 | |
| Author | T. Kingfisher |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Tor Books, Titan Publishing Group (UK) |
Publication date | 26 Apr 2022 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 272 |
| ISBN | 978-1-250-24403-1 |
Nettle & Bone is a 2022 fantasy novel by Ursula Vernon, writing as T. Kingfisher. The novel has been described as a dark fairy tale. It won the 2023 Hugo Award for Best Novel and was nominated for the 2023 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, and the Nebula Award for Best Novel of 2022.
Marra is the youngest of three princesses. Her eldest sister Damia marries Prince Vorling, but dies several months later. Kania, the middle sister, then marries Vorling. Marra is sent to a convent.
Kania's daughter dies. At the funeral, she tells Marra that Vorling is abusing her. Marra decides to leave the convent and save her sister.
Marra seeks help from a dust-wife, who gives her three seemingly impossible tasks: weave a cloak from nettles, make a dog from bones, and catch moonlight in a jar. After Marra completes the tasks, the dust-witch agrees to help her kill Vorling. Along with a demon-possessed chicken, the pair journey to Vorling's kingdom.
Along the way, they rescue a knight named Fenris from a goblin market. They also recruit Agnes, Marra's fairy godmother. Agnes is a well-meaning godmother who is much better at giving curses than blessings. Agnes takes Marra to meet with Vorling's fairy godmother. The godmother is bound to Vorling's family due to a curse from a long-dead king. Marra and her friends break the curse, allowing the old godmother to die peacefully.
Kania gives birth to a healthy baby boy. At the christening, Agnes claims the role of godmother. She curses the baby to grow up fatherless. Fenris kills Vorling. Kania becomes queen regent. Marra and Fenris fall in love and leave Kania's kingdom together.
At Tor.com, Martin Cahill observes that Kingfisher "doesn't shrink or hide from how often fairy tales brutalize young women, how so many stories take their agency, their bodies, and their will for use and abuse by kingdoms and kings alike." Marra's two older sisters are married to an abusive prince, and her mother is helpless to stop him. Marra knows that if her sister dies in childbirth, she will likely be forced to marry him as well. Marra gathers a group of comrades "to end her sister's abuse". In this way, Cahill states that Kingfisher argues "no monster is completely untouchable". [1]
Christina Ladd of Strange Horizons considered that Nettle & Bone is a book about abuse and trauma. Kingfisher explores the concept of utilitarianism; Marra's mother knows that Kania is being abused, but chooses to place the safety of her whole kingdom over that of her daughter. Marra rejects this utilitarian argument by choosing to save her sister. Kingfisher repeats the motif of difficult choices throughout the story. For example, Marra has to make a choice between allowing Fenris to be tortured and saving the rest of the group; Agnes has to make choices between "bad and worse" blessings. This acknowledgement that compromises are necessary "implies gently that maybe we can understand the kinds of calculations Marra’s mother and sister have been making". The same review also praised the way in which Kingfisher uses humor to contrast with the darkness of the plot. Ladd writes that "the thing that nobody tells you about trauma is that it's hilarious", drawing references to the work of philosopher Theodor Adorno. Ladd states that the novel "holds everything in tension and never lets the complexity collapse into something trite or grim." [2]
According to the Chicago Review of Books , the novel explores the idea of the hero's journey as something that is taken under duress. Marra's parents and the convent both have the ability to intervene against Vorling, but refuse to do so. Thus, the task belongs to Marra and the dust-wife, two "grouchy older women who have determinedly set out to right wrongs". [3]
Caitlyn Paxson, writing for National Public Radio, noted that Kingfisher draws tropes from a variety of different fairy tales (including Bluebeard , The Six Swans , and Goblin Market ), rather than sticking closely to one particular template. [4]
The story is told in a non-linear fashion. The opening scene of the novel involves Marra crafting the bone dog, and the narrative then returns to explain how she arrived there. [4]
The characters and world of Nettle & Bone were first introduced in "Godmother", an earlier short story by T. Kingfisher. [5]
Writing for Paste, Lacy Baugher Milas called the novel "a sharp, less-than-three-hundred-page novel that packs the emotional punch of an epic three times its length". She positively compared the novel to the works of Peter S. Beagle for their combination of bleakness and beauty. In Baugher's opinion, Nettle & Bone "threads the thin line between humor, horror, and heart in order to create something that feels both fresh and utterly necessary." [6] Publishers Weekly gave the novel a starred review, stating that it handled tricky subjects such as domestic violence "with great compassion and care". The same review called the story a "marvelous romp" and "a story of good people doing their best to make the unjust world a fairer place". [7] A review for Tor.com praised the dynamic characters and complex worldbuilding, calling it "a rose of a book with thorns running throughout ... [recommended] no matter what kind of reader you are". [1]
The Chicago Review of Books praised the novel for its darkness and its re-interpretation of classic fairy tale tropes. [3] A review in Grimdark Magazine praised the "twisted mix of morbid horror and sweet delight" as well as the novel's ensemble cast, giving the book 4 out of 5 stars. [5]
Liz Bourke of Locus Magazine praised the "excellently bizarre worldbuilding", writing that Kingfisher's work reminded her of Terry Pratchett "at his best". [8] Caitlyn Paxton of NPR praised the novel for its use of two older female protagonists, Marra and the dust-wife. She notes that she was not engaged by the non-linear structure of the opening chapter, but praised the remainder of the novel and its subversion of standard fairy tale tropes. [4]
The novel won the 2023 Hugo Award for Best Novel. [9] It was a finalist for the 2023 Nebula Award for Best Novel [10] and the 2023 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. [11]
"Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world. The protagonist is a young girl living in forsaken circumstances who is suddenly blessed by remarkable fortune, with her ascension to the throne via marriage. The story of Rhodopis, recounted by the Greek geographer Strabo sometime between 7 BC and AD 23, about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt, is usually considered to be the earliest known variant of the Cinderella story.
Terri Windling is an American editor, artist, essayist, and the author of books for both children and adults. She has won nine World Fantasy Awards, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and the Bram Stoker Award, and her collection The Armless Maiden appeared on the short-list for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award.
Holly Black is an American writer and editor best known for her children's and young adult fiction. Her most recent work is the New York Times bestselling young adult Folk of the Air series. She is also well known for The Spiderwick Chronicles, a series of children's fantasy books she created with writer and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi, and her debut trilogy of young adult novels officially called the Modern Faerie Tales. Black has won a Lodestar Award, a Nebula Award, and a Newbery Honor.
Ursula Vernon is an American freelance writer, artist and illustrator. She has won numerous awards for her work in various mediums, including Hugo Awards for her graphic novel Digger, fantasy novel Nettle & Bone, and fantasy novel Thornhedge, the Nebula Award for her short story "Jackalope Wives", and Mythopoeic Awards for adult and children's literature. Vernon's books for children include Hamster Princess and Dragonbreath. Under the name T. Kingfisher, she is also the author of books for older audiences. She writes short fiction under both names.
Theodora Goss is a Hungarian American fiction writer and poet. Her writing has been nominated for major awards, including the Nebula, Locus, Mythopoeic, World Fantasy, and Seiun Awards. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Year's Best volumes.
Angela Slatter is a writer based in Brisbane, Australia. Primarily working in the field of speculative fiction, she has focused on short stories since deciding to pursue writing in 2005, when she undertook a Graduate Diploma in Creative Writing. Since then she has written a number of short stories, many of which were included in her two compilations, Sourdough and Other Stories (2010) and The Girl With No Hands and other tales (2010).
Genevieve Valentine is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. Her first novel, Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, won the Crawford Award for a first fantasy novel, and was shortlisted for the Nebula.
Claire Suzanne Elizabeth Cooney is an American writer of fantasy literature. She is best known for her fantasy poetry and short stories and has won the Rhysling Award for her poem "The Sea King's Second Bride" in 2011 and the World Fantasy Award—Collection for her collection Bone Swans in 2016.
Wonders of the Invisible World is a collection of fantasy short stories by Patricia A. McKillip. It was first published in trade paperback and ebook by Tachyon Publications in October 2012. The title of both the collection and the first story in it derive from the 1693 book of the same title by Cotton Mather.
Kingfisher is a fantasy novel by Patricia A. McKillip. It was first published in hardcover and ebook by Ace Books in February 2016. The first British edition was published in ebook by Gateway/Orion in June 2017.
Godmothered is a 2020 American fantasy comedy film directed by Sharon Maguire, written by Kari Granlund and Melissa Stack, and starring Jillian Bell and Isla Fisher. The Walt Disney Company first began developing the film in September 2019, with Maguire joining the production as director later that month. Principal photography began in January 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, The Montecito Picture Company and Secret Machine Entertainment, it was released on Disney+ on December 4, 2020. The film received mixed reviews from critics.
Mari Ness is an American poet, author, and critic. She has multiple publications in various science fiction and fantasy magazines and anthologies. Her work has been published in Apex Magazine, Clarkesworld, Daily Science Fiction, Fantasy Magazine, Fireside Magazine, Lightspeed, Nightmare Magazine, Strange Horizons, Tor.com, and Uncanny Magazine. In Locus, Paula Guran said of The Girl and the House that Ness: "subverts and glorifies the clichés and tropes of every gothic novel ever written, in less than 1,800 words"
The Tide Child trilogy is a series of fantasy novels by R. J. Barker. It comprises The Bone Ships (2019), Call of the Bone Ships (2020), and The Bone Ship's Wake (2021). The first book in the trilogy won the 2020 British Fantasy Award for Best Novel.
Black Water Sister is a 2021 fantasy novel by Zen Cho. It focuses on Jessamyn Teoh, a closeted lesbian who moves from the United States to her birth country of Malaysia. In Malaysia, she meets the ghost of her deceased grandmother and becomes involved in a conflict related to a local deity. The book received critical praise, and was nominated for the 2022 Ignyte Award, Locus Award for Best Novel, and World Fantasy Award.
Little Eve is a 2018 gothic horror novel by Catriona Ward, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Tread of Angels is a 2022 fantasy novella by Rebecca Roanhorse. It is a murder mystery set in a fictional Old West town which is inhabited by the descendants of both angels and demons.
Fractured Fables is a series of fantasy novellas written by Alix E. Harrow. The series currently comprises two novellas: A Spindle Splintered (2021) and A Mirror Mended (2022). The series explores fairy tales from a modernist and feminist perspective. Both novellas have received critical acclaim.
A House with Good Bones is a 2023 Southern Gothic horror novel by Ursula Vernon, writing under the pen name T. Kingfisher. The novel centers on Samantha Montgomery, a woman who experiences strange events when she returns to her ancestral North Carolina home.
Thornhedge is a 2023 novella by Ursula Vernon, writing under the pen name T. Kingfisher. The novella is a reimagining of the story of Sleeping Beauty. It won the 2024 Hugo Award for Best Novella.
What Moves the Dead is a 2022 horror novella by Ursula Vernon, writing under the pen name T. Kingfisher. It is based on the short story The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe. The novella received critical acclaim, including a win for the 2023 Locus Award for Best Horror Novel and a nomination for the 2023 Hugo Award for Best Novella.