Thornhedge, by T. Kingfisher. Tor Books, 2023

Shades of fractured fairy tales! Kingfisher has taken the tale of the sleeping maiden in the tower, surrounded by brambles and briar roses, and humanized – albeit by using a not entirely human protagonist.

When a baby is born to the ruler of a tiny backwater kingdom, a fairy steps in. Within minutes of the birth, when the baby is left unattended while the servants looked after the queen, a switch is made. A fairy is left to be raised as a princess, while the human baby is given to some fairies that live in the brackish waters of the lake to raise. They give her some magical abilities, including the ability to transform into a toad, hence her name: Toadling. And, unexpectedly, they, the lowest of the low fairies, love her. She grows up feeling secure and safe.

The princess is a beautiful child, and much is forgiven her. But she drives her family and most of the servants to suicide. Finally, Toadling is called on to use her magic on the princess, and is supposed to recite a spell over the child. But nervous Toadling screws it up, and the child becomes monsterous. It’s sort of a “you had one job…” situations.

Then a curious knight appears. Halim is not your average knight; he’s educated and does not like blood shed. Thus begins an odd relationship between the supposed evil enchantress and the savior knight, and things don’t go as fairy tale readers expect.

I loved Toadling and Halim. Halim is not the average fairy tale knight; he’s curious and has read history, and he just wants to know what’s going on, and make things right, if possible. He treats Toadling with respect and courtesy, and she responds with trust. The climax was rather unexpected. What happened seemed out of character for the two, but it did not seem totally out of line for the story itself; the world of the story is a little grim and this fits right into that. This is a novella, so it comes in at only a little over 100 pages, and reads fast, too; it could easily be done in one afternoon. Four and a half stars.