The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! đ
axel_p's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This whas absolutely adorable.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Islamophobia, Xenophobia, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Kidnapping, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Suicide, and War
samburkhouse's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Suicide
Moderate: Kidnapping, Abandonment, and Confinement
Minor: Grief and Injury/Injury detail
sebrittainclark's review
dark
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A wonderful reimaging of Sleeping Beauty begins when a baby is replaced by a changeling and grows up in Faerie with her Fae family instead of her human family. It was a great, quick read, but I did find the first half a little upsetting as it really dove into the idea of what would happen to the baby who was stolen to be replace by the changeling.Â
I thought the narrator dig a great job brining Toadling's voice to life.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I thought the narrator dig a great job brining Toadling's voice to life.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Kidnapping
directorpurry's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Child death, Confinement, and Blood
Moderate: Suicide and Kidnapping
uranaishi's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Physical abuse, and Classism
Minor: Pregnancy, Child death, Murder, Animal cruelty, Blood, Cursing, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Animal death, and Religious bigotry
misterwisp's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It feels like a true faerie tale. The way the characters and world are written are very evocative of an old time folktale or faerie tale. The book presents itself as a subversion of the usual fairy tale tropes/cliches which it is, but for all that it does not play out in a predictable or expected way. It's not just a reverse of the usual patterns. It's somehow melancholy and sad yet hopeful at the same time. The characters are written really well and the story unfolds as a series of glimpses from the past in between current events unfolding. It's subtle and beautiful and a great read. Haunting and good. Worth giving a try.Â
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Kidnapping, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal cruelty
crownoflaurel's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder and Kidnapping
Minor: Abandonment, Confinement, Suicide, and Violence
tigger89's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This novella was dark, but at the same time cute(in a muddy, squishy sort of way) and occasionally funny. I couldn't help but root for Toadling, who was trying her best while everything was so impossibly hard. I also loved the character of Halim, who was in turns funny, caring, and somber. Something I appreciated was that there was no explicit romance on the page, though you could certainly read something into the Halim-Toadling interactions if you were so inclined.
While the story is dark, I wouldn't classify it as a horror story. Perhaps there's some horror in the story of the changeling, but it mostly hit me as sad and inevitable rather than scary. Horror is so deeply individual though, and I could see someone being very unsettled by the situation, especially if they have children.
The biggest strength of the story was undoubtedly the characters. The plot itself was average. I have no complaints about the Sleeping Beauty retelling, but it was nothing mindblowingly original. Plot-wise, I'd give this a solid 4 as far as fairy tale retellings-with-a-twist go, but I have to give it another star for how delightful the characters were. I actually really want a sequel with Toadling, but unfortunately I feel like this is going to be a one-off. I'll just have to settle for whatever else T. Kingfisher writes!
While the story is dark, I wouldn't classify it as a horror story. Perhaps there's some horror in the story of the changeling, but it mostly hit me as sad and inevitable rather than scary. Horror is so deeply individual though, and I could see someone being very unsettled by the situation, especially if they have children.
The biggest strength of the story was undoubtedly the characters. The plot itself was average. I have no complaints about the Sleeping Beauty retelling, but it was nothing mindblowingly original. Plot-wise, I'd give this a solid 4 as far as fairy tale retellings-with-a-twist go, but I have to give it another star for how delightful the characters were. I actually really want a sequel with Toadling, but unfortunately I feel like this is going to be a one-off. I'll just have to settle for whatever else T. Kingfisher writes!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Cursing, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Kidnapping and Murder
booksthatburn's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
THORNHEDGE is a Sleeping Beauty retelling which recasts the sleeper as someone best never woken: a faerie changeling whose confusion at the human world and disregard for other lives turns her into someone who can only be contained in sleep or stopped forever in death. The sleeper is constrained and contained by Toadling, the once-human girl who was stolen from her cradle and replaced by that very same changeling.
I like this as a take on Sleeping Beauty, but it plays the idea of changelings straight, not engaging with the historical links between âchangelingâ children and autism (or other ways of being ostracized for being strange). In that light, featuring a child so unable to learn social rules that she must be kept or killed becomes a more fraught narrative, one that makes the story harder to enjoy. I like Toadling and Halim, but because of how the backstory is told first as memories then as stories to Halim, I remain unsure just how much Toadling told him of what had happened. I appreciate Halim as an idea of a character, but as a novella there wasnât really room to flesh out that many significant characters and Toadling received most of the detail (to Halimâs detriment). The time dilation between the human world and Faerie allows for a couple of cool narrative moments. Ultimately this is a book I would neither recommend nor dissuade someone from reading.Â
I like this as a take on Sleeping Beauty, but it plays the idea of changelings straight, not engaging with the historical links between âchangelingâ children and autism (or other ways of being ostracized for being strange). In that light, featuring a child so unable to learn social rules that she must be kept or killed becomes a more fraught narrative, one that makes the story harder to enjoy. I like Toadling and Halim, but because of how the backstory is told first as memories then as stories to Halim, I remain unsure just how much Toadling told him of what had happened. I appreciate Halim as an idea of a character, but as a novella there wasnât really room to flesh out that many significant characters and Toadling received most of the detail (to Halimâs detriment). The time dilation between the human world and Faerie allows for a couple of cool narrative moments. Ultimately this is a book I would neither recommend nor dissuade someone from reading.Â
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Murder, Animal cruelty, and Child death
Minor: Self harm, Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, Torture, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Suicide, and Death of parent
bluejayreads's review against another edition
4.5
A fascinating, slightly weird, and overall wildly creative retelling of the Sleeping Beauty myth where the princess was put to sleep for a very good reason and the wicked fairy who did it was barely more than a child herself (and arguably not even a fairy). Despite being several hundred years old at the opening of the story, Toadling was a curious mix of child-like and ancient. She may be able to turn into a toad at will, but I found the most fey thing about her was her nebulous place between young and old. She was engaging and I loved her. The story is told in a straightforward, bare-bones fairy tale style. Details are enough to sketch the world and the plot vividly enough to keep me hooked, but there is no flowery language or dwelling on feelings or reflecting on whether the happenings are right or wrong. Things just are what they are. Despite being a dark and somewhat twisted version of the story we know, it never felt excessively dark and retained a magical fairy-tale feel. I'm having a really hard time putting the mood of this story into words, but it's very good. And if you really want to understand what I'm trying to say, it's very short - just go read it for yourself.Â
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Child death, Body horror, and Kidnapping
Minor: Blood