A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher – Review

Published: August 6, 2024

Publisher: Tor Books

Series: N/A

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 336 (Kindle)

My Rating: 5 Stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
A dark retelling of the Brothers Grimm’s Goose Girl, rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic

Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn’t allow Cordelia to have a single friend—unless you count Falada, her mother’s beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t sorcerers.

After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away on Falada’s sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.

Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother, how the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.

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In classic T. Kingfisher fashion, A Sorceress Comes to Call feels like a classic fairytale turned on its head. Though this is described as a retelling of Goose Girl, it has elements that remind me of Rapunzel, except without all the hair. 

We are first introduced to Cordelia as she sits rigidly straight in a church service, clearly in a great deal of discomfort. You see, her mother Evangeline is a sorceress and she uses her magic to make Cordelia ‘obedient’, taking away control of her body. She has no friends, her secrets betrayed even by the beautiful horse Falada who is her mother’s familiar. 

Evangeline suddenly uproots Cordelia from the life she knew to find a wealthy man to marry. When Cordelia arrives at the house of a country squire her mother has set her sights on, she can hardly believe what a ‘normal’ life looks like. Poor Cordelia thinks it’s a luxury to be able to shut her bedroom door and have privacy. Hester, the squire’s sister, was suspicious of Evangeline from their very first meeting and privately thinks of her as ‘Doom’. Hester is determined to save her brother from this predatory woman’s advances and when she realizes Cordelia is just as much a victim, she becomes determined to save them both.

As with many of T. Kingfisher’s stories, A Sorceress Comes to Call is a dark fairytale, with all the darkness wrapped in a thin veneer of humor and magic. This portrays a textbook abusive mother-child relationship. Cordelia is isolated, has no friends, and fears saying the wrong thing to evoke her mother’s wrath and ‘obedience’. It’s truly awful to read about and I was hopeful when Cordelia began to befriend Hester, though it was more akin to Hester tending a wounded baby animal. I also completely loved Hester’s friends who come to stay and assist her in fending off Evangeline’s advances. There’s even a delightful romance between Hester and one of her longtime friends – she could have married this fellow at any time but she values her freedom as a spinster too much and he respects that. 

I’m not surprised at all to find that I loved this latest standalone fantasy from T. Kingfisher. This, I believe, is on par with Nettle and Bone and is thus quite deserving of the 5 star rating. It deals with some heavy topics in a sensible way and there’s just enough of Kingfisher’s signature brand of humor (or perhaps just character voice) to not weigh the reader down into a mire of depression. You just can’t help but to root for the heroine, which is truly Hester though Cordelia herself is quite a brave and likable girl.