While browsing the 2023 Locus Awards list for new reads, my eye settled on Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher. Although Nettle & Bone wasn’t the overall winner in the Fantasy Novel category, the blurb and jacket copy piqued my curiosity and away to the kindle store I went for the instant gratification of online shopping. Kingfisher did not disappoint.
“Nothing is fair, except that we try to make it so. That’s the point of humans, maybe, to fix things the gods haven’t managed.”
Marra is the third-born princess of Harbor Kingdom, a tiny city-state sandwiched between two powerful nations. Harbor Kingdom boasts the only deep harbor on the coast and is perpetually in danger of being overrun by one or the other of her greedy neighbors. When her oldest sister, Damia is married off to Prince Vorling of the Northern Kingdom, an alliance is forged guaranteeing Harbor Kingdom’s security from invasion. Vorling and Damia’s children will inherit the crowns of both.
Tragedy strikes when Damia falls down the stairs of her new home, killing herself and her unborn child. Vorling agrees to marry Kania, second princess of Harbor Kingdom, instead. Harbor Kingdom is too vulnerable and too valuable to allow the alliance to falter. Eight months after Kania’s wedding, Marra is sent to live in a convent dedicated to Our Lady of Grackles. While she may have married a prince of her own, neither royal family would risk any future children she might have threatening the succession of either nation. Kania as Vorling’s wedded hostage, however royal, and Marra’s cloistered absence, stayed the threat to Harbor Kingdom’s security.
Years pass and although Kania is perpetually pregnant, she only brings one to term. Regardless of her status as an almost-nun, Marra is still a royal princess and sister to the future queen. She and their mother, the Queen of Harbor Kingdom, are present for the birth of Kania’s baby. A girl. Not an heir. Marra worries over a secret demand her sister made in the throes of labor. “Listen! If I die, don’t let her marry you off to the prince. Run away. Ruin yourself. Whatever it takes. Don’t let her drag you into this hell along with us.” Neither the Queen nor the midwives pay any mind to the rantings of women in childbed. What does she mean? After the birth of her daughter, Kania immediately resumes her role of royal brood mare. When the infant princess, Virian, is killed by a rampant fever stalking its way through the kingdoms, the alliance again hangs on the ability of Kania to deliver an heir.
Caught between the worlds of convent and courtiers, Marra attends her niece’s funeral and discovers that (now) King Vorling is beating her sister – unless she is pregnant. This explains Kania’s constant pregnancies, the unrelenting threat to her life, and her distressed concern for Marra’s future.
Marra is furious about Vorling’s abuse and appalled by her mother’s acceptance of it. No alliance is worth the life of her only surviving sister. And nothing could compel her to take Kania’s place if she died. She decides she must kill Vorling.
The quest takes Marra to the graveyard home of the most powerful dust-witch in the kingdom who sets her three impossible tasks. Surprised by Marra’s ability to accomplish all three, which included the unlikely challenge of building a dog out of bones (after all, the tasks were supposed to be impossible!), the dust-witch and her demon-possessed chicken join Marra and Bonedog on her mission to rid her sister, her family, the kingdoms, of the vile young king. Kania’s latest pregnancy is coming to term. She could die in childbirth and, if the child is a boy, Vorling would have his heir and have no need for Kania. Her life is in the balance regardless of the outcome. Steadily working their way through the kingdom towards the palace, hopefully before Kania delivers, Marra and the dust-witch formulate and discard plans, browse the Goblin Market, sacrifice time and teeth, rescue an enslaved knight, gather up a flighty godmother, and talk to the dead.
Nettle & Bone is richly, warmly written and delves into some pretty dark themes without being depressing. This is an excellent example of the burgeoning “hopepunk” sub-genre of fantasy and works beautifully as a foil for grimdark blues. Marra is wonderfully insecure but determined, the dust-witch is snarky but powerful, the knight is gallant but self-effacing, the godmother is timid but confident…and Bonedog, well, he’s just a galumphing delight. The demon-chicken? Hilarious in all the right places.
Readers who enjoyed Alix Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches will find themselves right at home with Marra and company. If you’re a fan of low fantasy with heart, humor, strong characters, surprising magic, satisfying twists and perfect resolutions, you’ll enjoy Nettle & Bone.
Version: Kindle
ISBN: B08QGL9BZD
