Thorn by Intisar Khanani

Hunted meets The Wrath and the Dawn in this bold fairytale retelling—where court intrigue, false identities, and dark secrets will thrill fans of classic and contemporary fantasy alike. Princess Alyrra has always longed to escape the confines of her royal life, but when her mother betroths her to a powerful prince in a distant kingdom, she has little hope for a better future. Until Alyrra arrives at her new kingdom, where a mysterious sorceress robs her of both her identity and her role as princess—and Alyrra seizes on the opportunity to start a new life for herself as a goose girl. But as Alyrra uncovers dangerous secrets about her new world, including a threat to the prince himself, she knows she can’t remain silent forever. With the fate of the kingdom at stake, Alyrra is caught between two worlds, and ultimately must decide who she is and what she stands for. Originally self-published as an ebook and now brought to life with completely revised text, Thorn also features an additional short story set in-world, The Bone Knife.

I loved this. I've been in a funk for a few weeks where I couldn't get into any books. I saw this come up on book bub, and even though I prefer to just go for the free books this one sounded worth the $0.99.

I'm glad I bought it. I'm not too familiar with the story of the goose girl but this story warmed my height. It was more about Alyrra finding herself than about a romance with Kestrin. I was honestly worried it would end like most retellings with a rushed romance. Instead this was one I could believe. the characters also had more depth in them than i expected. I felt love and pity for all of them. I want to read more of them, but I feel sequels never do a book justice. If a sequel is made I'd love to see more of Red Hawk, so long as the characters stay true to themselves.

I liked the premise... but it took almost half the book for me to actually like anything. The personality of the princess was very Eeyore like.... but it had a strong finish.

Three words:
Magical. Talking. Horse.

Actual Review:
As I'm sitting there reading this book, I'm trying to figure out why it took me so long to read it. I've heard wonderful stuff about it and - unusually for me - I kind of have to agree.

This is not a fast paced story. And a few times I wanted to shake the main girl and tell her to quit being so darn passive. (More on that later.) But what it is is a cute little tale of a young woman coming into her own and growing to become something more than she was at the start.

The story is about Alyrra, an unwanted princess from a small country that has little to offer suitors. (Both the kingdom and the princess, apparently.) At this book's core is a character driven tale - the plot just churns away quietly in the corner for most of the story. But, make no mistakes, this is Alyrra's story.

She's...a little difficult for me to get used to. She's passive in most ways - though is oddly capable at defending herself if the need arises. She's emotionally reserved and that's why this book being in the first person works so well. Because taking her natural reservations into account plus the distance that a third person point-of-view usually causes, there would have been no way to get attached to Alyrra. As it is, I found myself liking her almost from the start.

Even if I did want to shake her from time to time. But that's only because I like my girls to be a little more...gung ho. Determined. Stubborn. Pushy. Alyrra is not. She's the one getting pushed around and that made liking her at times not the easiest thing in the world for me.

Also, I have to add, she's been abused. There's only a couple moments on page where you get to see her abuser and her together, but there's really a creepy feel. My main reason for mentioning this is because it's not forgotten. Once Alyrra get's out of reach of her abuser, she doesn't just magically heal.

It takes her time to trust certain people - especially people that are a little more volatile and/or remind her in some way of her abuser. I like this. I like that time is taken to let Alyrra heal at her own pace and come to trust people as she will.

I liked the romance but, don't think that is the point of this story because, while it is there, this is completely about Alyrra's growth as a person.

(Originally posted on my blog: pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com)