Since taking Short Fiction last year, I have become obsessed with fairy tale retellings. Take a classic, fantastical moral and change its messaging to reflect modern-day sensibility, all while turning the creepy horror factor up to 1000 – sign me up! And no one is doing it better than author T. Kingfisher, who has all but dominated the genre. From Beauty and the Beast retellings to a Hugo-award-winning webcomic, Kingfisher has a book for any reader – at least until now.
Their most recent story, “A Sorceress Comes to Call,” is a retelling of the Brothers Grimm’s “The Goose Girl” fairy tale. A young girl named Cordelia lives with her mother Evangeline, a sorceress who compels others into “obedience.” After Evangeline loses her male beneficiary, she sets her sights on a wealthy squire, uprooting herself and her daughter to a strange new castle. Cordelia lives in constant fear of her mother’s strange powers, but she soon finds allies within her new home. Most notably, the opinionated and direct Hester and the kind but observant lady’s maid named Alice. As such, the reader is taken on a journey to see if this ragtag team will be able to stop the castle from falling under the cruel mother’s spell.
As with any Kingfisher novel, the book is an easy, engaging read. However, the bar for Kingfisher is set too dang high. I was not enamored with “A Sorceress Comes to Call” as I was with, let’s say, “Nettle & Bone.”
First off, I failed to see a connection between this retelling and the original tale. “Sorceress” is a fantasy of manners, where the characters must navigate this strict social hierarchy and its etiquette. While “The Goose Girl” deals with some of the same class dynamics and its morals, much of the retelling is based around a completely new plot with characters that are very loosely based on the classic story. I will say, the new plot does keep you on your toes, and without giving too much away, I did find the new characterization of one of the original characters around chapter 4 quite clever.
The pacing of this book is somewhat slower than Kingfisher’s usual plots. That could be a result of the premise of the plot, which all leads up to whether Cordelia can prevent her mother from completely taking over the household. The whole book is just this anticipatory experience, which is only reinforced by the horror elements that Kingfisher does so well. Kingfisher knows how to craft a spooky setting through beautiful prose, but they sometimes lack successful character development across their books. The protagonists and antagonists are pretty linear and lack depth surrounding their motives and characterization. That being said, it is still an enjoyable tale that adds a new outlook on its classic moral.
Kingfisher is just one among many authors immersing themselves in the genre of retold fairy tales. As I have written about in my review of “The Marriage Portrait,” it seems that authors are trying to right the unacceptable and misogynistic morals of the past.
As for readers, it seems the genre is quite popular as well. Similar to the beloved TV show “The White Lotus,” retellings take cliches and stereotypes and turn them on their heads. Or maybe the nostalgia is a great comfort to readers, a more socially acceptable adult version of Disney. Regardless, these tales are enduring because even though time passes, the human experience doesn’t seem to change that much. However, the settings and horror they are set in can change a ton, and Kingfisher knows it (and knows how to write it well).
3.5/5
