Dark Fantasy Horror Comedy: Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

 

I'm continuing my Hugo reading with the next nominee: Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher!

At first I thought Nettle & Bone might be an entry in the genre of "modern retellings of fairy tales." But it is not that. Not really. (If you like that sort of thing, that's great, but it's not my personal cup of tea). Rather, Nettle & Bone is something much weirder and more fun, which shouldn't have been a surprise from T. Kingfisher.

Our protagonist is a nun. Of sorts. She lives in a convent for a religion around Our Lady of Grackles. We don't learn a lot of details about this religion, but our protagonist spends most of her time in gardening and midwifery, which does tell us something about the religion. There's also a strong theme about the joys and horrors of pregnancy, and the struggles of women in patriarchal societies.

Anyway, our protagonist been sent to the convent because she's the youngest princess and they don't want her to get in the way of anyone's claims to any positions of power. Later she learns, however, that her sister, the older princess, is married to an abusive psychopath of a prince. So, she sets out to kill her sister's husband, which is Serious Business, but it's also kind of funny. Because, that's just the kind of book this is. I'm tempted to call this dark fantasy horror comedy. 

There's also something called a bone-wife (sort of a friendly necromancer), magical godmothers, and an undead bone dog. And a lovable barbarian with rippling muscles and moral clarity about what must be done. Once you get the main group together, it's hard not to love them all.

The novel is very much secondary world fantasy, and I really love Kingfisher's world building. I especially love the idea of a dust-wife and hope to see more about the dust-wives and this world more generally.

Are they right to try to kill the prince? Does he deserve it? Who's to say? Does the plot amount to a revenge fantasy? Maybe. Is that satisfying here in our world where abusive psychopaths tend not to get their comeuppance, but rather seem to rule our world, too?

Make no mistake. There is a serious and deep core to this book. But also plenty of whimsy. If only the horrors of the real world could be this fun.

See also my Goodreads review.