This is an adult fantasy novel — all the characters are over 30 — but it reads like the fantasy novels I devoured when I was a teen, in the days of yore before YA was a thing. It reminds me of the series of fairytale retellings edited by Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow in the 1980s and 90s (which set the standard for this fantasy sub-genre), only rather than cleaving closely to one specific fairytale as a template, Nettle & Bone treats its source material like a buffet ... The beauty of it all is that even while paying homage to the tropes I know and love from growing up on a steady diet of Brothers Grimm, English balladry, and French literary fairytales, Nettle & Bone carefully subverts them as well ... As much as I loved Nettle & Bone, I did have a little trouble getting immersed in the opening chapter ... rounds up all the secondary (and let's face it, more interesting) characters of fantasy lore and gives them the chance to save the day on their own terms. I have no doubt I will return to it often when I'm in the mood for a fractured fariytale.
The author’s métier is at play in creating a humorous tone to explore the magic and its effects. Humor is thus produced as a calculated move between surprise at and acceptance of this world, which only takes place due to a tension between the minority cultures and the so-called hegemonic normal ... I found it appropriate that the narrative also depicts, in unflattering but generous detail, the tyrant as expressing himself through threats and tantrums, the witch as a benevolent grouch, even the fairy godmother as being a kind old woman who sometimes bestows murderous curses. These details are not so much inversions or subversions of the archetypes, as much as they are interpretations. Fairy tales are vastly malleable, and it must be remembered that the violence and transgression inherent in fairy tales has too often been sanitized for our consumption. I interpret Nettle & Bone’s fairy tale as a narrative about magic that is extraneous, present but absolutely insignificant without the human intention and action to produce the effect. As such, it’s T. Kingfisher’s characters and their motivations that take the stage; without their decisions and motivations, nothing really can happen ... And while the characters are sometimes too kind and too naïve, and the climax is a little too easily accomplished, much in the manner of most adventure narratives—I was enamored by Nettle & Bone because it allowed its characters to be contradictory. I could easily ignore its tendency to repeat its punchlines or reduce the nature of malevolent evil as it made room for the necessity of action.
... clever and bold-hearted ... Marra's hard-fought journey from third-string princess to hero will delight fantasy readers. Kingfisher's signature offbeat humor remains as entertaining as ever, and her treatment of domestic abuse is filled with compassion and dignity. This rollicking feminist fairy tale is filled with redemption, community and courage, its dark passages the road to a satisfyingly uplifting endgame.
Kingfisher, as many of us know, is the open pen name of Ursula Vernon. Vernon is an award-winning author under both names, and her novels and stories as Kingfisher are united by their combination of pragmatism among characters and peculiarity in worldbuilding, with a strong sense of humour and a definite impression that, given a choice between several options, Kingfisher will choose the one most likely to turn out weird ... Nettle & Bone shares this combination of the peculiar and the pragmatic. Like many of Kingfisher’s novels, it draws on fairytale elements in its worldbuilding; like most of them, it’s strongly concerned, in its own way, with ethics, with power, and with what you do in response to cruelty ... The inevitable romantic arc develops naturally, believably, with Kingfisher’s usual sense of humour and attention to the absurd ... Humour is, I think, the most difficult of all the arts, particularly when you’re balancing the humorous with the truly serious. With its subject matter and themes, Nettle & Bone would be a grim novel without Kingfisher’s light touch ... Kingfisher’s humour gentles the harder edges, and Marra’s pragmatism and unassailable – if not unflinching – determination damn well earns a happy ending ... Nettle & Bone has excellently bizarre worldbuilding ... As with so much else of Kingfisher’s work, the more I read of Nettle & Bone, the more I loved it. I recommend it highly.
A dark, feminist fantasy ... While Nettle & Bone is undeniably dark and sinister at times, Kingfisher balances the horror with well-placed levity ... The more comedic characters allow readers to find comfort amid the larger, darker scope of the novel, bright spots in a world that can often feel hopeless ... Kingfisher is an inventive fantasy powerhouse, and Nettle & Bone represents the burgeoning 'hopepunk' ethos at its finest, with its winsome characters and focus on their fight to make the world a better place.
[A] deeply satisfying and darkly funny feminist fairy tale ... The plot snaps along as quickly as a good joke, and beneath the whimsy, there’s an underlying sympathy and sincerity that enables Kingfisher to handle tricky issues like domestic violence with great compassion and care. At its heart a story of good people doing their best to make the unjust world a fairer place, this marvelous romp will delight Kingfisher’s fans and fairy tale lovers alike.
