BookBrowse Reviews A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

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The daughter of an evil sorceress finds reason to hope for a new life when her scheming mother chooses the wrong targets for her latest predatory plot.

T. Kingfisher is a grand maestra of dark fantasy fiction, an incredibly prolific author who seems to have never met a fairy tale or classic gothic tale she didn't want to joyfully turn on its head. Perhaps that's an unfair description. What Kingfisher delights in is pulling down beautiful castles and doing away with delicate princesses to reveal the less pleasant truths hiding within the stories we tell our little ones at bedtime. Such is the case with A Sorceress Comes to Call, her deliciously dark retelling of an already very dark Grimm fairy tale, "The Goose Girl" (see Beyond the Book).

A large part of Kingfisher's appeal is her ability to eschew the obvious choices when she adapts existing source material. Where other authors might lean into unlikely romantic entanglements or simply swap the genders of main characters, she brings the barely explored magical elements of the original story to the forefront, making power and how it is wielded a major component of the narrative and transforming previously benign characters into terrifying villains. She also explores the complex relationships between women, particularly mothers and daughters, as they struggle for autonomy and personal fulfillment in a world that would prefer they stick to having babies and keeping house while the men do the heavy lifting.

In Kingfisher's grittier story, the loving queen sending her daughter off to be married is replaced by the sorceress Evangeline, a diabolical narcissist who uses her magical abilities to ensorcell lovers and steal their money while keeping her daughter Cordelia a virtual prisoner in their dilapidated farmhouse. The gentle talking horse who protects the princess in the Grimm tale becomes Evangeline's horrifying familiar, a conduit of her power and a spy who informs on Cordelia's every move. When her latest "patron" proves less than generous, Evangeline takes murderous revenge and quickly sets her sights on an aging squire with an impressive fortune and no wife. But the squire's whip-smart sister Hester, occupied as she is with raising unusually intelligent geese and putting off the proposals of a long-time suitor, has no intention of allowing a scheming fortune hunter to steal away her brother.

Though they go about attaining it in different ways, each of these characters wants the same thing: agency. They're very aware that any attempt at asserting independence will label them as troublemakers at best and at worst see them flung out of society altogether. Evangeline uses this to her advantage, spinning her spells and beguiling with her beauty, creating the illusion of subservience while wielding power her victims don't even realize she possesses. Hester, who has the advantages of both station and fortune, embraces the role of defiant eccentric because she can, seeming to enjoy scandalizing everyone around her as she bucks convention with her views on women's independence and education beyond learning how to pour tea. Cordelia, who has never been allowed opinions or freedom of any kind, clings to the notion that if she can just behave exactly as she's told, she will someday earn the love and acceptance she burns for. What Kingfisher does to amazing effect is to make us sympathize with all of these characters at different points in the story, even if we are appalled by the lengths they'll go to in order to achieve their goals.

Though she might play a bit fast and loose with her source material (never fear: the geese do put in an impressive climactic appearance), Kingfisher has spun a marvelous fable that blends the best of traditional fairy tales with her characteristic witty dialogue, just a touch of tongue-in-cheek humor and, of course, a generous helping of grand guignol horror that will have readers reaching for their smelling salts. Longtime fans, of which this reviewer is one, will fall even further under Kingfisher's spell and dark fantasy lovers yet to discover her are in for a genuine delight.

This review first ran in the August 21, 2024 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.

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