I stumbled upon this book quite randomly and was drawn in because of its lovely cover (am always a sucker for a nice cover) and since I have been watching a few German Brothers Grimm adaptations lately, I was eager to give this reinterpretation a go.
Boy was I glad I did. I LOVED every second of it. This is an out-and-out page turner that I could not put down. Thorn is written in first person perspective which is never my favourite tense as it all hinges on how likeable the narrator is. Get an obnoxious or unbalanced narrator and book enjoyment is all over, red rover. Luckily, Alyrra is quite likable despite starting out quite passive and mousey. In her coming of age of sorts, she slowly finds her feet and voice.
You definitely don't need to know the story of 'The Goose Girl' before reading this novel as I wasn't familiar with this story at all. Thorn is set in a vaguely middle eastern fantasy world where the magic is very naturalistic and at times understated, but easy to follow. Alyrra, the heroine lives a very lonely life, tormented by her brother and shunned and unloved by her mother. When a king of a much larger kingdom comes proposing marriage to his son Prince Krestin, she has no choice but to accept the forced marriage as a political alliance between the two kingdoms. It is on her way to Menaiya that she is betrayed and is taken hostage by a terrible curse, losing both her body in a switcharoo to her frenemy and companion Valka and the ability to fight for it back. Behind Valka is the infinitely more dangerous 'Lady' who is bent on royal revenge.
Alyrra aka Thoreena aka Thorn eventually blooms in Menaiya as a goose girl in the fields, gaining a freedom and friendships she could never have imagined or received as a royal. I loved her cat and mouse battles with Kestrin, who suspects his betrothed is not the gem he believed she was, and that this dirty goose girl is far worth more than the pittance she works for. Theirs is not a straight out bickering romance as it is a journey laced with lies, betrayal and secrets that both repulses and draws them to each other. I love where it takes them, to the deepest, darkest depths of the heart and how they emerge at the end, with their 'kinda happy ending' but not without emotional scars which need time and each other to eventually heal.
The characters in the book are memorable, no matter how fleeting or full their role was and felt fleshed out and <i>alive</i>. I was even bawling at one stage. The story, from the 'fish out of water' sub-plot to the magical climax builds gradually and yet feels like break-neck speed. Author Intisar Khanani is simply hugely talented who got the pacing in Thorn damn well near perfect. Not a word is wasted although when I finished the book it felt like the party had finished too quickly and before I was emotionally ready to let go...like a child unwilling to leave the beach when their parents say it's home time. Just one more hour, half hour, ten minutes! There were questions still to be answered, more story left to explore and characters I wanted to know better. You could say that the one flaw in this book is that the explanation and role of magic and magical characters could have been expanded as many things are glanced over or mentioned only in passing. Who is in the Council of Mages for example? Is the punishment really death? What about the meaning behind the cloth Alyrra's mother gave to her? How does 'Wind' work? ...So many more questions. As a young adult novel it would never need to go in depth as Tolkien or Martin but I wanted more detail, more world-building. Maybe the editor was too ruthless, damn you.
Honestly from the prior reviews I came into this book with expectations of a good read but how much I was blown away I did not expect at all. I will definitely seek out more of Intisar's books and the companion series to Thorn as well.
Rating: 5 thumbs. There is power in fingers!
Re-readability: yes!
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Reviews with images
It’s a story about people, shrouded in a fairy tale
Very enjoyable book, I heard about some negative reviews which prompted a friend to read this book and I was intrigued enough to move it to the top of my TBR, it was already pretty high on it at that point. This is a retelling of a fairy tale but also so much more. It’s about abuse and how being a victim changes your outlook on people and the world, it’s about anger and how it can turn you from a victim into a monster. It’s about families and hope and love and change and there’s incredible character development, world building and story building. At the end, there is a story that seemed to me to be independent of the rest of the book, but also very interesting and good. I will read the next in the series!
Top reviews from other countries
Bernice Lancia
A great retelling of the Goose Girl fairy tale
Reviewed in India on July 16, 2021
