Thornhedge: 12/14/23

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (2023) is a novella retelling of Sleeping Beauty. The story was inspired in the process of writing a different retelling, namely, Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invincible (2016), written under the actual name, Ursula Vernon

The question in Thornhedge is what is the true nature of the thorny vines? What if their purpose isn't to keep the rescuers out but to keep the cursed princess in? Why would you need to keep a cursed princess hidden? What sort of monster must she be?

Instead of the story being from the cursed princess's point of view, the story is from the fairy who cursed her. We're given her life from birth through ultimately casting the curse and her decision to stay behind to keep the tower hidden behind her hedge.

As with the other T. Kingfisher / Ursula Vernon books, this one sits on the Road Narrative Spectrum. It's a scarecrow/minotaur (99) traveler dichotomy where the fairy needs to protect the world from the princess. Her destination is the wildlands (99), her literal thornhedge. Her route there is the cornfield/tkaronto (FF) as represented by her water based magic.

Five stars

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