Nettle & Bone

Well THAT'S a new favourite. I'm grateful to the book community members who read this before me and, having thought it would be an adventure romp with supernatural animal sidekicks, cautioned future readers it was considerably darker than expected. This braced me for the dark bits and made all the funny bits a delightful surprise. The same humour as A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking shines through, with a strong thread of feminist commentary. 

The heroine's interest in fibre arts is a pleasing bonus, as are certain fairy tale elements refreshed/subverted, and made into something wholly unique.

 I will be keeping a look out for future T Kingfisher (or her other names') works.  If anyone can recommend specific gems in her back catalogue (I'm fairly picky when it comes to fantasy, YA and horror, and don't really go in for romance-forward fantasy/romantasy, which is why I haven't dived head first into her bibliography), let me know! 

⚠️ cannibalism, miscarriage, child death, spousal abuse (verbal, physical), reference to SA