Trigger warning for coercive control and abuse.
T. Kingfisher has a gift. I love how she takes elements from folklore and fairy tales and makes them fully realized settings for her characters to inhabit. Where a stock character from an old story has to follow unspoken rules or fulfill predestined roles, Kingfisher’s characters have opportunities to resist and rewrite their stories. A Sorceress Comes to Call, Kingfisher’s latest, delivers a story of a wicked mother and a sheltered daughter à la Rapunzel but adds a clear-sighted and stubborn middle-aged heroine, angry geese, and a terrifying demon horse. Readers, I inhaled this book in a single day.
Cordelia lives in fear of her manipulative mother. Her mother, Evangeline, has the power to render Cordelia completely helpless and under her control. The young girl is so isolated that she has few friends and few opportunities to escape her mother’s reach. When Evangeline runs through all of the wealthy men in their village, she packs Cordelia up and heads for a bigger city where she has an even bigger fish on the hook. It’s only later that Cordelia learns that the carriage Evangeline uses was stolen from her last benefactor after using her magic to make the man commit a horrific crime to cover her departure.
Hester, the sister of Evangeline’s next target, Henry, takes turns with Cordelia to tell the story of what happens when Evangeline comes to call at Henry’s well-appointed home. Being much savvier than Henry, Hester spots what Evangeline is up to immediately—though she has no idea, at first, that she’s dealing with someone a lot more dangerous than the usual fortune hunter. Hester is an absolutely delightful character; she has the knack for using the way people underestimate her because of her age, gender, and bum knee to get what she wants.
The tension in A Sorceress Comes to Call ratchets up as the terrifyingly powerful Evangeline schemes to capture Henry and eliminate any potential rival. And because Kingfisher isn’t playing entirely by fairy tale rules, I frequently wondered if it would be possible for our heroes to defeat the sorceress unscathed. This book is definitely one that you’ll want to read when you have a clear schedule.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.