A toad fairy shares the real story of "The Sleeping Beauty" in Thornhedge, a clever adult fairy tale that could only come from T. Kingfisher (A House with Good Bones; Nettle & Bone; The Hollow Places). Toadling has been alone for a very long time, keeping vigil by the tower in which a maiden lies in an unending magical sleep. Decades and countless people pass by, and Toadling remains, dreaming of the day people will finally forget the story they know--the wrong one. Toadling's years slip by until Halim, a Muslim knight from afar, arrives: "I have come because of a story," he says. "I read it in a book. Several books." The endearing toad heroine reveals the dark truth, told partly in flashbacks, about the sleeping princess and why she must never be awakened. Will Halim believe her? Or is he like all the other would-be rescuers, swayed by a pretty face and a story?
Kingfisher's talent for crafting original fairy tales and reimagining others is in full effect here. Whether it's Beauty and her Beast fighting thorny blooms in the gothic Bryony and Roses or a punny Hamster Princess saving the day (Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invincible, writing as Ursula Vernon), Kingfisher's characters and wit drive her books. Even with some more sinister elements, Thornhedge has all the gentle humor and big-hearted characterization the author's fans have come to expect. It is not a rollicking tale of sword and sorcery but a quieter, wryly funny, and boundlessly loving story of a toad and the knight who inspires her to finally make her own happy ending. Those who enjoyed The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy and A Spindle Splintered will adore this. --Suzanne Krohn, librarian and freelance reviewer