Action & Adventure
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Nettle & Bone
From Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes an original and subversive fantasy adventure.
*A very special hardcover edition, featuring gold foil stamp on the casing and custom endpapers illustrated by the author.*
This isn't the kind of fairytale where the princess marries a prince.
It's the one where she kills him.
Marra never wanted to be a hero.
As the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter, she escaped the traditional fate of princesses, to be married away for the sake of an uncaring throne. But her sister wasn't so fortunate―and after years of silence, Marra is done watching her suffer at the hands of a powerful and abusive prince.
Seeking help for her rescue mission, Marra is offered the tools she needs, but only if she can complete three seemingly impossible tasks:
―build a dog of bones
―sew a cloak of nettles
―capture moonlight in a jar
But, as is the way in tales of princes and witches, doing the impossible is only the beginning.
Hero or not―now joined by a disgraced ex-knight, a reluctant fairy godmother, an enigmatic gravewitch and her fowl familiar―Marra might finally have the courage to save her sister, and topple a throne.
"Nettle & Bone is the kind of book that immediately feels like an old friend. Fairytale mythic resonance meets homey pragmatism in this utterly delightful story. It's creepy, funny, heartfelt, and full of fantastic characters I absolutely loved!" ―Melissa Caruso, author of The Tethered Mage
*A very special hardcover edition, featuring gold foil stamp on the casing and custom endpapers illustrated by the author.*
This isn't the kind of fairytale where the princess marries a prince.
It's the one where she kills him.
Marra never wanted to be a hero.
As the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter, she escaped the traditional fate of princesses, to be married away for the sake of an uncaring throne. But her sister wasn't so fortunate―and after years of silence, Marra is done watching her suffer at the hands of a powerful and abusive prince.
Seeking help for her rescue mission, Marra is offered the tools she needs, but only if she can complete three seemingly impossible tasks:
―build a dog of bones
―sew a cloak of nettles
―capture moonlight in a jar
But, as is the way in tales of princes and witches, doing the impossible is only the beginning.
Hero or not―now joined by a disgraced ex-knight, a reluctant fairy godmother, an enigmatic gravewitch and her fowl familiar―Marra might finally have the courage to save her sister, and topple a throne.
"Nettle & Bone is the kind of book that immediately feels like an old friend. Fairytale mythic resonance meets homey pragmatism in this utterly delightful story. It's creepy, funny, heartfelt, and full of fantastic characters I absolutely loved!" ―Melissa Caruso, author of The Tethered Mage
Editorial Reviews
"Deeply satisfying and darkly funny feminist fairytale.... At its heart a story of good people doing their best to make the unjust world a fairer place, this marvelous romp will delight Kingfisher's fans and fairytale lovers alike."―Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Blending fairy-tale familiarity and common-sense characters, Kingfisher's prose balances grim circumstances with humor and heart. Readers of Alix E. Harrow's A Spindle Splintered and Melissa Albert's ‘The Hazel Wood' series should pick this up immediately." ―Library Journal, starred review
"Nettle & Bone is full of delights and surprises―and proves that [Kingfisher] has more than a few tricks left up her sleeve."―Locus
"With NETTLE & BONE, T. Kingfisher solidifies her place as natural and inevitable heir to the greats of her genre, while remaining clearly and unquestionably a unique voice in fantasy. This book is a modern classic and belongs alongside The Last Unicorn and Spinning Silver on your shelf."―Seanan McGuire
"This book is so exciting, deeply wise, sad, brutal and compassionate all at once. And beautifully written, with a plot as cunning as fine embroidery. . . . When I finished I could hardly bear to tear myself away from this eerie, vivid world, with its struggling, flawed, wonderful characters."―Catriona Ward, author of Last House on Needless Street
"Nettle & Bone brings Kingfisher's signature honesty and authenticity to a fairy tale setting―the result is refreshing, earnest but not naive, and deeply satisfying. I devoured it. This is one that's going to stay with me for a long time."―Sarah Gailey, author of Magic for Liars
"Nettle & Bone leans into the macabre and evokes the Grimm-est of stories... Highly recommended for fans of fractured fables like Naomi Novik's Uprooted (2015) and Helen Oyeyemi's Gingerbread (2019)." ―Booklist, starred review
"Kingfisher's combination of comedy with feminist rage in a complex fairytale setting makes for a wholly entertaining read." -- Buzzfeed
"Witty, sparkling tale of a heroine's quest, full of matter-of-fact magic, impossible tasks, and a group of fantas...
"Blending fairy-tale familiarity and common-sense characters, Kingfisher's prose balances grim circumstances with humor and heart. Readers of Alix E. Harrow's A Spindle Splintered and Melissa Albert's ‘The Hazel Wood' series should pick this up immediately." ―Library Journal, starred review
"Nettle & Bone is full of delights and surprises―and proves that [Kingfisher] has more than a few tricks left up her sleeve."―Locus
"With NETTLE & BONE, T. Kingfisher solidifies her place as natural and inevitable heir to the greats of her genre, while remaining clearly and unquestionably a unique voice in fantasy. This book is a modern classic and belongs alongside The Last Unicorn and Spinning Silver on your shelf."―Seanan McGuire
"This book is so exciting, deeply wise, sad, brutal and compassionate all at once. And beautifully written, with a plot as cunning as fine embroidery. . . . When I finished I could hardly bear to tear myself away from this eerie, vivid world, with its struggling, flawed, wonderful characters."―Catriona Ward, author of Last House on Needless Street
"Nettle & Bone brings Kingfisher's signature honesty and authenticity to a fairy tale setting―the result is refreshing, earnest but not naive, and deeply satisfying. I devoured it. This is one that's going to stay with me for a long time."―Sarah Gailey, author of Magic for Liars
"Nettle & Bone leans into the macabre and evokes the Grimm-est of stories... Highly recommended for fans of fractured fables like Naomi Novik's Uprooted (2015) and Helen Oyeyemi's Gingerbread (2019)." ―Booklist, starred review
"Kingfisher's combination of comedy with feminist rage in a complex fairytale setting makes for a wholly entertaining read." -- Buzzfeed
"Witty, sparkling tale of a heroine's quest, full of matter-of-fact magic, impossible tasks, and a group of fantas...
Readers Top Reviews
nlondonhousewifeLoki
Really well-written with a story that moves along at good pace. Decent world-building with lots of room for the characters to shine and some really excellent female lead characters and decent friendships.
Becket Hampton Warre
I loved Nettle and Bone. I love the afterword, in which author T. Kingfisher reveals that the bone dog —a creature that the heroine forms from bones and wire and then brings back from death— popped into her head at the grocery store. The best ideas for the best stories must begin in the most prosaic places! I found the novel refreshingly original and odd, perfectly quirky and delightful in every way. The characters were both ordinary and magical, destined to make bold moves and yet reluctant to act (and a bit frumpy), running headlong away from and directly into danger. The band of personalities that accrue throughout the novel and surround the not-very-princessy princess (our heroine) are as remarkable as she is—but all of them are happy to subside into quiet domestic life once the heroics are at an end. It just makes sense: not everyone is destined to occupy center stage. I hope you will give this novel a try. You’ll be glad you did!
Ashbet
Marra — once a princess, not quite a nun — must perform impossible tasks and lead a ragtag pilgrimage on a quest to save her sister. Equal parts grim and heartwarming, T. Kingfisher has given us another amazing and un-put-downable story!
Berni
I hope this is on everyone's award list next year because it sure deserves it. Nettle & Bone is a traditional fairy tale story: a princess, the youngest daughter of three, is assigned three impossible tasks to get her heart's desire. The first two are the title: she sews a cloak of owl cloth and nettles, doing great damage to her hands, and she strings together cursed bones to make a "living" dog (doing further damage to her hands). The third task, catching moonlight in a bowl, is just sort of given to her because her task mistress never expected her to complete the first two impossible tasks. Princess Marra has been sent to a convent as a condition of her brother-in-law, Prince Vorling. He married first her eldest sister, who died in his care before having a child, and then her second sister. Prince Vorling's kingdom is much more powerful and can destroy Marra's kingdom so her family complies with everything he says. The deal is Vorling's first child will inherit his kingdom and the second inherit the one Marra's family has. Vorling doesn't want any competition from a child of Marra's, so to the convent she goes. Those familiar with Kingfisher's (aka Ursula Vernon's) works will recognize and appreciate her distinctive authorial voice. Here are a few examples. "There were very few ghost stories about short, sturdy women." (p. 23) "She had been born a princess, which should have been lucky, but the price for never going hungry was to be caught in a struggle between people too powerful to call to justice." (p. 62) "It was hard to be frightened of the unknown when the unknown kept chickens." (p. 66) The story gets very dark but Marra is a character who always knows who she is and manages to draw others to herself. I think this is a fabulous book.
Cheryl Souza
T. Kingfisher has a knack for creating unique, relatable characters who do extraordinary things matter of factly, then sprinkling in a few unexpected, delightful ones among them. I didn't think anything could top the gnoles, but Bonedog is the best dog ever. This isn't an easily categorizable book. It has princesses and a goblin market and a hero's journey, but it also has domestic violence and real horror, along with a crash course in difficult political calculations. It also meanders a bit and Marra takes her time to develop as a protagonist, but you're in good hands with Kingfisher, who is an intentional and careful writer. I wasn't blown away by this novel. It's not flashy or filled with elevated language. But it's an intensely satisfying read, with characters I learned to care about, doing things that mattered because they were the right things to do, and at the end I was left with a book I cared deeply about.
