Review of A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

I loved my first T. Kingfisher read. This was dark, sometimes wryly funny, haunting, and intriguing, and the resolutions to the significant dangers at hand required the messy found-family to employ their collective intelligence, creativity, and teamwork.

The knowledge that she was alone and no one could see her—that she could do anything, say anything, think anything and no one would be the wiser—made her feel fierce and wicked and brave.

For some reason this was my first T. Kingfisher (this is Ursula Vernon's pen name) read, and I loved this retelling of the Grimm Brothers' story Goose Girl.

Cordelia is careful not to upset her mother. It's just the two of them, and in their world, her mother rules. She isn't allowed to close a door between them, nor to disagree with her, nor to have a secret or even a friend of her own. The only creature she trusts is her mother's white horse Falada, to whom she tells all of her private thoughts and darkest feelings. But, she finds, to her heartbreak, even Falada is under her mother's control.

When a neighbor in their rural (seemingly English but unspecified) town dies mysteriously, Cordelia's mother insists they leave town in the middle of the night, and she sets her devious sights on bewitching a wealthy squire and sinking her claws into his fortune.

Cordelia is becoming aware of her mother's significant power and reach, and she is terrified senseless. She is made to be magically "obedient" to her mother, and as such she is incapable of warning others.

But the squire's sharp-eyed spinster sister Hester sees how Cordelia shrinks away from her mother and the intense power that the evil woman seems to wield. Hester and her friends--with Cordelia's help--set out to fend off the woman's murderous intentions.

The story is sometimes funny, and it's consistently suspenseful and character-driven. I appreciated that resolutions weren't obvious or easy, that friendship and bonds were key, and that some overlooked, unlikely-seeming characters played key roles in the undoing of the evil at hand.

Allusions were made to Cordelia's potential magic, and I suspected that her dramatic abilities would become apparent in the end and allow for sweeping, possibly violent justice for her mother. But the solution to the complex, deadly, previously unfathomable challenges faced by the household of friends and family required clear thinking, trust, and teamwork above all.

Kingfisher's characters love, but they're never swoony. In an extreme version of keeping a stiff upper lip, they sometimes carry on wryly funny conversations, even in the midst of the quite dark forces threatening them. And the found-family element is a favorite of mine; Kingfisher builds this aspect poignantly, messily, and wonderfully.

This story felt smart, strange, and intriguing.

I can't wait to read more books by this author.

I listened to this novel as an audiobook.

More from this Author

Kingfisher/Vernon is a prolific author who has published many standalone novels as well as multiple series.

For more fantasy novels I've loved, please check out the titles at this link.