A Sorceress Comes to Call

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

This is marketed as a goose girl retelling and while there is a horse or something pretending to be a horse named Falada, and there are geese, it otherwise does not follow the original goose girl story. 

Cordelia is controlled by her mother Evangeline, a sorcerer of great power in a world that believes sorcerers can only do small acts of magic.  Having lost the support of her “benefactor,” Evangeline announes that she must marry as Cordelia is too young yet. She picks out an older country squire and moves them both to his estate. 

The story switches between Cordelia's POV and that of Hester, the squire's sister, who are both well developed. The story was interesting and often suspenseful. It at least edged toward horror if not fully stepping over into it. It is basically a story about an abused girl and her toxic mother and how to get Cordelia to safety.

Overall I liked this book a lot. The central characters, and most of the larger supporting characters are well developed. More minor characters tend to be a bit cookie-cutter. Evangeline is very one note villain, but given that Cordelia is terrified of her and Hester wants nothing to do with her, this is not, perhaps, surprising. Also she's the villain. There's also a romantic subplot that I completely adored. 

I knew I was going to love this book from the very beginning. Well, as long as it had a decent ending I would love it. It did not disappoint.

The themes about parental abuse and forced isolation really spoke to me. Cordelia was way braver and more bold than I’d expected of anyone who has been abused their whole life, but I loved it. It made it feel like there was hope for getting out of awful situations.

This book was doing so much. It was dark, and cozy, and charming. T. Kingfisher has a way of telling dark, horrible, terrifying stories in a way that feels almost cozy and charming. The middle part of this book reminded me a little of Pride and Prejudice, but then something would happen to remind me how dark and twisted this story actually was.

I love Heaster as a protagonist and I love that we have an older person as a main character in the story. I also love that Heaster kept referring to the sorceress as Doom in her head. She used the expectations of old people against the sorceress in the best way possible, and often in amusing ways.

Seeing from both Hester and Cordelia’s perspective really helped paint a better picture of what was going on. Cordelia is socially awkward and doesn’t know how to handle many of the situations thrust upon her, but she knows that her mother is a sorceress and she knows some of her mother’s plans. While Hester might not know everything that is going on, she has a much better grasp on the social dynamics than Cordelia. In addition, we get to see Cordelia’s awkwardness both from Cordelia herself, and from an outsider.

As painful as it was to see Cordelia try and often mess up in social situations, I also loved that she was finally getting out of the isolation she had grown up with. I also love the conflicted feelings Cordelia has when she meets another sorceress who is really nice to her. It forces Cordelia to see things from a perspective she might not have encountered otherwise.

The side characters are wonderful. Practically all of them felt very alive and real. We have so many fun characters to hang out with too!

Basically I loved everything about this book. It’s one of my favorite T. Kingfisher books, and one I will definitely be rereading.

SPOILERS!!!

Also Cordelia is definitely a sorceress too, but she doesn’t realize it. Aaaah!!

I’d like to thank both Netgalley and Tor Books, from whom I received an ARC of A Sorceress Comes to Call. These opinions are my own.

If you’re familiar with the story of The Goose Girl from the Brothers Grimm, you might recognize a name here, or a plot device there, but A Sorceress Comes to Call is very much a story of Kingfisher’s own design and it is absolutely brilliant. It’s intense, dark, and heart-wrenching, and Cordelia, the lonely and naive 14-year-old girl at the center of the story, was so easy to fall in love with.

But Cordelia isn’t the only star of the show. While trying to win the affection of a rich man, Cordelia’s mother, Evangeline, sees one of my favorite characters, Penelope, as competition. Penelope isn’t a traditional beauty, but everyone is mesmerized by her anyway because of her inner-beauty and confidence. It’s a stark contrast to the toxic and narcissistic behavior of Cordelia’s beautiful mother, Evangeline, who despises Penelope. I loved that Evangeline felt threatened by Penelope and witnessing how her fear evolved and twisted.

Towards the end of the book, when everything comes to a head, there’s some action that I found a bit confusing. The description of what was going on wasn’t good enough for me personally. In the end, I understood as much as the characters did, but I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t get a grasp on what was happening as it happened. It’s fully possible this is because of my inability to picture things, but obviously I can’t be sure.

There are so many plot points I wish I could comment on but I can’t do so without spoiling things! There are some twisty bits and some crazy parts and also there’s this one part where… ahhhh! Just read this book!

As a newcomer to T. Kingfisher's work, "A Sorceress Comes to Call" was a delightful venture outside my usual reading comfort zone. This novel proved to be unexpectedly enjoyable and brisk, keeping me engaged from start to finish.

Kingfisher's storytelling shines through in this tale as she weaves a narrative that surprised me. The plot's unpredictable nature added an element of excitement, making it difficult to anticipate where the story would lead next. However, I found myself thoroughly satisfied with the direction it ultimately took. I'm not one for fantasy - as rules that break reality confound me - but I was able to suspend belief for this one.

At the heart of the story is a theme that resonates deeply: a child's struggle under the shadow of a narcissistic mother. This relatable dynamic drew me in, compelling me to root wholeheartedly for the young protagonist, Cordelia. Kingfisher's nuanced portrayal of this complex relationship adds depth to the narrative, making it more than a fantastical adventure.