Published by: Tor Books
Pub Date: 15 Aug 2023
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 128
Date Read: 11 Feb 2023
A few years ago I started reading adult fairy tales like “Uprooted” and “Spinning Silver” both by Naomi Novik, and fell into a black hole of where I couldn’t find books that had a similar feel. Then I started reading T. Kingfisher and have been following her stuff like a weird devotee. In all of her works you can’t help but like the characters. I’m speaking too broadly and not drilling down on this particular book, but it still applies.
If I could meet the greenteeths and not be eaten by them, I think I would. The sense of family Toadling got from them was like a warm hug to me.
The Goddess – this year is really the year of the rabbit. So many fantasy books like “The Magician’s Daughter” by H.G. Parry and this one features a magical rabbit. I realize two doesn’t really equal a lot, but I stand by what I’m saying, and anyways I like talking rabbits. The Goddess however, like she says, “We are made of cruelty and kindness both.”
Toadling and Halim were both relatable characters. I loved them both, but especially Halim. I loved his dedication to doing the right thing and the descriptions of his mother. How she would expect him to behave and how she would care for Toadling if he brought her back with him. There’s an earnestness and wit to him, “…a knife that my mother’s imam said duas over and also I had it blessed by the Benedictine monk who ran the library, so between the two of them, it ought to be quite holy by now. I couldn’t find a rabbi. Well, I did, but he wanted to come along because he’d never met a fairy, and I thought you wouldn’t like that.”
Toadling was such a lonesome creature before Halim came along. I could feel her grief at being the last sentinel, and was happy with the speed with which she made Halim a friend.
The one problem I have with T. Kingfisher novels is that I have such a book hangover once they’re done, and this particular story was just a little over hundred pages, so it lasted me only a day. I’m now stuck to opening many books on my ereader and not committing to any.
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Another quote, this one made me laugh out loud.
Chapter 6 — Page: 65
“Not that he’d have died,” she had muttered, “but I was like to throttle him if he did not stop his whining.”
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Other books read by this author:
Thornhedge A House With Good Bones Nettle and Bone What Moves the Dead