T. Kingfisher has proven herself to be an enigma. She has displayed expertise as a writer of children’s stories along with a track record of some of the best written, most unsettling horror in recent years. Add to this a mastery of classic fairy tales teeming with adventure, and you will have some idea of what you can expect from her latest novel.

THORNHEDGE is not a Disney tale about a princess trapped at the top of a scary tower or castle keep. While this may be part of the circumstances included here, it is far from the happy ending or morality tale you would get from a typical fantasy. Yes, there is a princess trapped in a tower, but this story belongs to the being responsible for putting her in that position --- and it is not at all what you might be expecting.

"This may sound similar to Rapunzel or, more accurately, Aurora after being cursed by the wicked Maleficent. But THORNHEDGE is full of surprises and never bows to the convention of those classic stories."

We are immediately introduced to the deadly wall of thorns, whose brambles resemble the razor-edged blades of a saber. It has grown so large and ominous that no one would dare to breach it. The only denizen there is a fairy-like creature who we later learn goes by the unpleasant moniker of Toadling. This is not a name given to her lightly, for she has the ability to turn herself into a purely toad-like creature as opposed to the beautiful flying fairy you might imagine from other fairy tales.

Toadling’s world is changed when a stranger infiltrates her boundaries. This individual is a knight, a Muslim named Halim, who camps outside the wall of thorns as he plots a way to get through it to the ruined city beyond. Halim tells Toadling that she obviously has been amongst the thornhedge for possibly 200 years. This is well past the illness that wiped out most of the world’s population and left everything in shambles.

It is at this point that Toadling decides to tell Halim her story, especially when she realizes she will not be able to prevent him from getting to the tower in the distance beyond the thorns. Toadling tells of her past; she was born half-human/half-fairy and raised by two fish-like creatures who feasted on human flesh. She then spills the big secret that has changed her life forever --- the day she gazed upon the newborn princess with intent to cast a spell on her for good. Unfortunately, she misspeaks the spell and instead curses the princess, changing her into a brutal and evil thing who is banished to the tower and kept away from all who might be unfortunate enough to be in her line of sight.

With this information now provided to him, Halim is even more determined to find and free the princess --- even against the strong warnings given by Toadling. Our antihero insists on coming with Halim, not knowing what they might find after hundreds of years. What resides in that once pristine nursery is a being of awesome, dark power, and neither may survive what they intend to awaken.

This may sound similar to Rapunzel or, more accurately, Aurora after being cursed by the wicked Maleficent. But THORNHEDGE is full of surprises and never bows to the convention of those classic stories. In the Acknowledgements, Kingfisher indicates that she usually finds her way through a fairy tale by questioning all the assumptions in it, starting with who the hero and villain are. That is certainly evident here, and it makes the book so unique and singular in scope.