✨ARC REVIEW✨

3.5⭐️

This story was really fun! A dark retelling of Snow White with some really interesting twists and turns! I like the way that T Kingfisher was able to bring a fresh take on a beloved classic! I was a little confused by the “magic system?” Of the story but I got there eventually 😂 Reading through the view of our FMC was interesting. The romance plot line in this book was fun too (maybe a little rushed, but overall fun to read). I feel like this will be a fun fall read! It’s giving spooky autumnal vibes that I love!

Thank you to Net Galley and Tor for letting me read an ARC of this story!

T Kingfisher has become an instant read/buy for me after reading Swordheart and Thornhedge earlier this year. Therefore, I was very excited to read Hemlock & Silver, and it definitely didn’t disappoint!

This story is a slightly sinister and very original retelling of Snow White. Our main character, Anja is a healer whose passion is with poisons and antidotes.
She is tasked by the king to help his daughter, Snow, in the story. Throw in a talking cat, a broody bodyguard, and some creepy mirrors and you have an interesting story! The book lost a ⭐️ due to being slow at some points, but was overall very enjoyable.

I will definitely be picking up a copy when this book comes out in August and continue to remain a T Kingfisher fan.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the e-arc!

A new T Kingfisher is always a treat, and never one to savor. Absolutely obsessed, yet another banger (!!) from Kingfisher.

I'm really liking how all of her various genres have been enjoying a bit of a blend in the fairytale retellings. There's a tasty background romance with just enough intrigue to run a b-plot, a bunch of horrific creatures and magical concepts that usually populate her horror- and well, everything she does - and who isn't a sucker for an interesting twist on a fairy tale.

This is a retelling of "Snow White," sans the cute animals and soprano warbling and honestly most of the things that would make it recognizable (which is good, snow white is my least favorite) but I feel like I got some of the same interesting flavor as the Robin McKinley retelling of The 12 Dancing Princesses (a compliment, that one has stuck with me for years). Readers will note the fascination with mirrors, and apples, and other fun bits of symbolism and terrible implications in family relationships.

If T Kingfisher had a fan club I would fight tooth and nail to be the president. Going into this book I expected it to be very much like Nettle & Bone, so I was a bit thrown off by the beginning. It took me a bit to get into the story, but honestly, I think that was my expectations getting in my way.

Hemlock & Silver follows Healer Anja, a 35-year-old professional poison nerd. In this Snow White reimagining Snow is very much awake, but her father the King charges Anja with figuring out who is poisoning her.

As always, Kingfisher brings us a main character who isn’t a frail teenager or an angry skinny lady. Anja is just a normal human carrying around a poisonous snake and trying to find cures for poisons. She is delightfully real, hilarious, and prickly.

Now, Kingfisher normally has a tendency to write in genre. Horror books are contemporary, fantasies are weird and dark, and romances are delightful. In this book, she breaks from that mold, makes us fall in love with a loyal guard, gets weird, and then makes you afraid to ever look at a mirror again.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for the ARC. I loved this book and I will continue to remain a loyal T Kingfisher fan, but I have to go remove all of the mirrors from my house now.

I love me a good T. Kingfisher retelling. This book was no different. A Snow White retelling through Kingfisher's expert lens was every bit as good as expected. We follow Anja, who has a love and curiosity for poisons, maybe to the point of being dangerous? I don't want to say much more but Kingfisher has solidified her talent for framing stories we know and love in a dark, layered, and complex way. Thank you to Tor Books/Tor Publishing Group & NetGalley for the ARC. You can pick up this gorgeous edition August 19, 2025!

This Snow White-inspired retelling combined Kingfisher's talent for fantasy and horror, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think the "retelling" category is a bit oversaturated, so I appreciated that this was truly an original tale that used iconic Snow White symbols in a new way. The protagonist and love interest were so fun to read about, and again, I appreciate that Kingfisher defies the fantasy genre standard of young, sexy heroine in favor of more gritty and realistic characters. This was a fast read for me—I can't say the prose was anything super special, but the story itself was a page-turner. The world-building was unique and the magic system brought up some really interesting questions. It's timely that a central theme of the book is power, and what can happen when it gets into the wrong hands.

This was complete enough to be a standalone, but I would love to return to this world someday.

4.5⭐

In true T. Kingfisher fashion, this story was truly unique. I'm not sure of any other author who could come up with something as unique as mirror-gelds *shutter*. I enjoy the type of characters that they come up with and the fmcs are often some of my favorite characters. Anja is strong but flawed but I loved her thinking and how excited she got when trying to figure out the problems. A slightly cantankerous cat and a strong silent bodyguard help too.

Not my favorite of T. Kingfisher's, but it was still very good! Loved the twist on Snow White/Rose Red and the Evil Queen. I honestly just could not figure out the physics/magic involved. The setting was very cool and original, but there was so much internal monologue that it really bogged the plot down.

I loved this book so much!! I was hooked from the first line and loved reading this. Thank you to Netgalley and T Kingfisher for the awesome arc!

No one writes a middleaged heroine like Kingfisher. Everytime I pick up one of her stand-alones I know I'm in for a good read. Great banter and a lead that you can really identify with, just wanting to enjoy her life and maybe make a medical discovery or two. 4/5 if only because it felt like it could have used just a little more time to develop a couple of side characters for their importance to be felt beyond their rank.

Loved Javier the bodyguard, and his interactions with Anja, poor man didn't know what he was getting when he got assigned to protect this particular healer by his King.

Lighthearted, cozy and a fun read, would highly recommend for those looking for something to read between all the world ending books that exist in the fantasy genre. The stakes aren't world ending, but if Anja doesn't pull it off, only Saint Adder knows what will happen to her.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the wonderful ARC.

Oh how I wish I could be inside T. Kingfishers genius mind. I love retellings but this was a truly unique Snow White retelling. I loved that Snow wasn’t totally a main character but that Anja her healer was. Anja is so relatable especially if you’ve ever felt like you were a little odd or didn’t quite fit in because of some of your interests. It was also refreshing that Anja was in her thirties! I feel like so many stories the heroine is so young as a 30-something loved the character was the same age as me. The development and arcs of all the characters were absolutely phenomenal along with the complex but easy to understand world building. This was such an enjoyable read.

Cozy horror isn't a genre, except that Kingfisher might be inventing it? I'm not sure how else to characterize this delightful, genre-bending novel. It is fantasy, except that the magic doesn't start until halfway through, and it is horror, except that the obvious monsters might not really be monsters. There is also a healthy serving of mystery as Healer Anja tries to figure out what is poisoning Snow.

In some ways, this is the most Kingfisherian of her books. It has everything I have come to love and expect from her fantasies-- a humorous narrative voice, a romantic subplot, and characters who get dealt a bad hand but just get on with it already. That last one may be my favorite element of Kingfisher's usual style. There is no angst, no protracted interpersonal drama caused by avoidable miscommunication, no woe-is-me attitude. Healer Anja, with her passionate but analytical personality, is the perfect example of this. She gets dropped into a dreadful situation, takes a moment to sigh, and then rolls up her sleeves and dives right in, shoving charcoal and snake venom exactly where it is needed to produce results. The tight cast of characters helps readers to connect with each of them. Healer Anja stands among my all-time favorites of Kingfisher's protagonists.

In other ways, this felt like a slight break with the rest of Kingfisher's oeuvre. Maybe it was the visual greyness of the second half of the book, or maybe that the rest of it takes place in the desert, or... I don't know, something. In her previous books, I have always had the sense of a lush fantasy world. (Albeit tinged with horror. There is always at least a little horror.) In this one, there was something that felt just a touch bleak that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I enjoyed it, but it was different.

Thank you, Kingfisher, for saving me from a reading slump with this page-turning fantasy mystery!

And many thanks to Tor and NetGalley for this eARC!

I loved this. I’m still in awe of how beautifully written this was. T. Kingfisher, you’re SO talented with words. Seriously. So eloquently written. The story was great! Anja was probably the funniest character ever. She was amazing lol. The world building was easy to understand, but some of the mirror concepts were pretty dang hard for me to follow, if we are being honest. It didn’t take away from the story though. I really loved this book. Thank you for the ARC.

An intriguing, poison-filled romp through a desert world - Kingfisher tackles yet another classic fairytale, Snow White, with her usual wit and charm. I always like reading her books because I know I'll come away with a lot of information about really specific things, a new night terror, and a lot of laughter. A good time all around!

ARC review, thank you to T. Kingfisher and Netgalley!

The story follows a healer, Anja, who is very knowledgeable with poisons. The King approaches her and asked her to cure his daughter, Snow. Anja begins to study snow only to find out her illness is not related to poison and is cause by mirrors. The mirrors act as portals to another realm. Anja is forced to challenge herself with relying on magic rather than science.

The story was interesting, however i found it to drag a little and bee quite confusing (specifically between the “mirror world” vs. real world, mirror-gelds). However, i was very impressed with the world building as it is something o have never read before. As far as characters, Anja was interesting to an extent but here was no one in this book that i was exactly drawn to or loved. While it was not something i probably would have picked on my own, Im glad I was able to receive the ARC and this is definitely an author i would read more of!

T. Kingfisher's Snow White retelling is another great book in the T. Kingfisher line-up. Filled with Kingfisher's unique, relatable, and humorous voice, mystery, and romance. It twists a perfect balance between the original story with Kingfisher's own vision.

One of my most anticipated reads this year and it did not disappoint! It was a great read and I'm so glad I got the opportunity to read it! The cover is amazing and makes sense for the book. The storyline was fantastic. I will be recommending to book friends!

4.5✨

Vivid, humorous & down right chilling.

Hemlock & Silver is a gothic retelling of Snow White with what felt to me bits of Alice in Wonderland combined. For the Kingfisher fans, the best comparisons that comes to mind would be Nettle & Bone or The Seventh Bride.

With the young princess bewilderingly ill, the King reaches out to a devoted poison’s expert. Anja knows better than to expect poison first and heads onward to solve the cause of the princess’s mysterious conditions. What she will find along the way is magic, horrors and a bit of romance.

The cover is absolutely stunning. Coincidentally, the imagery and world building reciprocates its beauty. You start off with Anja’s fascination and heartfelt love for poisons. She is insanely knowledgable and it’s a privilege to see where her fascination with plants/poisons began up until the present. Anja is curious beyond belief to the point of danger and extremely blunt. I grew to love her and all the side characters. Not one character disappoints in this novel.

One aspect that I highly appreciated was the romance. Its cute and has fluidity as opposed to be rushed. It also doesn’t become the main focal point while still delivering beautifully. The horror elements also came to play elegantly. I found myself diving deeper into the puzzle as Anja did so into Snow’s condition.

Hemlock & Silver is a very entertaining slow burn read that continued to bloom until the very end. Highly recommend to anyone looking for a vibrant fantasy retelling with an extremely sharp FMC on the heels of a profound mystery.

Thank you to Tor Publishing, Kingfisher & Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As always T. Kingfisher did not disappoint. I loved this book.

Anja is the daughter of a merchant that has always been fascinated with poisons and their antidotes. Her life is upended when the king requests her help identifying the cause of his daughter Snow’s mysterious illness.
With the help of her bodyguard and a one eyed cat Anja uncovers a whole new world of discoveries through the deceased queen’s mirrors in the search for a cure.

It took a little bit for me to get in to this book but once I did I was completely hooked. Such a fantastic retelling with a satisfying conclusion. I loved the romance subplot as well.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing for providing this story and allowing me share my thoughts.

At this point, picking up a T. Kingfisher book feels less like opening a novel and more like stepping into a dark, eerie fairytale where the woods whisper, the creatures bite, and the magic is just as likely to save you as it is to ruin your day. And Hemlock & Silver? It’s all that and more—twisted, lush, unsettling, and full of that signature blend of warmth and horror that makes Kingfisher’s work impossible to put down.

This book is for the girlies who like their folklore with a touch of rot, their witches morally complex, and their protagonists just trying to survive while the world around them grows increasingly unhinged. The prose is sharp, the atmosphere is thick with creeping dread, and the kind of eerie beauty that lingers like a ghost long after you’ve turned the last page.

If you loved Nettle & Bone or Thornhedge, this will feel like coming home—only home might be a haunted cottage deep in the woods, where the walls creak at night and something old and terrible watches from the trees. But hey, that’s what makes it fun.