T. Kingfisher has become a must-read author for me. It almost doesn't matter what the book is even about, I just read the thing. I won't lie, at the start, this one worried me a bit. It starts slowwwly, and I was worried I would not be a fan. But! Dear reader, you needn't worry! If you can make it through a sluggish beginning, it gets very good, and if you're anything like me, by the end you won't be able to put it down!

It's a Snow White reimagining, which is very clear from the start- the character named "Snow" is a dead giveaway, right? And mirrors, and apples, the whole shebang. But it definitely is not a retelling, it is using the cool parts of the story while telling a whole new story, with wonderful characters, a talking cat (and as such, a very skeptical scientist), a dash of romance, and some very exciting shenanigans in a mirror-world. Once the story gets going, it gets going, thankfully. And once that started, I absolutely needed to know all the things!

Anja, the healer/poison expert and main character, has the T. Kingfisher trademark wit and charm, and feels like someone you'd want to hang out with. Her journey is made that much more entertaining because of her personality, which I think is my favorite part about any T. Kingfisher book. I also loved the secondary characters, and the entire worldbuilding surrounding the mirror situation was fascinating and clever.

Bottom Line: After a slower start, it ended up being another win!

Thank you to Tor Books and Netgalley for sending me an early copy of this book! All opinions are my own!

This book was so good I'm not sure I know how to articulate it! I flew through this in basically 2 sittings because I needed to know more, immediately. It does such a good job of hooking you, and then every single new piece of information gives you so many more questions, and before you know it, the book is almost over.

I absolutely loved the way that this book centers around poison but also has so much more depth to it. Anja's passions really come through so easily that you find yourself getting passionate about poison too, without really knowing anything about poison. She is such a relatable MC, and I adored her wit and humor. She kept the story real despite the otherworldliness to it.

I am usually not a retelling fan, but this book had me from start to finish. You can see the inspirations, but the world is so wholly its own that the little easter eggs are points that make you giggle at the understanding but don't take you out of the narrative.

I cannot recommend this enough for the upcoming spooky season!

This was an intriguing story that gave me Snow White meets Alice in Wonderland vibes. It felt familiar but also very unique and I enjoyed it.

Hemlock & Silver is fascinating and, while it took me a moment to really get hooked, I quickly found myself captivated (and a little worried to go near any mirrors). There is wonderful character development and dynamic. I liked the writing style as it felt like Anja was truly telling me a story in a way that I relate to (allowing myself to veer slightly off course only to snap back to where I need to).

Overall, I am glad I read this book. It is one I would recommend. To me, it is suitable as a YA read (but be mindful of CWs and TWs as there are some topics and themes that might not be for all readers).

I LOVE FAIRYTALE RETELLINGS!!! AND THIS IS WHY!!!

t kingfisher found a way to take an iconic fairy tale (snow white), kept the original vibe, but made it its own unique story! it was haunting, surprisingly gory, and had the perfect amount of humor.

our main character, anja, is a “healer” who drinks poisons not to die, but to find cures. because of her niche specialty, she’s been recruited by the king to help save his dying daughter. but once she’s in the palace she stumbles upon a secret world hidden within a mirror, changing everything that anja thought she knew. with the help of a reluctant guard, a narcissistic TALKING cat, and her insatiable curiosity, anja is determined to uncover this mystery and save snow, the princess.

anja was a breath of fresh air and I loved her as a character! she’s whitty with a self deprecating sense of humor (me-coded) and her determination is admirable. I loved being in her mind, reading her hilarious but also insightful inner monologues and I was rooting for her the whole story!

the romance?? I didn’t even realize there was going to be one but once those crumbs were being fed to me, you best believe I gobbled them up like a greedy lil rat 😫🤲🏼

perfectly paced, satisfying conclusion, and a great cast of characters; I couldn’t ask for a better standalone fairytale retelling!

thank you to netgalley and t kingfisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

♡ Thank you for the free ARC, Tor Books and NetGalley. Thank you for the free audiobook, MacMillan Audio.

From the beginning, this story pulled me straight in with T. Kingfisher’s signature gothic atmosphere and sly, sharp prose. The suspense builds steadily, each scene layered with value. I enjoyed the mix of dark fairytale elements and memorable characters. The ending landed with the kind of satisfaction I’ve come to expect from her books. She remains an author I’ll happily follow anywhere.

☊ Listening to this story via audiobook was fantastic. Narrator Jennifer Pickens did a wonderful job.

A really fun cozy light romantasy story. I loved the concept of Anja being a healer in this worldbuilding where she is considered a spinster. I found her backstory and character depth really interestingly done and the mentions/appearances of her family and the reveal of Catherine was great. I enjoyed the romance between Anja and Javier a lot. The more underrated personality types shown in stories finding romance. The broody bodyguard and the healer spinster but make them in their 30s and in a medieval- esque period was such fun to see the dynamics play out. The King's storyline was also intriguing and the mystery of who poisoned his daughter and the way the plot wrapped up was perfectly done that this whole story felt like a big cozy romantasy style adventure.

T. Kingfisher is one of my fav authors and this book is no exception to that. My only gripe is the pacing as it felt like a slow start to me and so it took a while for me to get into it. I will definitely be buying a physical copy for my personal library.

Kingfisher never misses! She is an instant buy author for me. I think a person should go into this knowing very little about it, and they will enjoy it immensely.

3.5 stars - I think this will please folks who really enjoy interesting magic systems in their fantasy. For me, the plot was a little hurky jerky for my tastes, but I really loved Anja, Snow, & Javier as characters. I'm a sucker for T Kingfisher's brand of comfy fantasy, though this one definitely also had the element of sadness that some of her work includes. Bonus... talking egotistical cat!

All around, this was another winner from one of my all time favorite authors, even if it wasn't a personal favorite from her.

I'm not saying T. Kingfisher is my favorite author, but... if I could only choose 5 authors to read for the rest of my life, after throat punching the tyrant who made that rule, I would, without hesitation, choose T. Kingfisher as one of them.

This story is a dark retelling of Snow White, minus the dwarfs plus a healer, a cat and a mirror world.

The Synopsis: Healer Anja regularly drinks poison. Not to die, but to save—seeking cures for those everyone else has given up on.

But a summons from the King interrupts her quiet, herb-obsessed life. His daughter, Snow, is dying, and he hopes Anja’s unorthodox methods can save her.

Aided by a taciturn guard, a narcissistic cat, and a passion for the scientific method, Anja rushes to treat Snow, but nothing seems to work. That is, until she finds a secret world, hidden inside a magic mirror. This dark realm may hold the key to what is making Snow sick.

Or it might be the thing that kills them all.

My thoughts: I've likely said this before, but T. Kingfisher is a natural born storyteller! I could happily live a lifetime in her imagination...ok maybe just some of my free time cuz I'm quite fond of my family and need time with them too.

As with many of her novels, we are treated to a well built world, a lovable main character with endearing quirks, plenty of action and humor, awesome side characters, unique magic, deadly villains and organic love. The end is wrapped up nicely. There is nothing more I could ask for or want in a book (except a sequel-but I was truly sated with the story and ending and am happy to keep that with me). Last, I have to shout out Grayling, the one eyed cat, who was an integral part of this story, and was afforded his own intriguing backstory. He shares only a small amount at first, but once he gets to know Anja and Javier more and events turn dire, he opens up a little more and you understand his losses and what makes him tick. He reminds me a little of my one eyed cat and his struggles before he met & adopted me. So very well done.

This book is one of my top 3 this year and will occupy space in my mind for years to come.

Another fabulous fairy tale retelling from T. Kingfisher, full of twists and surprise elements, and even a touch of horror. Excellent characters, clever dialogue, and plenty of creativity. Highly recommended.

I have read a lot of retellings and reimagining's over the years, but this is by far my favorite. This is such a fresh and dark take on the story of Snow White, and I hung on every word. Anja is a really refreshing character and I loved how true to herself she was even in the face of societal expectations. I also really loved that her father was so supportive of her chosen path in life. It was fun to learn about poisons and plants while also being immersed into this world. As always with Kingfisher the world building is top notch and beautifully done. I loved the romance between her and Javier and thought that he was a really fun character that complimented Anja well. Honestly though my favorite character was Grayling! What an absolute delight of a gremlin in cat form. The elements from snow white that are woven throughout really keep you locked into this story and just when you think that you have it figured it out, I feel like one more little crumb was added to put you back at guessing. This I think has become my new favorite Kingfisher book!

Nothing like a little T. Kingfisher to break a slump! Her books are always a comfort read for me. As usual, there’s a good dose of humor, magic, a touch of horror, flirtation, and found family (less than her others). This Snow White retelling was charming and a little haunting! The story is unique enough that you don’t necessarily know where the story is headed. I love the way Kingfisher gives us relatable thirty-something year old, awkward but clever FMCs. She’s isn’t a supermodel and magically skilled at everything, but a baddie nonetheless. And there’s a hunky guard too 😏

I think the only thing I missed was more involvement from side characters/stronger found family stuff. But as usual, I enjoyed myself and had a great time. Kingfisher is one of my favs, and I can always rely on her books to ease my mind.

T Kingfisher is adding even more to her already large catalog but this time with a dark reimagining of Snow White where we don’t necessarily follow Snow White but a healer named Anja while she tries to determine who, if anyone, is poisoning the princess. Now personally I’m not a big fan of retellings anymore but I really liked this for the different perspective and also it’s Kingfisher, Not reading her new books is like skipping over the donuts in your office, impossible. It just seems like an overlooked twist on the classic fairytale we know and have seen too much of.

This is a great retelling of Snow White - with a few other fairy tale references thrown in - and started off so strong for me. There was a misfit spinster with special abilities and weird habits like keeping a venomous snake as a companion. I was totally sold! My issue is 100% MY issue in that I don't like trippy books, and the whole mirror world was much too trippy for me. If those sorts of plots and descriptions don't bother you, then you should definitely give this a try. An extremely evil villain and a wonderful slow growing romance are great parts here. Anja is a great character with a mind of her own who is completely unconcerned about anyone else's expectations.

4.5

thank you to tor books for the e-ARC

I am and always will be a T. Kingfisher fan, but some of her books are more to my taste than others. my favorite ones have a taste of fantastical whimsy, an uncanny undercurrent, and a savvy protagonist with some self-esteem issues. this is one of those.

this kingfisher FMC might be my favorite yet? I just love the idea of a woman who made poisons and antidotes her special interest and eventually her life’s work. and she’s super practical and rational and gets thrown into court intrigue and magic? such such fun. and then a deeply creepy world that had skin crawling as I anticipated jump scares. plus some good romantic banter and related inner turmoil….. an amazing relationship progression.

I’m a huge fan of fairy tales and reimaginings and fresh takes, and time and time again T Kingfisher proves herself as an author I love. This was such a fun, interesting take on the story of Snow White, Rose Red and I loved Anya as the narrator so much. The sarcasm and snark and personality was such a delight to read. I loved learning about the different poisons and how Anya ended up as a sorta-kinda-maybe-not healer after her cousin died from eating hemlock, and suddenly she needed to find a cure. I just have so much fun with the fairy tale elements and the magic and the mystery and the way all the threads get woven together.

I listened to the audiobook, and I really liked the narrator. The voices were always especially distinct, but the intonations and how the snark and sarcasm was portrayed made for a delightful listen.

T. Kingfisher is an auto-read author for me, and Hemlock & Silver was a brilliant reminder why. It was so full of such a specific flavor of banter, charm, and whimsy that can only be experienced in a T. Kingfisher book. The characters are so real and relatable, and I can always count on Kingfisher to give me an animal companion or 2 to cackle over. From the moment we met Anja, I adored her and I saw myself so clearly in her. She reminded me one reason why T. Kingfisher novels are so special - the main characters break the mold for typical fantasy or horror heroines and heroes. They're older, perfectly imperfect, brilliant, and are driven by what they're passionate about.

This was a snow white retelling, and I loved all the little nods to the fairytale we all know, but with a super imaginative spin. And it was so full of mystery, humor, suspense, charming side characters, and plenty of heartfelt moments. This was an EASY 5 star for me, just completely delightful and engaging from start to finish.

Endless thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for an early copy of Hemlock & Silver, all opinions and thoughts in this review are my own.

The lengths I went to in order to read this book!
I was in over my head. I noticed it was going to expire on my netgally shelf (yesterday). I started Monday in the early hours of the morning, confident. Audacious.
*Fast forward to yesterday, 50% done*
I *REALLY* enjoyed my reading experience with Hemlock and Silver. It's the sort of mystery/fantasy that works for my brain. Healer Anja was such an enjoyable character to read through. I was able to relate to her largeness, bluntness, awkwardness, passion and charm. I love that Kingfisher didn't feel the need to call out Anja's specific brain. She just let her exist as she was, and she let that be wonderful and interesting and brilliant, but also completely clueless.
*fast forward to the desperate last throws of a recovered web browser copy of the book after it expired and I'm reading in the wee hours of the morning*
I enjoyed the mystery in this story. I did put a lot of the pieces together as the story went, but it didn't detract from the journey. Having Anja see the world in a very specific way was a very successful narrative device.
I enjoyed the romance and really appreciated the way it took a back seat to the other elements of the story.
If you enjoy T. Kingfisher's other books, you'll enjoy this. It has the weird dimensional horror of Hollow Places, the atmospheric and natural science elements of What Moves the Dead, and the humor and relationships of Paladin's Grace.

I feel like an outlier for this book as I had a lukewarm reaction to it. It started off very strong and intriguing however I found the first 50% difficult to keep my attention. I appreciated the character development of Anja, but it was very repetitive reading about arsenic over and over again. I did enjoy an older protagonist who isn't the damsel, young, thin woman who finds out she has magical fighting powers. When things picked up, I was more invested. I enjoyed the talking cat the most and the mirror magic. This book is described as a Snow White retelling (and maybe I'm not as familiar with the original fairy tale) but I felt this fell more into a mix of Snow White and Alice Through The Looking Glass with fairy tale elements as opposed to a "retelling". While this may not have been a standout book for me, I'll definitely explore more from Kingfisher in the future.