A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

 

This was the best new release I have read in 2024 so far and it will be on my Hugo ballot for sure. 

But I’m getting ahead of myself. 

In the past 3-4 years, I have become a HUGE fan of T. Kingfisher aka Ursula Vernon. 

Ms. Vernon is the author of the Hamster Princess books, which both of my daughters have enjoyed (as have I!). Those books were my introduction to her, along with her social media presence, which I found through Seanan McGuire. 

Ordinarily, I don’t like horror. I never wanted to watch scary movies as a kid. I got nightmares from E.T.  But based on recommendations I read the Twisted Ones and The Holllow Places and I realized that I loved Ms. Vernon’s writing and I could make it through the scary parts unscathed with her as my guide. 

I started devouring her back catalog and putting all new releases on hold at the library.  I have subscribed to her Patreon and I convinced my wife to read Nettle and Bone, which she loved (as did I). 

I loved Thornhedge last year and was delighted when it was nominated for the Hugo, and I was very excited when I heard she had a new book out in 2024, A Sorceress Comes to Call. I was even more excited when I got an audiobook eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

This new book, I believe, is based on the Goose Girl fairy tale, but I don’t know that one, so I can’t tell how much relates directly to the source material. Our main character, Cordelia, slowly comes to realize that her mother is an evil sorceress. Well, she always knew she was kind of evil but the extent of it (and the sorcery) are more of a reveal. When her mother is in need of a new man to control, they end up at the house of the Squire and his sister Hester, the other main character, who feels a sense of Doom from Cordelia’s mother but is surprised when she learns the extent of the danger. 

This book was wonderful. Ursula Vernon perfectly captured the scared naïveté of a sheltered teenager equally well with the savvy canniness of a middle-aged woman who knows she is smart and overlooked. Every minor character, from the friends to the servants, are well rounded and fleshed out. This was a story I could have lived in forever. 

There were two narrators in the book, but I didn’t feel like it needed both. I understand that they were there to switch off from Hester’s and Cordelia’s perspectives, but it didn’t really work for me here. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher!