Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for providing this book for review. All opinions are my own.

I’ve loved every single T. Kingfisher novel I’ve read so far. Fairytales are a major interest of mine, and Kingfisher has written a wonderful re-imagining of The Goose Girl, a story I’ve always loved.

Cordelia’s lived her life in fear of her emotionally abusive mother, Evangeline, who also happens to be a cunning and powerful sorceress. When Evangeline is spurned by her “benefactor,” she decides to trick a wealthy squire into marrying her, and she and Cordelia move into the home he shares with his sister, Hester. Cordelia finds an ally in Hester, and the two quickly find that Evangeline is far more dangerous than they realized. She’s willing to do anything to get what she wants. In order to stop her mother once and for all, Cordelia, with the help of Hester and some of the older woman’s closest friends must think up a plan without being discovered by the sorceress or her ever-watchful familiar.

I think Hester and Cordelia were great characters, and I empathized with both right away. Evangeline is definitely the kind of villain you see in fairytales, but because of that she was a bit one-dimensional. There were hints about what made her the way she was, but I would have liked to learn more.

Kingfisher did an excellent job of portraying emotional abuse by a parent. “I’ve seen it hundreds of times before,” made me shudder, as someone who heard that a lot growing up. Kingfisher is also so good at making such a creepy yet humorous atmosphere in her stories.

When it comes to the magic system, the rules were just a little bit hazy, but that may have been on purpose to keep the lore mysterious to the characters. Despite that, Evangeline’s power was scary as hell.

Underneath it all, the themes of oppression on women and emotional abuse were threaded through the story perfectly. All in all, I think A Sorceress Comes to Call is another great read by T. Kingfisher. It was certainly a page-turner for me. ( )

Well, this one will stick with me for a long time. It's very... Kingfisher. Horrifying in a true-to-fairytale trope sort of way. Hilarious -- I mean, laugh out loud funny in places. But there's no part as funny as reading the acknowledgements and seeing her characterize this book as a regency romance -- because, yes? I guess that's going on, too? But when the horse is named Falada, I think we all know what's going to happen, and as a romance reader, I really didn't feel like that was the forward note. Regardless. It's pretty damn disturbing, but I enjoyed it very much. And I don't know how you write characters that get under my skin and become so beloved to me so quickly, but it was worth it.

Advanced Reader's Copy Provided by Edelweiss. ( )

A gripping dark, fairy-tale-like fantasy that borrows a few elements from "The Goose Girl." Compelling characters, a truly evil sorceress, and a great deal of danger.

Highly recommended. ( )