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A review by marie_thereadingotter
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I think I was expecting more from this. I kind of wish it was longer. A lot was left unanswered, or glossed over. This did have an ending, but I also wish the ending had been more concrete.
The writing, as to be expected, had this dark whimsy to it that I loved. I think I just wanted to spend more time with the characters.
Edit:
Thinking on this more, I had to lower my rating by quite a lot. It took some time to figure out what was missing from this story for me. Nuance, there is none. Everything is black and white, which isn't the way life is. And not the way Fae are either. The Seelie and Unseelie are both dangerous to humans, but one likes to play "tricks", and the other is more bite-y. The tricks Seelie like to play on humans is turning them into a pig or something, the Unseelie will also turn their unsuspecting victim into a pig, but then trick their family and friends into eating them.
Toadling was a bit too passive for my liking. She had this air about her that was a little too bumbling and "cute" for a story that's marketed as an Adult Fantasy. The romance also didn't work for me, it was cute, but I also didn't care about it. We spend the entire book with Toadling, but I don't feel like I actually know her as a character. And we know even less about Halim, or what he finds so appealing about Toadling. They spend days/hours talking, but I didn't feel like I got to know either of them any better or what they like about each other.
This book didn't feel like a book for adults, aside from some minor gore/violence, this book could be read by people 12 and up. There aren't any heavy themes that kids couldn't grasp.
The writing, as to be expected, had this dark whimsy to it that I loved. I think I just wanted to spend more time with the characters.
Edit:
Thinking on this more, I had to lower my rating by quite a lot. It took some time to figure out what was missing from this story for me. Nuance, there is none. Everything is black and white, which isn't the way life is. And not the way Fae are either. The Seelie and Unseelie are both dangerous to humans, but one likes to play "tricks", and the other is more bite-y. The tricks Seelie like to play on humans is turning them into a pig or something, the Unseelie will also turn their unsuspecting victim into a pig, but then trick their family and friends into eating them.
Toadling was a bit too passive for my liking. She had this air about her that was a little too bumbling and "cute" for a story that's marketed as an Adult Fantasy. The romance also didn't work for me, it was cute, but I also didn't care about it. We spend the entire book with Toadling, but I don't feel like I actually know her as a character. And we know even less about Halim, or what he finds so appealing about Toadling. They spend days/hours talking, but I didn't feel like I got to know either of them any better or what they like about each other.
This book didn't feel like a book for adults, aside from some minor gore/violence, this book could be read by people 12 and up. There aren't any heavy themes that kids couldn't grasp.