Book Review :: Thorn, by Intisar Khanani

Thorn by Intisar Khanani
ISBN: 1471408728
Published by Hot Key Books
on 2020-03-24
Genres: Fairy Tale, Retelling, Young Adult
Pages: 460
Source: Allen & Unwin NZ
Find at Allen & Unwin NZ
Goodreads

A princess with two futures. A destiny all her own
Between her cruel family and the contempt she faces at court, Princess Alyrra has always longed to escape the confines of her royal life. But when she’s betrothed to the powerful prince Kestrin, Alyrra embarks on a journey to his land with little hope for a better future.

When a mysterious and terrifying sorceress robs Alyrra of both her identity and her role as princess, Alyrra seizes the opportunity to start a new life for herself as a goose girl.

But Alyrra soon finds that Kestrin is not what she expected. The more Alyrra learns of this new kingdom, the pain and suffering its people endure, as well as the danger facing Kestrin from the sorceress herself, the more she knows she can’t remain the goose girl forever.

With the fate of the kingdom at stake, Alyrra is caught between two worlds and ultimately must decide who she is, and what she stands for.

Last updated on 17 July 2021

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My thoughts on Thorn

I wanted to love this book. I really did.

If you’ve been following my book reviews for any length of time now then you’ll know that I love a retelling. Sometimes they’re great (like Heartless by Marissa Meyer), and sometimes they’re nothing to write home about (*cough* The Evil Queen *cough*). While I think Thorn had potential, I don’t think it quite got there.

Thorn is based on a German fairytale, The Goose Girl, which was collected by The Brother’s Grimm. You can read The Goose Girl here, or check out the synopsis and more information about it here. Novels that are based on the darker fairytales, such as the ones that The Brothers Grimm wrote or based their stories from, often make for excellent reading. There’s enough in them that writers can draw from to create new stories, but not too much that they have to be line-by-line the same (in terms of plot). What I like about them usually is that authors can take the general idea of a past fairytale, take out the weirdest bits, and re-imagine them. That’s not what happened in Thorn.

It started off well, I thought, and I was looking forward to where it was going. A princess spelled into switching bodies with a mere lady, so she wouldn’t marry the prince? Brilliant. Let’s go. I’m ready. But then came the talking horse, and all hope left me.

“We all need our quiet, I think. We all have our unspoken wishes, hopes we cannot mention, choices we may yet regret.”

As I said, the joy of a retelling is that you can take out all the bits you don’t like or are weird. The talking horse was weird. If the world was full of talking animals or was in some way a lot more magical than it was, then sure; a talking horse might have fit in. But it just felt out of place, and from there on out the story didn’t gel with me.

That being said, there were definitely aspects that I did enjoy. The whole concept, for instance, was a great idea, especially seeing as The Goose Girl isn’t a popular tale, and therefore hasn’t been overdone. The ‘Freaky Friday’ body swap wasn’t one I’d read in a fantasy/fairytale before, so that was entertaining to read, and Alyrra was a strong character who I wanted to succeed. The book itself reads more like a classic fairytale (though not as much as Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly), so that did add to the slightly whimsical feel of it.

So, while Thorn had its good points there wasn’t enough overall to make me really enjoy it. A 2-stars ‘it was okay’ rating from me. There are more books coming in this series, though apparently, they follow different characters.

Just because it wasn’t for me, doesn’t mean it won’t be for you! If you like retellings, The Brother’s Grimm, Young Adult fantasy, a body-switch-up, then give Thorn a try!

Have you already read Thorn? What did you think?

 

This book was given to me by Allen and Unwin NZ in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.