Review: Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher

Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ALC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

T. Kingfisher's retellings are slowly becoming my favorite books!  I love the dark spin she puts on the fairy tales we all think we know.  One of my favorite things to do when I read a retelling like this is to read the original if I haven't already to see how it compares.  The originals are often dark and these more modern takes often are closer to the original than the happy animated tales many of us grew up watching.  I love that there is room for both.

This was a darker version of Snow White and follows Anja, a "healer" who studies poisons and their antidotes instead of the more traditional healing arts.  She is what some would consider odd, but her unorthodox approach is why the King has summoned her to solve the riddle of why his daughter is constantly ill.  Anja's mind for puzzles, observant eyes,  and constant quest for information, makes for the perfect kind of person to find out what is going on with Princess Snow.  Healers, Nurses, maids, guards, and every other type of of person the king can think of can't figure out why Snow's health is failing.  Anja's more scientific methods and investigation uncover a magic mirror and mirror world that might be the reason Snow is getting sick.  Aided by her body guard, Anja's quest is filled with strange sights, dangerous foes, and things she never thought she would encounter.

I haven't read the original Snow White tale, but I will be very soon.  Kingfisher always does a good job taking the key points of the original tale and staying true to those key elements while putting her own unique spin on it to make something new.  I've really grown to love her reimaginings and this is no different.  Anja was a strong and independent character who didn't bow to societal norms.   Her father and family supported her and let her be her own person and pursue her passion for poison study.  The romance was a nice addition as it wasn't the focus and happened almost organically as Anja and Javier spend alot of time together exploring and debunking.  They complemented each other nicely.  

The narrations was really great as the narrator was able to pace the book nicely and do different voices and accents for the various characters throughout the novel.

View all my reviews