Kingdom of Thorns by Katherine Macdonald Review

Last year I came across a certain Beauty and the Beast retelling called The Rose and the Thorn by a new author to me Katherine Macdonald. I read it and loved it so much I was excited to read more of her books in the fairy tale genre. Needless to say, I was not disappointed, and Macdonald has become one of my new favorite authors! Her books are filled with such magic, adventure, and romance which can be hard to balance but she does it like a pro. Warning going in there are some early book spoilers.  

The book begins with a queen going to a forbidden wishing well and making a deal with the dark fairy. The fairy agrees to cure her infirmity if she promises to give her whatever she wants in return. The queen agrees to this thinking that if she could just have a child then all her desires would be fulfilled. Soon enough she gives birth to a baby girl whom she names Briar Rose. At her Christening fairies are invited to give the newborn princess fairy gifts. When the thirteenth fairy arrives (the dark fairy) she demands her payment be the baby princess. The king and queen refuse to give up their only child even when the fairy declares they could even have more. Finally in a fit of anger instead of taking the baby she curses her to die on seventeenth birthday by pricking her finger on a spinning wheel. The Twelfth fairy is able to amend the curse by saying she will instead fall asleep for a hundred years along with everyone in the castle. If a man with a noble heart kisses her before the time is up, she will awaken. But if the hundred years pass and no one saves her the magic that stopped them from ageing will disappear and they will die. When Briar grows up, she becomes determined to break the spell on her own before it can occur. She trains with a bunch of good-hearted bandits in combat and learns how to resist mind control magic through another good fairy. She will do all in her power to prevent the curse or at least take the evil fairy down with her. However almost one hundred years later Prince Leo finds himself going into an enchanted forest to try and awake the sleeping princess. However, he is not doing this so he can marry the princess despite that being the law. In fact, he doesn’t like the idea of her being treated like a prize (which I love.) He is doing this because if she is not awakened the evil fairy will return and wreak havoc on the world. He is instructed by a strange old man to go with the guide Talia. There are many terrifying and dangerous creatures in the woods and Talia can lead him to the castle. Much to Leo’s surprise Talia is a woman who is not that much older than he is and yet somehow knows the ins and the outs of the forest dangerous to all who enter it. If you wish to find out what happens to them, you must read the book yourself. Yup I’m playing that card.  

I absolutely love the characters. Talia and Leo have such good witty banter. Briar’s friendship with the bandits was so sweet and tragic. And the Dark fairy was so evil. Although I don’t think she was as good of a villain as Disney’s Maleficent she was certainly still a great threat who does everything in her power to prevent Princess Briar from being awakened. She is not physically there for most of the story, but her presence is still felt throughout the book. The only characters I was disappointed with were Briars parents. There personalities aren’t very interesting. In fact, they don’t really have any characterization except loving and worrying about their daughter. The queen also annoyed me a little in the beginning since when goes to the magic wishing well (where she strikes the bargain with the evil fairy) she knew the bad stories about the place and yet still agreed to the wicked fairy's bargain without even considering that the cost might have to do with her baby. The book also has some action in it for there are many dangerous creatures in the forest. I still shudder at a certain giant spider incident and a giant snake that can turn people to stone. Overall, this book is one my favorite Sleeping Beauty retelling of all time. It is on par with Alex Flinn’s A Kiss in Time and I never thought any Sleeping Beauty retelling could be on par with it.  I rank this book 4.5 stars out of 5. Expect more reviews in the future. Until next time.