My Five Word TL:DR Review: This Author is My Catnip

I simply cannot resist T Kingfisher, I love her writing and she creates such great characters that you really relate to and Hemlock & Silver is no exception.

Let me count the ways in which I couldn’t resist:

Author – oh hell yes

Description – you had me at ‘a dark reimagining of “Snow White” ‘

Writing – beautiful as always

Anja – the central character.  She clearly hasn’t heard of the saying ‘curiosity killed the cat’ because her inquisitiveness is off the charts.  I love her character, she’s always questioning and she doesn’t balk at taking risks.

So, this is a dark reimagining of Snow White that has a strange and captivating Alice Through the Looking Glass feel  (even a, sometimes helpful, other times not so much, cat).  I can’t/won’t say more.  In terms of the original fairytale and the elements that shine through here. well there are poisonous elements, apples, mirrors, a Queen hellbent on achieving her goals and a touch of Kingfisher-style romance.

As the story begins Anja is visited by the King himself, desperate to find help for his daughter who appears to be slowly dying.  Surely she is being poisoned and Anja, following her years of study, does seem like the perfect person to investigate what’s actually going on. Of course, as soon as the would-be poisoner discovers Anja’s purpose she herself will become a target – which is why two guard’s are assigned to look after her at all times.

It seems however that nothing is quite as it seems and this is no simple poisoning.  Anja and one of the guards (who definitely becomes a friend and eventually something more) discover a whole new world and as a result find themselves in a good deal of danger.

I really enjoyed this.  It was a quick read and full of Kingfisher’s signature dark twists and intoxicating writing.  I have my fingers and toes crossed for more fairytale reimaginings in the not so distant future.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 4 of 5 stars.