding our that her mother had been playing her. It was beyond cruel. I loved the atmospheric setting and the gruesome scenes caused by the mother. Evangeline wants to have a comfortable, so she looks for a wealthy man. She finds him in Samuel, an old bachelor, and she succeeds in getting invited over to his mansion. The Squire Samuel lives with his spinster sister Hester and Cordelia quickly create a bond with one, one she never had with her mother. Will she finally succeed getting free of her mother's sorcery?

I loved the characters, particularly Hester and her group of friends. The ending was over the top but so much fun, and I love the eccentricity of all characters, the non-typical personalities, the magic, a great treat and a great pick if you are looking for an autumnesque read.

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for this e-ARC on exchange of my personal opinion.

This is one of the finest fairy tale retellings I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. I was merely halfway through the galley when I knew I would have to buy this so I could return to this story when the need arose. Thank you, as always, T. Kingfisher for writing stories that make the world a more barrable place.

T Kingfisher does it again! How she combines cozy fantasy with horror elements into the most perfect books is beyond me. Definitely a must buy author!

T. Kingfisher tells a tale of the horror that can happen when A Sorceress Comes to Call (hard from Tor). It’s an alternate Victorian age. Cordelia’s mother had been supported by a special friend since she had gotten pregnant by a noble and dropped. Her plans are to use her sorcerous abilities to manipulate people to put Cordelia into society so she can marry very well. To do that she finds a wealthy squire to marry, moving into his house. Unfortunately, Hester, his sister, puts herself into danger when she realizes the evil that is invading their quiet life. Add in a ghost that only Cordelia can talk to, and a magical horse, and you have an intense tale impossible to put down.

My library rarely purchases T. Kingfisher books, which is a shame because they're missing out on some really excellent writing. A Sorceress Comes to Call has all the feeling of a fairy tale retelling, plus the covert and then explicit horror the T. Kingfisher excels in. Over three quarters of the way through the book, I was getting worried that the plot was not resolving itself quickly enough, and then everything turned upside down, an invisible ghost was introduced, the horse was revealed as a demon, and the main characters became that much more real. Excellent writing, excellent storytelling, excellent book.

Delightfully dark and funny tale of magic and family. Set in vaguely Victorian England, the novel introduces several interesting female characters and some of the intriguing men in their lives as they vie for marriage, wealth, and magical power. With all the charm of Kingfisher’s world building and a wit reminiscent of Austen, it had me suitably enchanted.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy. These opinions are my own.