T. Kingfisher has done it again!

I would give this book more than 5 stars if I could! I have been obsessed with T. Kingfisher's writing since I read my first book, and previously Nettle & Bone and The Twisted Ones had been at the top of my list, but I think A Sorceress Comes to Call has just blown past them to the top!

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Summary:
Cordelia knows things about her mother that no one else seems to know. Like the coldness that hides behind her mother's charm and smile and the way her mother is able to control Cordelia and others in a way that seems magical. But it isn't until her mother sets her sights on marriage and moves herself and Cordelia into the household of a wealthy and kind old Squire and his clever older sister that Cordelia begins to see what her mother is truly capable of.

Hester knows from the moment she sees Cordelia's mother that the woman is a harbinger of Doom. There's something not quite right about Evangeline, and there's a look in her daughter's frightened eyes that tells her that something dark is lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike. Hester only hopes that she can figure out Lady Doom's secrets before it's all too late.
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What a fantastically dark and lovely fairytale this was! I grew up on Gail Carson Levine and Robin McKinley, and I adore stories that draw from fairytales and folklore like Senan McGuire's Wayward Children series, so this book was incredibly satisfying for me for the concept and vibes alone, but T. Kingfisher's execution of the novel took it to another level.

What I loved:
- A phenomenal cast of characters! T. Kingfisher has a way of writing characters and populating her worlds that resonates with me, and this book was no exception. I will admit that Cordelia was occasionally a bit frustrating with how weak and timid she was, but it was all completely in line with the character's experiences and history, and she was balanced nicely by having Hester as an additional POV.
- I really enjoyed the world this story was set in! It had the feel of a classic fairytale world with the gilding of a Regency novel, and it was delightful. Even if it was not directly plot relevant, I enjoyed the attention paid to period-appropriate manners, social expectations, and gossip as it made the world and story feel more rounded and complete. (And I found the house party gossip sessions quite entertaining! And they did so much to add depth to all the characters!)
- What a despicable, well done antagonist. I don't want to give too much away, but the way Evangeline treated others was so on point with a narcissist and abuser and it made me hate her soooooo much.
- The general darkness and horror vibes were nicely balanced! There was a sense of darkness throughout sprinkled with notes of horror up until closer to the end when the horror tones got stronger, and it made for a wonderful build and flow of the story.

Notes on the Audiobook:
- Excellent narration! I enjoyed the voices of the two focal characters! I think the narrators both did a wonderful job of capturing the voice of their individual characters and conveying the appropriate vibe of the book.
- Great consistency of side character's voices and characterization! Sometimes in books with multiple narrators, the side characters are voiced differently by each narrator, which can make things a bit confusing for readers, but I had zero issues with that in this book!
- My only real complaint is that something about the voice or accent for Alice grated on me, especially as the book progressed. I loved everyone else's voices, but Alice was not my cup of tea.

Overall, this book was phenomenal and I cannot recommend it highly enough to fans of fairytales, dark fantasy, and books with excellent vibes!

received an ARC of this book from Netgalley.

The style of writing in this book reminds me of classic literature like Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and David Copperfield.

The character building is great.

Our book has 2 main narrators - Cordelia and Hester.

Cordelia is the 14-year-old daughter of a sorceress that uses her like a puppet whenever her mother feels she isn’t being obedient enough. She is sheltered, lonely, scared all the time, just absolutely terrified of her mother. She has two friends - a horse, and a girl and they are her only solace in life.

The sorceress mother, Evangeline, decides she needs to shop for a rich husband and drags her daughter along. The target of her gold-digging affections, Sam, is clueless about her cunning ways, but his sister, Hester, knows something is up.

Hester is smart as a whip, has excellent taste in friends, she’s loyal, and her sixth sense is impeccable.

The story unfolds from there.

This is a book that has a lot of magic and supernatural elements, but the heart of the book is the people. Each of them are something worthy of notice: compelling, fierce, loyal, clueless, cruel, faithful, etc. I could easily see this as a movie.

I recommend this book, but I do give the warning that this book is riddled with possible triggers (death, suicide, animal death, free will taken away).

I definitely enjoyed this author’s style.

The narrators both did a good job too.

A Sorceress Comes to Call is a historical fiction/horror tale, that backloads the horror into the last ten percent of the book, and dumps truckloads of the historical fiction on you throughout the rest. It's very well written, and the author does a good job of getting into the character's heads, which is a good thing because we never, ever, get out of them, picking apart every single thought the main character's have, sometimes literally to the point of how the way they walk will be perceived. It's insufferable.

Because the writing is so good, I'm sure that you'll enjoy the historical fiction elements just fine, if you frequently read that sort of thing, I personally felt so bogged down in the minutiae of etiquette, navigating systems of romance, and shawls, (oh the shawls!) that anytime something interesting happened I was struggling to find a care.

I should also mention, as I listened to the audio book, the narrators did perfect jobs portraying the character's they represented. Sadly that meant an elderly woman who's occasionally got something interesting to say, but is mostly the one guilty of focusing on the "keeping of appearances" of the time, and the other an insecure girl who whines with every breath and questions every actions she takes. Perfectly played for the roles written, but it didn't help me get invested with the material given.

Not my cup of tea, but if historical romance with some hints of horror that only pay off in the 11th hour sounds good you, you'll likely be pleased.

*ARC provided by NetGalley & Macmillan Audio*

This audiobook is a must have for grownups who love fairy tales, and I loved everything about "A Sorceress Comes to Call", by T. Kingfisher. Kingfisher is a master at story telling. Both narrators did an outstanding job bringing this story to life.

The premise was intriguing. The mythology was interesting, but overall the story was predictable. The two main characters were pretty simple but propelled the story along

A huge thank you to NetGalley for early access to the audiobook of A Sorceress Comes to Call.
The narrators Eliza Foss and Jennifer Pickens did a wonderful job with execution and moods.

T. Kingfisher had quickly become a favorite of mine and my household through her unwavering ability of storytelling. I devoured her What Moves the Dead and What Feasts at Night. I laughed and cringed through A House With Good Bones and felt for the oddballs of Thornhedge. All of these novels offer different stories for different palates and all are written so well, are so captivating that I lose myself happily the way I long to in a good book. Some are often a retelling with different point of views that make the lore, to me, more enjoyable than the originals.

My love for T. Kingfisher is for her ability to write so well with a big dose of witticism, but this is definitely the most serious journey I've read yet. Despite the lack of hilarity, I was completely hooked. So much so I finished this in one day. In truth this story had a personal hook, a loveless mother.
'Not even alchemy can change the past'. You meet Cordelia who is a young woman of innocence who desperately wants to get away. To experience kindness, who wats someone else to believe her. Her mother isn't who she says she is, who isn't how she appears to be. She hides something evil, with bad mean secrets. When she does finally get the nerve to break her silence, her worst fears come true. Come meet some amazing characters that befriend Cordelia and learn things they never thought possible. "Let all that glitters fade away".

Among all of T. Kingfisher's amazing publications, get ready to enjoy this Novel on August 6th. Also, if you have kids like myself and want them to have access to books that are well written, find her under the pen-name Ursula Vernon.

THANK YOU to NetGalley & the Publisher for giving me access to a free copy of the audiobook!

4.5 ⭐, rounded up!

I had never read the original Brothers Grimm story that this was based off of, so I immediately looked that up and read the synopsis to better understand the subtle nuances between the two when reading this one. I immediately loved the premise of the first one, so I was really excited to get this one going and it did not disappoint. I think I finished this within 3 days or something lol.

This story is extremely well-paced, and the things that it borrows from the original tale are not heavy or distracting at all. It was easy to see where the influences were, while this being its own completely standalone story which I really appreciated. I liked a lot of the elements in this story even more than I did in the Brothers Grimm version. The original story seemed nice and dark, but with obvious twists in characters that felt a little boring. This retelling was completely its own and didn't borrow from any of those super cliche plot elements. Loved it!

The narrator did a really good job with her tone, character differentiations in voice, and overall delivery of the work. She had the right sort of expression for each character and her pacing was good.

I think the only things I didn't like, or had minor gripes about, were very small and nearly insignificant. Just some minor logic things here and there that made you ask really obvious questions, that she would immediately answer following shortly behind. Of course, this is done intentionally so that It's sort of baits you into the next twist or plot point, but that's not necessarily a bad thing and it rarely happened so it wasn't super distracting.

Examples: At one point, one specific character starts to complain about a scary storm/monster watching her from outside and Cordelia thinks "surely this can't be my mother because she can't control the weather, only people's minds!" Of course my immediate thought was, well YEAH, because it's happening in her MIND... It's obviously still your mom doing it. Lol.

I found myself questioning how her mom got so strong, and how her mom learned her magic. And I started questioning whether Cordelia herself might actually have magic? And just about that time, Cordelia hears Patricia's voice (a ghost). I was actually very happily surprised by this. It was a twist I wasn't expecting and I love that magic can present itself in different ways for different people. It's not the same magical abilities that are passed down (So it seems). We never truly got to know the answers to any of this, because of the way that it ends, so it's sort of left up to interpretation which is fine and actually works really well in this story.

I kept wondering why they couldn't just shoot the horse in the head or something. I naturally figured they couldn't, because the horse was magic, but they use the exact "kill it in normal ways" approach later so it just felt a little confusing. They have all these hunting guns around and nobody's using them. I also don't fully understand why you would cut the horses head off, and only burn the head. I would think that you would burn the whole body for good measure just in case. It just seemed like a convenient slip up to progress a plot point but not extremely glaring.

Overall, I'm rounding up to give this 5 ⭐'s! I loved it and even though It might not make sense to give this a sequel (since it's based off a standalone story), I would 100% read it in a heartbeat.

I super enjoyed listening to this book, the dual POV's worked well to carry the story along. I enjoyed Cordelia and Hester's character and their interactions. This is labelled dark re-imagining of the Brothers Grimm's "The Goose Girl", I've never read the original story so I can't say one way another how closely it follows the Goose Girl but I liked the way the story unfolded. The one aspect that left me wanting more was the Cordelia's mother who I found was a pretty flat character and it seems that raison d'être in really one dimensional.

Overall, this was a fun fantasy and character driven book. This was my first T. Kingfisher book and I'm definitely interested in reading more.

Thank you to NetGally, Macmillan Audio and T.Kingfisher for an audio ARC.

If you haven’t read T. Kingfisher before, I recommend you pick up the whole backlog!!

This is such a great retelling, and at the start, I had no idea where it was going, but the twists, turns and horrors experienced, just wow!!

The VA was wonderful to listen to, and I really loved their voice for the the characters. Highly recommend this audiobook!!

A wonderfully dark and mysterious retelling of the Goose Girl. At one point I was curious why this wasn't going to be classified as middle grade as one of the characters is maybe 13, and then the horrors happened. I really enjoyed the characters, in the novel especially Hester and the other older company, I loved getting tidbits of their personality and history even though this was more of Codelia's story.

A great read that kept me on the edge of my seat! I was invested in the story and really enjoyed it!

This was my first read from Kingfisher, who appears to be a widely-beloved author... I think it's safe to say I can add myself to her fanbase!

I adored the story and I enjoyed the narration of both speakers minus a minor nitpick; I feel like one of the narrators began the book pronouncing Evangeline as "Evange-leen" and later on I noticed it switched to "Evange-line". Very minor, but just something I noticed! Other than that. both voices were very soothing and easy to listen to!

The description stated that this was a retelling of "A Goose Girl", which I wasn't familiar with prior to listening, so I decided to look up the original tale to compare after finishing. I vaguely see some similarities, but I feel like it's a bit of a stretch personally. (Take that with a grain of salt though, since I only just looked up the original tale)

I feel the characters were the strongest part of the book, the POVs between Hester and Cordelia blended so well together! I think the tradeoff to this, however, is that I feel the worldbuilding suffered. For the most part, you're thrown some context clues regarding the era the story takes place in, the fact that magic and magic users exist, and that Christianity exists (assumedly; "The Church" is how it's referred as). I honestly don't hate it though, I feel the characters carried the story regardless. Overall one of my favorite reads in a while, 4/5 Stars!

I will never not be amazed by kingfisher’s originality and ability to weave stories from even the simplest of ideas and plot devices.

This book is especially hard to read for those with difficult mother daughter relationships. It captured everything so unequivocally, in such a raw way. I loved the way magic and the rest of the side characters were portrayed. I loved the true kind of friendship our heroine found with others.

I LOVED this book so much. From the first page, I was HOOKED! The contrast between Cordeilla and Hester is chef's kiss. Kingfisher books can be hit or miss for me and this one was a definite HIT. I've already recommended it to a bunch of people!

I enjoy T. Kingfisher's writing a lot and this is by far my favorite of her books. Cordelia is a perfect character; strong, caring and brave. Kingfisher drops you into this world that feels like the past, but with magic and you are instantly absorbed in the story and atmosphere. A top contender to my favorite book of the year.

The book includes:
- Regency-era social norms
- an evil sorceress
- fun banter
- a girl trapped by her circumstances
- a woman pushing back against social norms
- disastrous dinner parties

Life is so simple, that is, until a sorceress comes knocking on your door and destroys the peaceful repetition of a monotonous life. This reimaging of the Rapunzel fable is exciting and addictive. While there are some heavier topics in this book, I had a blast reading this story. Somehow T Kingfisher is able to combine the stakes of malicious magicians with a social parody, and it makes for an addicting combination. Cordelia is a such a sweet little thing, and I loved watching her character arch in this story. I also adored Hestor and her steadfast determination to protect her himbo of a brother, and retain her freedom at any cost.

If you're looking for a Mother Gothel esque fantasy in a regency setting with a silly cast of characters, this is for you. I loved this book and T. Kingfisher has become one of my instant-read authors.

I received this eBook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, T. Kingfisher, and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to review this book. This review is also available on my GoodReads - check out my profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863

I really enjoyed the audiobook narrators for this book! They did a superb job.

The book starts out very mysterious and I have to say I was really drawn in. It was however missing some of T Kingfisher’s uniqueness that usually comes out. The horror aspects were decent but more “made for everyone” which appreciate personally as someone who doesn’t love horror. If you’re looking for a paranormal story that follows a mother and daughter then go for it! I didn’t see the connection to Goose Girl, but maybe that’s just me. I enjoyed the characters and the conflict. The romance wasn’t a prominent point but it was very sweet. I’m glad it had a happy ending for the good characters.

Definitely check TWs before reading.

T Kingfisher is cementing herself as the queen of fairytales. In A Sorceress Comes to Call, Kingfisher tackles the Brothers Grimm’s Goose Girl. I’m not familiar with the original tale, so I can’t comment on its trueness to the source material, but this reminded me of Kingfisher’s other book Nettle & Bone in that we follow our main character as she encounters magic and a host of other characters who team up to complete a task. In this case, it’s stopping the sorceress. (There was even a nod to Nettle & Bone where a character mentions a dog made of bones). I love Kingfisher’s characters and specifically how she writes a strong, no-nonsense but not unkind older adult woman (a la Hester). At this point T Kingfisher is an auto-buy author for me.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Actual Rating 2.5

Cordelia knows her mother isn’t like other mothers, and it goes beyond the lack of doors in their house. Living an isolated life, Cordelia’s only friend is Falada, her mother’s horse. But when her mother decides it’s time for some changes, they leave town in the middle of the night to arrive at the country manor of a wealthy older man. It isn’t long before Cordelia sees that her mother has set her sights on marrying this man, and is willing to go to any lengths to have her way.

This story is told from a dual POV. This worked quite well as the two characters offered different details on the events that happened, creating a good balance. But the pacing of this one felt quite uneven. It started off strongly and I was certain this book was going to be one of the best I’d read in a while, but then there are pages and pages of repetitive scenes in slightly different settings (e.g., characters plotting the same thing in different settings). I think this book would have benefited from being more of a novella than a full-length novel.

There’s almost no worldbuilding in this book. There’s magic, sorcerers, and a traditional fantasy vibe but then also things like Catholicism. In most cases this would be a massive negative for me, but there were enough good aspects of this work that it was only a minor dislike. One thing that helped to balance it was the characters. I enjoyed the voices of the two protagonists, and though Cordelia was painfully passive for most of the book, there was good reason for it. I also do like the author’s writing style and it helps the pages mostly fly by.

This was a decent one that was apparently a retelling of the fairytale “The Goose Girl.” While I’m no fairytale expert, I’m somewhat familiar with that one and didn’t think there were enough similarities aside from some cosmetic details to call this a retelling. If you’re a diehard Kingfisher fan or like rambling fantasies with minimal worldbuilding, you’ll probably love this one. I listened to the audiobook version, and the two narrators did an excellent job bringing the characters to life. My thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to read this work, which will be published August 6, 2024. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I did not fall as in love with the narration of this book but it was good enough for me to purchase the book when I can get it. The cadence of the voices were too slow and too soothing. I needed more emotive.

Overall I do recommend but I would have like more emotive performances.