When I step out of romance, I never really step out, because this has a little romance vibe happening!
Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher was a book club read and it was very good. This book is sort of a fairytale retelling and leans into Little Red Riding Hood meets D&D I think.
Our main character is Marra and she is the youngest of 3 princesses of a small kingdom. There is a large kingdom to the North and South and her oldest sister was in an arranged marriage with the Prince of the Northern kingdom. When her oldest sister mysteriously dies, the second sister is then sent to marry the prince. Marra, at this point, is at a convent dressing and functioning as a nun, but has not taken vows.
Marra slowly discovers the abuse being doled out by the Prince to her middle sister and vows to kill the prince. What results is a rag tag group of magical people, a demon chicken and Bone Dog, whom Marra created by putting together dead dog’s bones.
The topics touched on in this book are modern and relevant making this a feminist retelling. I enjoyed the writing and the adventure. My only complaint is that the first few chapters made it difficult to know what was going on, but once I got past those, it’s an incredible journey.
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