I love T. Kingfisher so I was so excited to see her publish a new book!

A Sorceress Comes to Call is a dark retelling of the fairy tale: The Goose Girl and it’s a wild ride.

Cordelia’s mother, Evangeline, is a sorceress who wields her power to make Cordelia obedient. When things get tough, and Evangeline realizes they need a new source of income, she leaves her past behind, in literal pieces, and moves on to a squire, she hopes will fall in love and marry her.

The squire has a sister though, Hester, who feels like something isn’t quite right, and aims to put an end to this romance before it even begins.

Of course, nothing comes easy, and the story is full of plotting, murder and magic.

I enjoyed this book a great deal, though at times I did feel it dragged. While this was my least favorite T. Kingfisher novel, it is still well worth reading for anyone who loves a good fantasy/ magical realism novel!

Thank you to NetGalley and T. Kingfisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow! What a wild ride! Admittedly, it took me a while—maybe 15% or so—to get into this, but once I did, I sped through it!

I love T. Kingfisher's writing and this book, a retelling of a fairy tale I'd never heard of (The Goose Girl). Cordelia has lived under the oppression of mother, an evil sorceress, her entire life. She has no friends and no hope of escape... until her mother finds a wealthy man and starts to attempt to ensnare him in marriage.

It's a great story, full of the quirky humor and characters I've come to expect from T. Kingfisher.

A dark fantastical retelling of the Brothers Grimm Goose Girl set in a type of regency-romance era. Cordelia's mother, Evangeline, is a sorceress who demands obedience and wields her 'magical' control whenever she can. Cordelia is forced to remain still for various lengths of time. She lives in fear and must flee their home with her mother after Evangeline gets into a little hot water and they end up at the home of the Squire. A man Evangeline hopes to woo and wed. Cordelia feels out of her element in such a grand home but is quickly befriended by the Squires sister, Hester, and is treated with kindness by the staff of the manor. Hester knows something isn't right. She is very observant and clever; she knows that Evangeline is up to no good. How can she save her brother from this evil sorceress?

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for this e-arc.*

A big thank you to @netgalley and @torbooks for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book! 🫶

I really loved this one! It has cozy fantasy vibes with just a touch of horror. If you’ve read Kingfisher’s other novels, then you probably already know what to expect style-wise. Kingfisher’s writing voice is as pleasant as ever, and this book is simply an enjoyable read.

A Sorceress Comes to Call is slow paced (the plot doesn’t start to pick up until almost halfway through the book), but it’s such a fun story that I barely even noticed. The characters really make this story, especially Hester, who I absolutely adored. She’s the kind of character that’s stern but sassy. Not gonna lie, I was totally picturing her as Olenna Tyrell from Game of Thrones. If you’re a fan of Olenna, you will love Hester. Honestly, there are so many wonderful characters in this book, I could go on and on. This is definitely a book for lovers of character-driven storytelling.

The mother and daughter relationship in this book is about as toxic as it gets, but this novel also contains elements of found family and friendship. There’s also a bit of a love story in this one that is about the sweetest thing I have ever read. And geese! Did I mention geese? A Sorceress Comes to Call is a retelling of the Brothers Grimm’s story The Goose Girl, which I have never read, but now feel like I must!

If you’re a fan of cozy fantasy or have enjoyed T. Kingfisher’s other novels, I highly recommend checking this one out!

Truly adored this dark fantasy book.

This was my first time reading T Kingfisher and it absolutely will not be the last.

A loose retelling of the Brothers Grimm's Goose Girl, A Sorceress Comes to Call tells the story of Cordelia, daughter of a sorceress who has been abused her whole life by her mother. Don't worry, there's nothing graphic on page but there are memories of being forced into obedience where her mother takes over her daughter like a puppet and forces her actions, think Get Out where you go into the sunken place.

Evangeline, Cordelia's mother, has designs for a wealthy husband for herself and her daughter and finds her paths crossed with Samuel The Squire, the hopeful husband to be, and Hester, his skeptical spinster sister who knows something is terribly amiss.

This book combines a dark moody foreboding atmosphere with horror elements and some carefully placed comedic banter courtesy of Hester and her elderly friends. The supporting characters are a delight in this and help the plot move along quickly without ignoring character development.

It's so rare to find a standalone fantasy book nowadays that has intriguing characters, a carefully built world, and a fascinating plot. T Kingfisher did a perfect job with this book.

Thank you so much to Tor Publishing to the arc, and to NetGalley as well. I will definitely be buying a trophy copy for my library.

Oh my goodness, where do I even begin gushing about this book? I mean, seriously, I am floored! This book just swept me off my feet! No kidding, I've been in this reading slump lately, trudging through books, trying to find one to hold my attention. Then, I was miraculously granted this ARC, and bam! My slump was gone! I was captivated! This one had me hooked from the first page.

This is a brilliant, dark, and often hilarious retelling of the fairy tale The Goose Girl: A Story from the Brothers Grimm. So, one would think it'd be all doom and gloom. But no! This was a surprise package wrapped in humor and courage and, get this, defense geese! Yes, you heard me right.

And the characters! Oh boy, let me tell you, they're the real magic here. Cordelia's remarkable, but the ones around her—Hester, Imogene, Penelope, and Willard—stole the show. Wit? Check. Charm? Double check. They were giving me Downton Abbey vibes but with much more mischief!

And the romance? It's not your typical lovey-dovey nonsense of enemies to lovers or insta-love. Hester and Lord Evermore? They're the real ones. A love for the ages, making sparks fly faster than a misfired spell. It's sweet, it's legendary, and it's perfection.

I'm struggling to find any faults here. This book? It's a masterpiece, the rare unicorn in a herd of donkeys. T. Kingfisher? She's outdone herself. When I think she has reached the top, she puts out another book that is even better than the last! This is the magnum opus, folks. Five stars? Heck, yes, five galaxies if I could! A Sorceress Comes to Call is hands down my top pick for 2024.

So, listen up, fellow book lovers: grab this gem, pronto! Trust me, you'll thank me later. This book is the real deal, and it's ready to whisk you away on a fantastical journey,

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for the sneak peek—I owe you big time. And to everyone else, mark your calendars for August 6, 2024. This is the day your reading list gets a significant upgrade.

Cordelia's mother has a very novel, and horrifying, punishment for infractions, perceived or actual; Cordelia is made obedient. She is present in her body, aware, but unable to make her own movements or speak her own words. Cordelia is made her mother's puppet. This is because Cordelia has a sorcerer for a mother. After her mother rather ruthlessly cuts ties with her benefactor in the middle of the night, Cordelia and Evangeline flee their hometown. They wind up on the doorstep of a wealthy landowner, and it's no accident. Can Cordelia finally fight back against her mother's control to help save more innocent lives?

I'm not sure my synopsis does this book any justice, but I absolutely loved it. I gobbled it down and enjoyed every bite. It is dark, and funny, and has a generous sprinkling of heart. It's delightful. Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Books for the review copy.

My thanks to NetGalley for the free eARC in exchange for a review and also, accidental thanks to Jaysen Headley on Insta- because I pretty much read this in two days upon seeing his videos featuring it ...and realizing anew I had the eARC.

A sorceress comes to call upon a Squire with marriage and wealth in mind for her, and her unwilling daughter with little between them but a white uncanny horse.

Told between the perspectives of Cordelia, the sorceress' daughter and the Squire's spinster sister Hester- who come to be united in a plan to stop the sorceress from achieving a end to their lives as they know them.

Cordelia's ladies maid Alice is very sisterly and protective of her not being blind to the kind of abuse Cordelia suffers from her mother. I enjoyed too all of Hester's "house party" guests being old friends (and more than friends?) and was genuinely sad when Cordelia's stepped up the game, so to speak.

If you're looking for something that follows the fairy tale of the Goose Girl, this does not, I sort of see Cordelia as the "maid" who fakes being a princess to marry and Hester as the "goose girl", but it's of course quite buried.

The twist to how it's true to the Goose Girl is in the rising unease of Falada, headless yet uncanny and knowing what's going on in a way a horse should not, maybe speaking, maybe not...

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for access for this arc. This releases tomorrow August 6 2024 and I highly recommend it. Especially if you already a fan of T Kingfishers work.

While this is a dark retelling, its a very loose retelling of the brothers grimms goose girl. Just geese wondering about.

"Crying was not acceptable. That had been one of the first lessons of being made obedient. Cordelia was fourteen and to old to cry for seemingly no reason, because of course, she could not tell anyone the reason." (This quote is in the arc, this can change once published/release to the public)

This book had everything I was hoping it would. Great world building with such good detail on the sorceresses. This does take a while to get to but when it does I was very interested. I will say, while I wasn't very fond of Cordelia or Hester, our 2 main characters we follow, the other characters in this story such as Tom, Richard, and even Cordelia's evil mother, Evangeline. The banter in this one as well, had me laughing out loud and kicking my feet sometimes. The friendships between our characters, even including the maids and workers on the properties, everything felt so fresh and fun. This is exactly what I was looking for. Lastly, the ages for our characters, aside from 14 year old Cordelia, were all of much older age and I just really overall enjoyed that.

T Kingfisher is slowly climbing my rankings for best authors, or maybe even most consistent.

T. Kingfisher is my author of the year. I’ve been making my way through her backlog and have been dazzled by the absolute quality of her storytelling. Let's just say I dove on top of the opportunity to read her upcoming novel, A Sorceress Comes to Call. My review is only coming in later than expected because of some technical difficulties, and time constraints on my end. This is a very bingeable book that keeps you wondering at every turn. It's hard to put down.

I would place this book right underneath A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking in terms of favorite books written by Kingfisher. I’ve noticed that she has a habit of writing from the perspective of younger girls who put up with an abundance of BS from adults, with the ability to persevere through rather traumatic experiences. It's a genre of stories I didn't know I needed.

In the case of this book Cordelia is a fourteen year old with an absolute bit– I mean witch of a mother. Cordelia is naive, anxious, and keeps to herself, with her only comfort being her mother's stunning horse, Falada. When her mother up and moves them in the middle of the night, Cordelia is forced to face her mother's peculiar behavior head on, or suffer the consequences.

I ADORED the characters that surrounded Cordelia (minus Mother Dearest). Kingfisher writes incredibly relatable characters who are memorable (*cough*Penelope*cough*). And a majority of them are older. The representation of ages (young and old) is such a relief.

The reader can expect an abundance of humor to help cope with the extremely messed up circumstances and trauma endured within the pages of this book.

I’m positive you'll enjoy this if you're already a fan of T. Kingfisher and her loose retellings of fairy tales. It's one of my favorite stories I’ve read this year.

Available August 6, 2024.

This was my first Kingfisher book, and I loved it! The author is a fantastic storyteller. Cordelia’s character arc and growth, and trauma bonded friendship with Hester, are amazing. Every character was super fleshed out, the story was interesting, and it was the perfect amount of dark and spooky. I haven’t read the original Grimm’s tale, but I could imagine the ending while thoroughly enjoying the plot to get there. I’ll definitely be picking up more novels from Kingfisher!

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher is a dark retelling of the Brothers Grimm's Goose Girl, rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic.
Woah! Kingfisher does it again and again….. each time delivering something that absolutely gripping and so damn enchanting.
She delivers another absolute stunner!

Thank You NetGalley and Tor Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I adored A Sorceress Comes to Call. T. Kingfisher has become a recent favorite of mine for her vivid atmospheres that don’t get bogged down with over-description, her well-formed characters, and cleverly wound plots, and this book is no exception. Cordelia is fourteen, and daughter to a sorceress utterly disinterested in raising her child. She’s dragged off in the middle of the night to the estate of her mother’s marital target, the Squire, where also resides his unwed sister, Hester. Hester notices that Cordelia behaves oddly for a girl of fourteen, scared stiff of the adults around her, and takes her under her wing. Hester and her friends, including a wealthy former lover, ultimately conspire to save Cordelia and the Squire from Cordelia’s mother’s grasp.

Speaking as someone who’s notoriously picky about Regency and Victorian settings, I thought A Sorceress Comes to Call had it just right. The country estates, the social customs, even the language evoked the setting without turning the story into a period piece. I found the characters flawed and lovable: both Cordelia and Hester growing into their independence and learning to wield it, Hester’s friends with comically disparate conflict management styles, and even Evangeline’s nasty parenting had me charmed by the distinctiveness of their character builds and the sympathy with which they were wrought. Oh, and there’s a ghost!

Overall, I found A Sorceress Comes to Call charming and evocative, with strong characters, driving plot, and vivid atmosphere. I’d recommend it to readers of fairytale retellings, fans of historical fantasy, and those seeking a new-adult level standalone not prioritizing a romance plot.

Thank you, Tor Books, for providing a review copy of this title via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

T. Kingfisher is an auto buy author of mine for a REASON. Time after time they knock it out of the park. This was such a beautiful story. Theres secrets and murder and forbidden magic!!! Complicated family relationships!!!! All around amazing characters!!!! Parts of this book ripped trauma right from my skull and other parts felt like a warm hug. All I know is, I never wanted it to end.
Thank you so much to Tor Books for providing me with this ARC.

This is the funnest, most horrific, scandalously proper book I’ve read recently (this description makes sense right? lol).
Kingfisher, once again, brings together her wit and sarcasm, adds it to a horror of all horrors, puts some charming characters in the horrors way, and thus gives us a wonderful book that is perhaps my favourite of hers (that I’ve read) to date!

If you’ve ever had a day, or perhaps many of them in which you want an overbearing adult to back-off then you will sympathize with our leading teen Cordelia. Her mother is, quite literally, evil. Capable of unfounded horrors with her magic; and, what’s worse, she has inflicted many of those horrors on her own daughter.
Thankfully her mother makes a miscalculation in choosing new ‘prey’ to finance her desires, and Cordelia finds some adults she can trust. The beginning of this story is definitely the Goose Girl tale. By the end I was completely engrossed and had forgotten entirely about it being inspired by an old story. Kingfisher makes this one entirely her own.

Between vivid descriptions, clever and snarky characters to magic, ghosts, and demons(?), oh my! A Sorceress Comes to Call held me rapt in suspense and thrills, right up to the last page. If you have enjoyed any of Kingfisher in the past you will love this one. If you are new to Kingfisher but enjoy thrilling stories, magical rules, clever evil, horrific situations (a bit of gore) and bumbling heroes trying to repel said evil then feel secure in picking up A Sorceress Comes to Call. It really is a witty, horror story (with a couple magical twists) that won’t disappoint.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

First, thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for an ebook ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This one just.. did not land for me. I don’t know how else to put it. It had all of the elements I like in the genre - an intriguing storyline, magic & magical creatures, etc. I just feel like the characters fell a little flat, especially in their relationships with each other. I also just found the FMC to be so boring it was hard for me to want to reach for this book while reading.

It’s in no way a badly written book - just a little flat & dull. I enjoy T. Kingfishers other books much better.

Cordelia’s mother Evangeline is a scheming sorceress with her eye on a wealthy country squire as a new husband. But she can’t ensorcell the squire himself – the wedding ceremony itself would break the spell. So instead she contrives to become a houseguest and charm him the old-fashioned way. But the squire’s sister Hester isn’t fooled by Evangeline’s shallow charms – and she notices quite quickly that poor Cordelia is terrified of her mother.

T Kingfisher is excellent as always, blending Regency manners seamlessly with magic and horror. I loved poor Cordelia’s journey from abused, frightened child to a burgeoning woman with a backbone. Hester was also a great character as a strong, opinionated woman with a disability and a strong independent streak. All of the supporting characters were fantastic as well. The book is quick-paced and the plot was captivating. Whether you’re new to Kingfisher’s work or well familiar, I recommend this as a highly entertaining read.

Representation: disabled character, POC character, gay character

A big thanks to NetGalley and MacMillian for providing both an eARC and an advance audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

*Le Gasp!* Is T. Kingfisher slowly becoming a favorite author? I think it's more plausible than you think.

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher is a dark fantasy retelling of the Brothers Grimm's Goose Girl. Cordelia knows her mother is . . . unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms—there are no secrets in this house—and her mother doesn't allow Cordelia to have a single friend. Unless you count Falada, her mother's beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t evil sorcerers. When her mother unexpectedly moves them into the manor home of a wealthy older Squire and his kind but keen-eyed sister, Hester, Cordelia knows this welcoming pair are to be her mother's next victims. But Cordelia feels at home for the very first time among these people, and as her mother's plans darken, she must decide how to face the woman who raised her to save the people who have become like family.

All I have to say is, this book is amazingly creepy in all the right ways. And I need everyone to read it absolutely immediately.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this e-arc! 4.5/5 stars rounded down, t kingfisher you have done it again

listen, if t kingfisher writes it, then you KNOW I'm reading it. (okay maybe not her horror though, only because I can't read horror, but I digress.) I haven't read any of kingfisher's other fairy tale retellings but oh Boy after this, I think I know what I'm reading next. kingfisher's style just fits so well with traditional fairy tales - she has a way of mixing dry humor in with horror, and the result does a really great job of creating the same kind of dark atmosphere that true, traditional fairy tales have. the sense of danger and impending doom keeps you speeding through the book, reading as fast as you can so you can see what happens to these characters, and I could NOT put this down. and as always, kingfisher's characters are so complex and interesting and funny in a way that has you rooting for them every step of the way, and cordelia was no different. overall, I'm ride or die for t kingfisher's fantasy novels - if there's one thing I'm gonna do, it's read the HECK outta her fantasy novels

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the e-arc!
Not gonna lie I was a bit shocked at how much I enjoyed this book! This is a retelling of The Goose Girl following Cordelia, a young girl who is utterly controlled by her mother. Her mother is a sorceress and uses her magic Cherry cabinet on others and benefit herself. When she decides she wants to marry a wealthy squire, she manages their way into his home and life. This book is a great mix of secrets, magic, and growth.
I ended up really liking Cordelia as a character; She suffered greatly due to her mother's magic, and I think the portrayal of fear and abuse was very emotional and moving. I found myself relating to her as a character; constantly trying to find safety while living in such fear of her mother. Not only is she incredibly strong and kind but she is intelligent and brave. Overall I did really enjoy the story!