Jennifer Blom narrates an adaptation of Sleeping Beauty that asks what if the fairy godmother desperately needs to keep the princess asleep to protect all others? Listeners hear the weariness in the fairy Toadling's voice as she stands guard at the tower, in both her unobtrusive human form and her toad form, watching the world change around her over the centuries. When Halim, a gentle knight voiced with quiet gruffness, arrives, he informs Toadling of his quest to fight through the brambles and free the maiden within, and they form an unlikely friendship. Though some mispronunciations detract from the production, Blom's subdued narration matches Toadling's character and the fairy-tale-laced horror story she slowly reveals. E.E.C. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Thornhedge
Narrated by Jennifer Blom
T. KingfisherUnabridged — 3 hours, 43 minutes
Thornhedge
Narrated by Jennifer Blom
T. KingfisherUnabridged — 3 hours, 43 minutes
Audiobook (Digital)
Free with a B&N Audiobooks Subscription | Cancel Anytime
Already Subscribed?
Sign in to Your BN.com Account
Related collections and offers
FREE
with a B&N Audiobooks Subscription
Overview
From USA Today bestselling author T. Kingfisher, Thornhedge is the tale of a kind-hearted, toad-shaped heroine, a gentle knight, and a mission gone completely sideways.
There's a princess trapped in a tower. This isn't her story.
Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?
But nothing with fairies is ever simple.
Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He's heard there's a curse here that needs breaking, but it's a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold...
"The way Thornhedge turns all the fairy tales inside out is a sharp-edged delight."
-Katherine Addison, author of The Goblin Emperor
Editorial Reviews
★ 05/08/2023
Kingfisher (What Moves the Dead) continues her hot streak with this equally haunting, heartfelt, and darkly humorous horror riff on “Sleeping Beauty.” The fairy Toadling is “neither beautiful nor made of malice, as many of the Fair Folk are said to be,” but instead “fretful and often tired” due to her exhausting efforts to keep a certain princess confined within a tower surrounded by a wall of thorns. It would be an easier job if tales of the princess did not keep spreading, unabated even by an early medieval outbreak of the Black Death. These stories draw Halim, a curious and courteous Muslim knight in search of a good quest. Halim is not put off by Toadling’s habit of turning into a toad when overwhelmed or frightened, and befriends her, helping Toadling to move past 200 years of dread to explain just who—or rather what—is in the tower, and how the fairy came to be responsible for keeping it there. The slow reveal of Toadling’s connection to the princess, and what the princess actually is, fashions a subtle and satisfying horror story, while Kingfisher’s trademark wit and compassion transforms “Sleeping Beauty” into a moving meditation on guilt, grief, and duty, as well as a surprisingly sweet romance between outsiders. There are no false notes here. (Aug.)
"I opened, I devoured. Absolutely delightful and full of charm and truth." —Naomi Novik, New York Times bestselling author of A Deadly Education
"Immensely charming, unexpected, full of heart, I was utterly delighted by this incredibly original retelling of Sleeping Beauty." —Katherine Arden, bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale
"Kingfisher never fails to dazzle."—Peter S. Beagle, Hugo-, Nebula-, and Locus-Award winning author of The Last Unicorn
“A slim and lovely retelling of 'Sleeping Beauty' full of melancholy charm, Thornhedge has a particularly fine flexibility of tone that bends from sweet and shy to tragic and frightening. . . . it’s such a pleasure to read, and Toadling and Halim are such delightful characters, that I simply let the story wash over me like Toadling’s water magic and enjoyed the ride.”—The New York Times
"Thornhedge is a true comfort read, in which gentleness endures despite outrageous cruelty.”—The Washington Post
“T. Kingfisher’s delicate, bittersweet style of fantasy is like nothing else on shelves at the moment and, as a result, she’s an author whose work I would read without knowing one single fact about it. But, in case you need facts, this Sleeping Beauty retelling with a twist is a perfect blend of sharp-edged humor and horror-tinged heart.”—Paste Magazine
“Haunting and unusual—a unique retelling of a classic tale!" —Tamora Pierce, New York Times bestselling author of the Tortall series
"The way Thornhedge turns all the fairy tales inside out is a sharp-edged delight." —Katherine Addison, author of The Goblin Emperor
“You've never read a "Sleeping Beauty" retelling quite like Thornhedge.”—POPSUGAR
"Thornhedge is Vernon at her most Vernon-est. . . . There is whimsy and heart and pain. This story is both kind and brutal as it shows how narrow the power of love is.”—Locus
"Toadling will break your heart and mend it at the same time, and that is how you know that Thornhedge is a story by T. Kingfisher. I loved this book so much."—Travis Baldree, New York Times bestselling author of Legends & Lattes
"Kingfisher’s trademark wit and compassion transforms “Sleeping Beauty” into a moving meditation on guilt, grief, and duty, as well as a surprisingly sweet romance between outsiders. There are no false notes here.”—Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
"At every turn, Kingfisher subverts familiar fairytale tropes into a fresh, complex, and extremely human story about loneliness, and the protective barriers we put around ourselves." —Sunyi Dean, bestselling author of The Book Eaters
"Kingfisher weaves elements of fairy tale, folklore, and history in this beautifully crafted story of loss, endurance, terror, and kindness. Thornhedge is sheer magic from beginning to end!" —Juliet Marillier, author of the Blackthorn & Grim and Warrior Bards series
"This marvelously fractured fairy tale takes a well-known and well-loved story and turns it completely around. . . . Highly recommended for anyone who loves to see fables fractured into new and different shapes, similar to Alix E. Harrow’s A Spindle Splintered.”—Library Journal, STARRED review
★ 05/01/2023
Why was Sleeping Beauty trapped so thoroughly in her castle? That's the question asked in Kingfisher's (Nettle & Bone) inside-out version of the classic fairy tale, told through the eyes of Toadling, the almost-fairy with the too-kindly heart trapped by a spell gone wrong. She isn't the princess, although she might have been. Toadling is the fairy "godmother" tasked with keeping a changeling "princess" from doing any more harm than she already has. When a kindly would-be knight finally arrives to solve the mystery, Toadling has to decide whether to trust in his seeming goodness or maintain the protections that have trapped her every bit as much as the beautiful but deadly princess within. This marvelously fractured fairy tale takes a well-known and well-loved story and turns it completely around, into a story about love not being enough, duty not being sufficient, and love and joy being found in the unlikeliest of people and places. VERDICT Highly recommended for anyone who loves to see fables fractured into new and different shapes, similar to Alix E. Harrow's A Spindle Splintered.—Marlene Harris
Jennifer Blom narrates an adaptation of Sleeping Beauty that asks what if the fairy godmother desperately needs to keep the princess asleep to protect all others? Listeners hear the weariness in the fairy Toadling's voice as she stands guard at the tower, in both her unobtrusive human form and her toad form, watching the world change around her over the centuries. When Halim, a gentle knight voiced with quiet gruffness, arrives, he informs Toadling of his quest to fight through the brambles and free the maiden within, and they form an unlikely friendship. Though some mispronunciations detract from the production, Blom's subdued narration matches Toadling's character and the fairy-tale-laced horror story she slowly reveals. E.E.C. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940175091503 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Macmillan Audio |
| Publication date: | 08/15/2023 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
| Sales rank: | 754,785 |
Videos
