🎧 Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this audiobook.
I am obsessed with T. Kingfisher’s writing and this book did not let me down. I enjoyed the whole book—definitely the most clever Snow White retelling I have ever read.

4.25

I was influenced to finally picking up my first T. Kingfisher book and I regret nothing! (Thank you for that @mello_reads)

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PLOT & WORLDBUILDING

The story is a Snow White retelling with such an intriguing twist and I absolutely loved the approach the author took. It is one of those retellings where I went in with an idea, maybe even dared to assume an arc, only to realize that maybe things aren’t as they seem. At all.

I loved the world building, the blurred lines and the confidence of a story that doesn’t require clear distinctions and allows for different definitions of reality and anything beyond. (Wow, this is cryptic, but I REALLY don’t want to spoil anything.)

While the topic of romance has its space in a very precious, natural way, it was neither a focus nor a priority. Which, in my opinion, allowed the other influencing genres the space they needed. The focus on mystery with a very fun dive into horror aspects worked so well for the story.


MAIN CHARACTER

Anja is an amazing FMC. The entire character makes sense, her backstory and character traits, her interests, her principles. She is incredibly authentic in everything she does and says, with no intent to appear perfect.

Her curiosity, a trait that can quickly feel misplaced or imprudent, is not only absolutely valid and believable, considering her occupation, it also works great in this plot. Not least because T. Kingfisher didn’t put the entire weight of conflicts on it, even if it causes the occasional trouble.

I especially loved this considering that Anja is in her 30s. Reading about an older adult who had the time to figure out who she is and what she values was amazing. Which isn’t to say she doesn’t have her flaws and edges, just that the those make sense and align with what we know about the character.


BODY REP

I want to mention how amazing an example for representation of different body types this was in my opinion. Despite my need to give this topic quite some space, it plays a very subtle role in the book. Which is part of why, in my opinion, it worked so well.

Anja is a tall woman, larger than the thin and petite beauty ideal in every sense. And while it is clear that she has given this thought, that it might have bothered her on certain occasions, there is zero need to be falsely apologetic for not fitting that ideal.
There is space to acknowledge the difference where it makes sense, without indicating that her body type makes the FMC less than. She is allowed to have the balance of having moments of self conscience while still feeling comfortable in her body.


SIDE CHARACTERS

The characters Anja encounters throughout the book, on and off page, are just as well written. Every character has a validity in their presence and, in my opinion, the author did a great job at allotting each the space needed, not overusing or neglecting anyone.


WIRITNG

The writing was immaculate. T. Kingfisher certainly knows how to craft even a complex image with words that feel meaningful yet simple, never exaggerated.

Everything in this book was on point: From the pace and conflict development to the characters and their emotions. Even the choice of narrator was perfect and I very much enjoyed the audiobook.


IN SHORT...

Hemlock & Silver is a Snow White retelling with a fun twist or two. I loved reading a story with an FMC in her 30s who is incredibly authentic and relatable. The writing is as on point as everything else and this might have been my first T. Kingfisher book but it will certainly not be my last.

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Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and T. Kingfisher for an ALC of this book.

(5.0 Stars)

Thank you to #NetGalley for making this book available to read and review.

This book is excellent! The characters are likeable and grow with the story. The world is just real enough to be believable and magical enough to be considered a high fantasy. Although this is not a questing fantasy as much as it is a discovery.

There are strong female characters and male characters that do not fall into the machismo trappings of many fantasy archetypes. This book is meant to be enjoyed by all, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The narration is great, and the pace is perfect. I love this author.

Hemlock & Silver is told from the point of view of Anja, a self-described plump, middle-aged spinster who has spent her life studying poisons and their antidotes after seeing her cousin die after eating hemlock.
She is plucked from the comfort of her workshop and pressed into service by the recently widowed king to identify the poison that is slowing killing his daughter, and she is whisked to the desert estate where Snow is being kept.
Anja is a funny narrator, self-deprecating and sharing her humorous opinions with us of those around her.
She cares more about animals, such as her “colleague”, a chime adder she keeps to milk for venom, than she does most people and is constantly resisting efforts from those around her who suggest she should step in as a mother figure for Snow.
Anja begins to investigate what - and who - is poisoning Snow, and we see themes from Snow White, such as poisoned apples and mirrors, being utilized in unexpected ways.
In classic T. Kingfisher style, Hemlock & Silver is filled with intrigue, adventure, surprise, and humor , sprinkled with a touch of body horror and a little romance.
Anja’s words at the end seemed to leave it open for us to hear more of her story, and I hope we do.
Note on the audio production: pristine production value and expertly performed by Jennifer Pickens.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

4.5
This is a dark fairytale retelling of Snow White that is almost more fantasy than horror. It has T. Kingfisher's signature humor and relatable characters. I really enjoyed it although it wasn't one I could read late at night!

Anja is a healer specializing in poisons and antidotes. She is called to save the princess, who is suffering from a mysterious illness. With the help of a stoic bodyguard and a talking cat, they must venture into a mysterious world on the other side of the mirror to save the day.

The audiobook is engaging and does a good job with differentiating the character's voices.

I recently read my first book by T. Kingfisher, Paladin’s Grace, and discovered my love for her writing style and character building. Hemlock & Silver was just as witty and fully of humor as her other book. I absolutely loved the characters and their personalities, the humor with each character was just my type of humor!

The magic with the mirror world was pretty interesting to learn about and I loved the mystery in everything. Also really loved the morbid facts randomly thrown around everywhere. This was a great book and I would definitely read a second one if it came out, but I do believe this is a standalone.

Thank you to NetGalley, T. Kingfisher, and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

I will start by saying that I expected this book to be more horror than a twisty re-telling. While it would have been great to have more horrific moments, I loved the way this book played out. I'm obsessed with it. Anja was such a fascinating FMC. She is a healer who has been intrigued for most of her life to figure out how to heal people with unorthodox ways when they come in contact with poisons that don't have a cure yet. The king requests that she evaluate his daughter, Snow, who gets dreadfully sick randomly. I could read a whole series with her as the main character. There is a slow-burning romance that I adored. Honestly, this book felt like such a cozy read that I will be re-reading it time and time again. I highly recommend it!

5 stars

Jennifer Pickens did an excellent job with the narration. I would highly recommend giving the audiobook a try!

Hemlock and Silver is a wonderful fantasy/fairytale. It is marketed as a Snow White retelling, but it is so much more. There is an adorable romantic subplot that makes me kick my feet, and Anja’s cat companion brings a good snarky flair. Anja is so smart and capable, which I love to see in a fairytale.
I think this is the perfect starter book for anyone who may be on the fence about trying a T Kingfisher book.
Jennifer Pickens reads the audiobook and is absolutely perfect for this story. She embodies the main character perfectly and her tone always fits the scene she is reading.
Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced audio copy.

Hemlock & Silver is everything I crave in a fairytale retelling: smart, sharp-edged, and rich with unexpected tenderness. T. Kingfisher once again proves she’s a master at taking familiar tales and reshaping them into something strange, funny, and profoundly human. This isn’t your classic Snow White—it’s darker, queerer, more grounded in realism, and somehow all the more magical for it.

Healer Anja is one of the most memorable protagonists I’ve read in a while. She’s blunt, literal, intensely analytical, and completely unapologetic about it. She doesn’t fit the mold of your average fantasy heroine, which is exactly why she shines. With a body type and mind not often centered in fantasy, her presence on the page is refreshing and deeply validating. There’s a likely thread of neurodivergence in her characterization—she’s direct, driven by scientific logic, and often bemused by the irrationality of others. It makes her voice all the more distinct and layered.

The story moves like a slow, steady poison—precise and deliberate—before slipping under your skin. The way Kingfisher crafts the world around Anja is rich with folklore and menace, yet it’s the character work that makes this book sing. Snow, who enters the story as a quietly traumatized twelve-year-old, is written with such care and believability. Her growth, resilience, and tiny sparks of humor are all the more affecting for how grounded they feel.

This isn’t a beat-for-beat retelling, and that’s what makes it brilliant. The bones of Snow White are there, but they’ve been rebuilt into something more intricate and alive. The poisoned apple, the wicked queen, the forest refuge—all of it is given a new shape, with twists that genuinely surprised me. There’s a weight to the magic here, rooted in pain and history and stubborn hope.

For readers who like:
-Fairytale retellings
-Slow-burn plots
-Protagonists who are intelligent, awkward, and incredibly capable

Final Verdict
Hemlock & Silver is a darkly charming reinvention of a beloved fairytale, full of wit, melancholy, and strange beauty. It’s not afraid to be prickly or quiet or odd, and in doing so, it offers a story that feels entirely its own. For fans of character-driven fantasy with a folkloric core, this is a gem you won’t want to miss.

Grateful to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and T. Kingfisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

4.25/5

A healer, who regularly doses herself with poison, is summoned by the King to help save his dying daughter, and ends up finding a secret world.

I love T Kingfisher and am glad I didn’t know was a Snow White retelling beforehand. I usually don’t reach for retelling, but this really felt unique with the characters, story, and world. It’s a fun, creepy, mysterious, romantic ride.

I appreciate that the FMC was 35– shocking for this genre. Anja is scientific, compassionate, blunt, and has that classic T Kingfisher dry humor.

The animal side characters were fun and I loved the creepy creatures in the mirror world. I did find some of the mirror aspects and dual dimensions hard to follow at times, but that could be more on me than the writing.

And a great performance by Jennifer Pickens!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC!

This book is really interesting! I will admit, it had my attention more the first 1/2 but since then, it's taken a bit of a turn. Though I've read another book that's similar in magic that is helping me accept it.

The FMC is very intriguing to me though! Not often is a protagonist in a fantasy described as having a larger body type (would be interesting to see if own voices say it's a good rendering). It also feels like she's neurodivergent coded, which adds another element to the story too. She's quite unfiltered, literal, and scientific, which makes things quirky and funny. Very much a
T Kingfisher book!

I really loved this audio narrator! She’s got such great voices for everyone and excellent delivery. It added to the experience well.

Thank you very much to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review!

Dark, delightful, and full of heart. Maybe my favorite T. Kingfisher yet.

As a longtime T. Kingfisher fan, I had high expectations going into Hemlock & Silver—and this one might just be my favorite yet. It’s technically a Snow White retelling, but honestly, it feels completely original. Familiar in the bones, but transformed into something stranger, smarter, and much more haunting.

“Maybe the point of gods and saints is that they can make the monstrous choices that people can’t”

The real standout in this story is Anja, the female main character who is a poison expert/healer. I cannot emphasize enough how much I loved her. She’s everything I want in a main character—smart, practical, emotionally steady, deeply compassionate without being sentimental, and completely uninterested in performing for anyone’s expectations. She’s a poison expert who takes her craft seriously, tests things on herself with terrifying calm, and is more at ease with death than most people are with small talk. She’s also funny, deeply human, and refreshingly over thirty. And even when the world around her tips into the supernatural, she never loses that groundedness. She doesn’t panic—she analyzes. She doesn't flail—she thinks. I found myself rooting for her with my whole heart.

“Oh saints. I do not need another fetish right now” - my favorite Anja quote of the book.

T. Kingfisher has always had a talent for blending humor, horror, and heart, and that balance is on full display here. The plot creeps up on you, layered and mysterious, with sinister mirrors and shadowy forces that are genuinely unsettling. The pacing picks up beautifully after the first few chapters, and by the end I was fully locked in. And yes, there’s a talking cat with a wildly inflated ego. He’s a perfect menace, and I adored every scene he was in.

There’s also a slow-burn romance that stays perfectly in the background—subtle, warm, and so well-matched. It never tries to steal the spotlight, but when it lands, it lands in a way that feels honest and earned.
I also have to shout out the audiobook. The narrator absolutely nailed the tone of this book—dry wit, eerie tension, emotional depth—all of it. It brought Anja to life in a way that made the whole story even more immersive. I honestly didn’t want it to end.
Huge thanks to Tor and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy—this was an absolute gem, and I’ll be recommending it to everyone

Fairy tale retellings come in all shapes and sized from the saccharine-sweet animated features that many of us watched through childhood to the gruesome horror versions that give me nightmares, and the Snow White tale certainly has versions across the whole spectrum. Its one that I've enjoyed in several renditions. So, for one of my favorite authors to put her particular spin to the story brought me great delight. This particular cozy-creepy version of Snow White focuses on a healer who is brought in to find whatever may be poisoning the young girl, Snow. Anja has that dry wit that is so frequent in T. Kingfisher's main characters that I instantly took a liking to her. There is a touch of romance, a bit of mystery, animals that are more than they appear to be, and an evil villain to remind us that this is very much a fairy tale, and oh, yes, the mirror, mirror isn't just on the wall. So for anyone who enjoys T. Kingfisher's retellings like Thornhedge as much as I did, or just likes a slight twist to their not-quite-children's tales, this book needs to be at the top of their to be read list, or better yet, to be listened to and enjoy it the way that I did, with an excellent narrator to remind you of childhood when bedtime stories were read to you.
I received the ALC thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Macmillan Audio) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

Thank you to T. Kingfisher (author), Jennifer Pickens (narrator), Tor Publishing Group, Tor Books, Macmillan Audio, and Netgalley, for this advanced reader copy of "Hemlock & Silver" for an honest review. A new Kingfisher book available? Hands down, something I'm going to run for every publication. Another that happens to be a fairytale retelling with the main character who is in advanced years, happens to be a bit overweight, and also considered spinsterly? I'm here for them FOREVER. Take all my money, and twice that in my love and respect.

This book was a glorious reinvention of Snow White, with twists and turns I couldn't see coming a hundred yards off. I love the blunt, no nonsense of 'Healer Anja,' who is a dab hand at a lifelong stufy of poisons which have often had her singled out as "odd" and "macbre" and misunderstood by others, and frequently frustrated at herself for the way that finding cures is one of the hardest sciences to manage (especially in the time period alignment of this piece). Snow, as a twelve-year-old girl, was intensely believable in every way, from the first little smiles to that last running grasp of skirts. Grayling is the kind of cat every little girl reading books through her childhood longed for.

Every character—from King, to ex-mistress, to courtier, to the guards, the staff, and even the assailants—is written in such a three-dimensional way that makes you feel for them, even if you don't agree with everything their past circumstances have them doing currently. I am equally hopeful to read more in this universe, and just to watch Kingfisher continue her quest of retelling any number of fairytales forever. There are so many people who will need to be bought a copy of this for Christmas!

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Narrator: This was my second book narrated by Jennifer Pickens, the first of which was Kingfisher's "A Sorceress Comes to Call." Thus, it did take me a few chapters to disentangle the narration voice from the two main characters of the first book. I deeply loved all of her work, and the varied voices, especially between Anja, Snow, Javier, and Grayling, who felt very individual by the end of it all.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the gifted copy!

A retelling of Snow White, HEMLOCK & SILVER follows the story of Healer Anja and a desperate call from the King to help save his daughter, Snow.

The way I read this story in two sittings within a 12-hour period of time should say it all - I absolutely LOVED it.

All the talk of poisons and intrigue told from Anja’s point of view intricately examining everything was the best. She was such a refreshing FMC and I Ioved how she brought us into this story and captivated us the entire time. She was also just so highly RELATABLE. That, plus the familiar elements of the Snow White story made for a compelling retelling that I didn’t want to depart from — so I just kept reading. With magic mirrors, a talking cat, and a guard who will have you giggling, this story steeped in poison is absolutely a must-read.

This story was narrated by Jennifer Pickens and I can’t recommend this audiobook enough - it’s absolutely fantastic!

Thank you to NetGally and Macmillan audio for an advanced audiobook copy of this title in exchange for a fair and honest review.

T Kingfisher is an autobuy author for me and this title was no exception. It’s not just a retelling in that it is told from the perspective of an original character and really leans in to the scientific aspect of this story in finding out what is happening to the royal family.

This story manages to be dark and cozy at the same time similar to their other titles. It has humor similar to Nettle and Bone (and includes hilarious animal companion). This is currently my favorite regal king of theirs.

The beginning does start a little slow and gives a lot of back story on Anya’s work with poisons but it really sets up the tone of the book and it does pick up after she is hired.

The audiobook narrator does an excellent job with this story and all the characters. Would highly recommend if you can.

Two important things you need to know:

1. I love T. Kingfisher.
2. I'm a sucker for adult fairytales, and fairytale retelling.

Kingfisher reigns supreme in twisted fairytale retellings, and Hemlock & Silver is peak Kingfisher. Think moody forests, unnerving creatures, and heroines with grit, vulnerability, and offbeat humor. The best way I can describe this is a mashup of Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, Coraline, and Pan’s Labyrinth. It's dark, lyrical, and beautifully unsettling.

This story had me spellbound. I devoured it in a day and it still lingers (common with her books, honestly). The audiobook, narrated by Jennifer Pickens, was absolute perfection. She captured the eerie tone and emotional nuance so effortlessly I forgot I was listening.

It’s the kind of book that feels like stepping into a dream you won’t forget—half nightmare, half lullaby, and all heart.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and the authour for providing the ARC in exchange for my enthusiastically honest review.

To me one of the best books of 2025 and T. Kingfisher.
I listened to the audiobook version and the narrator was perfect, it made the book even better and the experience more immersive.
The story draws inspiration from the tale of Snow White, but I feel like this is more of an original story than a real retelling, and to le that made it way more interesting.
The world building is subtle but so magical, and the characters are compelling and complex.
I absolutely loved the main character. She's smart, funny, unapologetic and so relatable.
I'm so glad I got to enjoy this book, I can't Recommend it enough.
Thank you Macmillan audio for this ARC!

Grateful to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC!

Healer Anja is summoned by the king to attend to his daughter Snow, who has been ill and no other healer has been able to figure out what is wrong. King Randolph fears that someone may be poisoning her, which leads him to seek out Healer Anja, who discovers that Snow has been eating apples from the mirror world. Eating food from the other world allows a person to pass in between the two worlds through mirrors, and Anja comes to realize that Snow's illness may be just the beginning of what entities in the mirror world have planned.

This is absolutely delightful! Anja's inner monologue is self deprecating and hilarious. The concept is a very cool twist on Snow White and the story manages to be incredibly spooky and tense without gore. The narrator does a fantastic job.

Really great stand-alone fantasy story - highly recommend!

Fantasy isn’t my go to genre but this was a decent enough book. Writing was good. I appreciate it not being overly complicated and the characters had normal enough names.