A review by sproutedpages
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

adventurous dark emotional tense 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? Yes

4.0

A Sorceress Comes to Call is a Regency era reimagining of The Goose Girl, originally written by Dorothea Viehmann and collected by the Brothers Grimm. Rather than centering on a naive princess taken advantage of by her mother’s waiting maid (as in the original story), A Sorceress Comes to Call explores distorted parental authority and warped expectations of children’s obedience and subservience, through use of the source fairytale’s themes.

This novel is highly character driven, and details the myriad of abuses that Cordelia, the protagonist, endures (and sees enacted on others) at the hands of her mother, Evangeline. The cast that eventually surrounds Cordelia and Evangeline are so charming despite this, and their characterization is really well written— even the tertiary characters, like Master Strauss (who has a fixation on horses).

T. Kingfisher’s talent for writing macabre fantasy is obviously well-suited to reimagining fairytales like those collected by the Brothers Grimm, and A Sorceress Comes to Call reflects this. In narrative voice and tone, this novel resides somewhere between A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking and Nettle & Bone, two of T. Kingfisher’s other novels (and I will say that, in this regard, I still favor her novella Thornhedge).

Thank you so much to T. Kingfisher, Tor Books, and NetGalley for providing me with this uncorrected digital galley! All opinions within this review are voluntarily given and entirely my own. A Sorceress Comes to Call releases August 6th, 2024! 
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