Book Review: Thornhedge, a quick fairytale adventure

At only 128 pages long, T. Kingfisher's 'Thornhedge' is not a particularly long book, but what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in content.

When it comes to books this small I am generally cautious. Often it feels as though shorter books rush through their story in an attempt to cram in as much information as possible. I am happy to say I never once felt that this was the case for Thornhedge. T. Kingfisher does an excellent job of telling a quick and concise story that never over, or under stays its welcome.

Thornhedge, follows the character of Toadling. Born a human, toadling was stolen by fairies at birth. Once an adult she was sent back to the human world to offer a blessing to a new born child. The blessing goes awry and Toadling is left trapped in the human world. Hundreds of years later a knight journeys to the land in search of answers to rumours he had heard of a tower, hidden behind walls of brambles, with a cursed princess trapped inside. Desiring to break the curse he comes into confrontation with Toadling who will do anything to keep the curse alive.

While Thornhedge takes clear inspirations from the story of sleeping beauty, it more than separates itself from the original story. The core plot of a princess cursed to sleep eternally is there, but aside from that the story is completely its own.

Toadling is a fun main character, and unravelling the mystery of why it she's so desperate to uphold curse makes for a quick but intriguing mystery. It surprised me to discover just how much I cared for Toadling in such a short timespan. Watching her interact with the human characters around her while understand her direct connection to them causes you to really think about what it is she must be feeling without directly being told do so.

While Toadling is a great character, for me the highlight of the story was the knight Halim. The name Halim means gentle, patient, mild, and understanding, all of which are great words to describe his character. Halim is the youngest of an unimportant noble family. Despite being a knight he is not fond of fighting nor attending tournaments. He is instead a more curious soul who enjoys exploring the world and learning new things. While we only get glimpses of Halim's back story, the type of person he is quickly becomes apparent. T. Kingfisher is skilled at connecting her readers to the characters she has written in such short time frames.

While many of the best parts of this story come from reading the sweet moments of Toadling and Halim interacting with one another, Thornhedge also has genuine moments of horror and tension intermingled into the story. In particular, during the flashbacks of Toadlings life, we see some intense moments of brutality. These moments help add real stakes and tension to the story.

Thornhedge is short, fun, and easy to read. If you're looking for a darker fantasy story that still keeps an over all light tone than T. Kingfishers Thronhedge is certainly one to take a look at.