I have fallen in love with T. Kingfisher. She’s been around a long time, writing for both adults and children, but I only discovered her a few weeks ago. Okay, I didn’t discover her at all, I had to be told by my sister about this wonderful author. I’m usually lost in my own little world, and that makes it hard for me to keep up with new cool things. My sister and I are both avid readers who studied literature in college, so our text thread involves a lot of book suggestions; mine are usually old and obscure, hers are usually newer and hipper.

When she mentioned Nettle and Bone I was going to resist. It sounded cool but as you know I’ve been working hard at my “to read” pile and I didn’t want to add to it. Then I remembered the dozen audible credits I had just waiting to be used; I listen to podcasts while I do chores or cardio but several favorites were on break, so I used a credit to listen to Nettle and Bone. I was hooked immediately.

The plot resembles a fairy tale, with impossible tasks to perform with wise old witches and fairy godmothers lending aid, but it has an emotional realism and intensity that sets it apart. All of the characters are nuanced and grounded, and there are lovely touches of horror and darkness to this fantasy world. The plotting was fairly straightforward, without too many twists and turns, but the details were wonderfully thought out. I found myself looking for chores to do so I could keep listening.

(I have to give some credit here to the narrator, Amara Jasper; the story is told from the point of view of a mousy and terrified princess and Jasper captures that timid but desperately resolved character very well in her reading. I find a lot of audiobook readers read in a clear and undestandable rhythm which is great for understanding the words, but doesn’t always match the emotional ups and downs of the material. Jasper does a wonderful job of this.)

As soon as I finished Nettle and Bone, I immediately searched Audible for another Kingfisher book and quickly settled on What Moves the Dead. It had a cool title and didn’t seem to be the middle of a series, so I went for it. I fairly quickly realized it was basically an imaginative fleshing out of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. It also introduces retired Lieutenant Alex Easton as the Ushers’ old friend come to visit in their time of need, along with a couple other delightful supporting characters.

Alex Easton is a wonderful character full of rugged and self-deprecating humor. I was delighted to find Alex has a second book, What Feasts at Night, which takes place at their family’s old hunting cabin. We get to learn more about Alex’s home and and life as a soldier as a spooky mystery unfolds and Alex is pushed into the role of a warrior once again. I eagerly hope for more of Easton’s “sworn soldier” stories in the future.

These two audiobooks were read by Avi Roque, and I quite enjoyed their narration. Avi definitely reads with that rhythm that doesn’t always match up to the action and conversation, but they’re good at creating unique voices and accents for each character, and they narrate Easton with the war-weary ungendered voice appropriate to a “sworn soldier” and their delivery really grew on me as the books progressed.

I said I was sticking to audio because I wasn’t buying books; my “to read” pile was quite big enough without adding to it. Durango, though, was too much temptation. There were too lovely independent bookstores mere blocks from our hotel. One opened earlier and closed later than nearly everything else on the street, and the other was a used book store with signed copies of some favorite authors for very reasonable prices. I left the city with seven new books for the pile and two hanks of lovely yarn. (Bookstores all seem to sell yarn now! So much temptation!)

One was another recommendation from my sister (which I’ll review soon) and the other was yet another T. Kingfisher selection, pictured above. I can’t wait to dive into that one. The best thing about finding an author late is having plenty of their work ready and waiting for you.

Until next time, happy reading. –Corvus