A review by morganfiona
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I am generally a huge fan of T Kingfisher, but I believe there were some major oversights in the creation of this book. If it existed in a vacuum, outside of the fae folklore it draws from, I think I would have greatly enjoyed it. However, be ause Kingfisher chose to draw on the stories of changelings for the villain in this book, a world of implications were drawn in too. Changeling lore is inexorably linked to the stories and stereotypes of autistic people, and painting a changeling as an unfeeling villain is not a good look. In the acknowledgements, Kingfisher said she wanted to explore the idea of sleeping beauty from a new perspective. The way in which she did this leaned into a long history of negative perspectives of autistic people, which feels not the least but subversive to me.
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