Book Review – Thorn by Intisar Khanani
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.
My rating:
This book is so good!! I love a fairytale retelling, and I hadn’t seen a goose girl one before which was lovely.
I loved the start, even though it is full of trauma (actually a lot of the book is, now I think about it!) but it’s once she gets to her new role in life that we see Alyrra/Thorn really shine. She finally gets a chance to run away from everything she wanted only to be challenged by some firm morals ;). And a talking horse! Falada is just amazing.
The relationship with both Kestrin and Valka is well handled too, for very different reasons! I loved both, as well as her amazing friendships with the other staff and her journeys into town. In fact I was so intrigued by the wider story of what’s going on in town, I was thrilled to hear of a sequel!!
This book is just gorgeously written, and even the darker points are stunning. there were two things in quick succession that had me in tears, both really got to me! But they were so well done, it was hard to begrudge them.
This is definitely a boon I would recommend and I am eagerly awaiting The Theft of Sunlight. 4.5 stars.
Buy Thorn from Waterstones.
Note: This is an affiliate link. If you purchase something using one of these links, I’ll get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks!
