A Sorceress Comes to Call is a reimagining of the fairytale “The Goose Girl.” It is mostly a deconstruction, and we don’t see any geese until the final third of the book. (Yes, I think geese should have been more central to the plot, for reasons.) T. Kingfisher does some interesting things with the fairytale and takes into interesting and unexpected directions. (Mostly because it does not closely follow the storyline of the original fairytale.)
Protagonist One is a young girl named Cordelia whose mother it turns out, is a sorceress. Evangeline makes her way in the world via gold digging, with the stated goal of ensuring that Cordelia “marries a rich man.” Evangeline is extremely abusive in that way of mothers who don’t allow their children any autonomy or privacy only ramped up to a thousand because she’s a sorceress and can literally mind control Cordelia into doing what she wants.
Protagonist Two is a middle aged noblewoman named Hester who has to deal with a gold digger pursuing her brother, who is a Squire. This is of course Evangeline, who has to move up her plans to ensure that Cordelia marries well after her previous “benefactor” is found out by his wife. When Evangeline and Cordelia turn up at the Squire’s home as guests, Hester does her best to Keep Evangeline from ensnaring her brother, a goal that becomes increasingly desperate when it becomes clear Evangeline is not just a gold digger, but an extremely dangerous woman who is quite capable of murder.
T. Kingfisher writes abusive characters and the trauma experienced by the victims of abuse extremely well. Evangeline is not a one-note villain, but an extremely complicated person who thinks she’s doing the best for her daughter. However, her actions are cruel and monstrous, her personal reality twisted and borderline delusional. You end up being amazed that Cordelia is as sane as she is, given what she’s lived through so far. (One of the most heinous acts, aside from all the murder and mind control: Evangeline moving up her plan to get Cordelia married involves having Cordelia be seventeen. Cordelia is not seventeen. She is fourteen.)
This fairytale is extremely dark from the very beginning, with a lot of horror themes woven into the fantasy. As is often the case with T. Kingfisher’s work, there are also moments of humor mixed in to break up the bleakness. This was a fast and engaging read, but again, geese should have been more central to the plot. (I say this because I feel it would balance out Falada being evil. Yes. The horse from the fairytale is evil in this, and is Evangeline’s familiar.)
This review was based off of a galley copy received via NetGalley.
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