SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Talk about all things T. Kingfisher / Ursula Vernon, Unless there's already a group/buddy read thread for it listed below.

Original fiction:
Nettle & Bone >> First impressions | Final thoughts
Clocktaur / White Rat / Paladin universe discussion: Series: World of the White Rat
A Sorceress Comes to Call
Nine Goblins

Retellings:
The Raven and the Reindeer >> First impressions | Final thoughts
Bryony and Roses
The Seventh Bride
Thornhedge

Short fiction:
Jackalope Wives and Other Stories
Toad Words And Other Stories
The Halcyon Fairy Book
"The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society" short fiction BR is here

YA/MG:
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking buddy read is here
Minor Mage
Summer in Orcus
Illuminations

Horror:
The Twisted Ones
The Hollow Places
What Moves the Dead
What Feasts at Night
A House With Good Bones

Upcoming:
Hemlock & Silver
What Stalks the Deep
Snake-eater
Wolf Worm
Daggerbound (2026)

As Ursula Vernon:
Hamster Princess series starting with Harriet the Invincible
Dragonbreath series
Castle Hangnail
Nurk: The Strange, Surprising Adventures of a (Somewhat) Brave Shrew
Digger: The Complete Omnibus
Black Dogs adult duology: The House of Diamond & The Mountain of Iron

I like the audio for Bryony, but some have disliked it? I don't understand why, it's my favorite audio.

7th Bride I don't remember much about the audio, listened to it twice, so it must be OK/neutral.

Minor Mage audio is HORRIBLE, avoid at all cost.

Horror audios are fine.

I liked Bryony but I think I can understand folks who didn’t.

I had heard that The Seventh Bride wasn't the greatest so I never bothered. I still love her other books, though!

7th isn't bad, it's just not as good as Bryony and RavenDeer, imho. I still like it! It's often on sale for a buck or two, with the Audible add-on for another couple of bucks.

I actually rather enjoyed the audio version of Minor Mage. Each to their own!

Tria wrote: "I actually rather enjoyed the audio version of Minor Mage. Each to their own!"

Really? It was technically such a low quality production. The pauses between sentences were longer than chapter breaks in a typical book. And I hated the narrator, but that's obviously subjective. His cadence was all wrong, and he swallowed 75% of each word and it was just very unpleasant :/

I SAW THE TITLE OF THE THREAD AND RAN HERE TO EXPRESS MY SUPPORT

As one should! :)

Ditto on support.
I've just re-read the Clocktaur war duology last week and loved it again. It is the span of her imagination for worldbuilding and the inclusion of all the little details of life such as the Paladin always coming up with handkerchiefs for Slate's sneezing and allergies. It is also a beautifully mismatched quest group. Really inspired how mis-matched they are. Also very much liked how the practical details of travelling by horse were included - all the work that needs doing.

Nettle & Bone has a cover. It feels very un-Kingfisher/Vernon to me, but I guess it fits Tor?

What Moves the Dead has a cover! 😱

Ooh interesting

That cover is so very disturbing! :S

And since I saw the Nettle & Bone cover comment, there's the Titan cover now, too, which of course has been out for months, but I didn't remember I'd commented on the cover.

I think I prefer the Titan one, and luckily I can buy either one. I have the audio preordered though, and I think it'll have the Tor cover.

Yeah, I also prefer the Titan cover. The "girls in gowns" style doesn't seem to suit. Of course, I'd read it wrapped in burlap.

True, the cover is just a bonus 😊

Anna wrote: "Nettle & Bone has a cover. It feels very un-Kingfisher/Vernon to me, but I guess it fits Tor?"

This cover has a YA feel to me.

I like Castle Hangnail best. I stayed up WAY too late because I could not stop reading.

Mary wrote: "I like Castle Hangnail best. I stayed up WAY too late because I could not stop reading."

I loved this one as well. It was a captivating combination of cute and determination with a slew of fun characters.

Ok, so where should I start? This author is highly praised every I look and I’ll probably have some time at the end of the month. What do you recommend?

I read A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking a while ago and thought it was a lot of fun. I'm about to start reading The Twisted Ones as soon as I finish a couple of library loans, and Nettle & Bone is also on my TBR.

Kirsi wrote: "I read A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking a while ago and thought it was a lot of fun. I'm about to start reading The Twisted Ones as soon as I finish a couple of library loans, and Nettle & Bone..."

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking sounds fun. And it has a nice price in IBooks store. Is it a good entry point?

Aga, it depends on what you like or are in the mood for!


Retellings
The Raven and the Reindeer (dark, beautiful, on the group shelf)
Bryony and Roses (funnier and very witty)

Short stories
Grandma Harken duology (free online and collected in Jackalope Wives and Other Stories, absolutely magnificent, everyone should read these, there is no excuse!)

1 Jackalope Wives: https://www.apex-magazine.com/jackalo...
2 The Tomato Thief: https://www.apex-magazine.com/the-tom...

^ Those are my top recs, but if they don't sound like your thing, then consider one of these:

Original fantasy
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking (MG/YA fun)
Clocktaur duology (one book split in two): Clockwork Boys & The Wonder Engine

Original fantasy romance
Swordheart (but really you should read Clocktaur first)
(More on the reading order in the White Rat thread, linked in the first post.)

Horror
The Twisted Ones (very T. Kingfisher in style, but not exactly typical horror)
The Hollow Places (nuttier/weirder T. Kingfisher, which is saying something :D )

That's as simple and short as I could manage! XD

Ok, I bought Jackalope Wives and Other Stories and A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking. I’ll start with short stories :)

I was going to say that I hope you like them, but instead I'll say: Enjoy! ^_^

Thank you, Anna. I love how quick you can buy an ebook :) One klick and it’s ready to read.

The great thing about T. Kingfisher's ebook backlist is that it's self/small pub and very fairly priced even when not on sale.

(I don't tend to advertize this, because it's not my job and I don't want to seem like I'm pushing something, but anyone who is a big fan of her work should note that her self-pub ebooks are free to her Patreon supporters. Right now I see everything in the White Rat universe, Minor Mage, Defensive Baking, Jackalope, and Summer in Orcus on the list. And I feel the need to end by saying that yes, I do support her on Patreon, but I still buy the books.)

I was surprised when I saw the prices. I bought each book for 18-20 Polish złoty (4-5 $). On IBooks. Nice.

I think they're all $3.99 (plus tax), I'm too lazy to check, but around that mark.

edit: Well I did check and the White Rat books are much more expensive? Have they gone up or does my memory fail me? Who knows, I'm definitely too lazy to check how much I paid for them. But since the White Rat books cost a tad more, and there are six of them right now, with more coming, the Patreon deal is an excellent deal for those who need it :)

Anna wrote: "I think they're all $3.99 (plus tax), I'm too lazy to check, but around that mark.

edit: Well I did check and the White Rat books are much more expensive? Have they gone up or does my memory fail ..."

Good to know about the Patreon. I tend to stick to authors if I liked a couple of their books.

The Harriet ones are fun even if the heroine is the typical "not your typical fairy tale princess."

Hi all

Copied this over from another thread as suggested by Anna (thanks!)

Just finished Jackalope Wives having been inspired to give it a try by discussions in this thread. And I loved it - so thanks for the encouragement everyone!

I’m pondering on the comparison between this book and Wizard of Earthsea, and Sabriel. All three of them do that thing which I don’t think of as “my thing” where the magic and the story is fairly loose and unexplained and crazy things just happen, sometimes without much of an explanation. In earthsea I loved it, in this book I loved it, but in Sabriel I really didn’t connect with anything and felt I was being told a story I had no investment in.

Maybe earthsea is partly nostalgia, as I read it many years ago. And maybe I’m more forgiving of the unexplained magic in Jackalope because they are short stories. Or maybe the writing itself in Earthsea and Jackalope is just so captivating (for me) that I connect with it so much more. I suspect it’s more this.

My review is below:

Loved this so much. I might be a bit of a sucker for short stories as I often find myself loving short story collections recently, and maybe the format makes me more open minded to appreciate something I would grow weary of in a longer book.

Be that as it may, these stories were great. One or two of them didn’t grab me so much, but the ones that did were fantastic. Eerie, spellbinding, easy to read and original. I love the wildness of the ideas, the things that are surprising, shocking and skirt close to the edge of being horror but are not quite horror (for me).

The writing has that magical quality where it is simple and straightforward and to the point and yet also filled with meaning. Combine this with a bunch of slightly crazy fantasy ideas and I’m hooked

Will wrote: "Or maybe the writing itself in Earthsea and Jackalope is just so captivating (for me) that I connect with it so much more."

Very much agreed!

Who else is binging Nettle & Bone first thing tomorrow? Do we want a new BR thread for it, or are we happy to chat here? I don't think I'll be stopping to comment, so I'm happy to stay here, but if others plan to be chattier and want a separate thread, I'm also happy to start one. Let me know! :)

Is this where I post the recipe for the stinging nettle cupcakes that we made last week?

I will likely start it tomorrow, but "binging" isn't a good description of my current longer form reading so comments may be sparser and delayed. Here is fine with me.

Nettle cupcakes sound like the perfect reading snack for this book!

I just finished reading the Twisted Ones, and while the story didn't quite live up to my expectations, I want to know if there's a Good Boy Bongo Appreciation Society somewhere because I'm joining.

Haha yes! There's a bone dog in Nettle&Bone btw, and I think he'll appeal to Bongo appreciation society members :)

https://twitter.com/UrsulaV/status/15...

I've had this tweet bookmarked for ages, I guess now is the time to post it here.

UrsulaV about Nettle & Bone:

"Content note, friends—there is a lot in this book about (view spoiler)[ childbirth and miscarriage and domestic abuse (hide spoiler)], so treat yourself kindly if those will overset you."

I actually found a hard copy in the shelves last week (super early!!) but I promised myself I’d wait a month until a long awaited beach trip. This will be hard lol

Jealous! Of the early copy, not the waiting :D

Anna wrote: "https://twitter.com/UrsulaV/status/15...

I've had this tweet bookmarked for ages, I guess now is the time to post it here.

UrsulaV about Nettle & Bone:

"Content not..."

Thank you for that content warning, Anna.

Anna wrote: "Who else is binging Nettle & Bone first thing tomorrow? Do we want a new BR thread for it, or are we happy to chat here? I don't think I'll be stopping to comment, so I'm happy to s..."

I'll be binging it starting tomorrow as well :) I'm fine with chatting here or in a BR, whichever works best for others

Sounds like everyone is happy to stay here, so let's do that :)

Audio and ebook have both finished downloading onto my phone. I have finished my coffee. The reading shall commence shortly!

^_^

I'm nervous! :D

N&B, chapter 7

(view spoiler)[ White Rat! ^_^ (And clockwork bees.)

Demonic chicken has joined the party, and the dust-wife. Things are getting properly weird now :) I'm actually halfway through chapter 8 and the weirdness is ramping up big time. The story feels like a familiar fairy tale that you know by heart, but the details surprise you! You never know what horrific twist lurks around the next corner. (hide spoiler)]

The content warning is no joke, I am not particularly affected by those things in general, but this is not light and easy :( I would add to the CWs Ursula mentioned: (view spoiler)[ death of child (hide spoiler)] and the book is much gorier than I expected. In a possibly body-horrory way? (I don't know why I can't ever figure out what is or isn't body horror.) But in a T. Kingfisher way, not a hack and slash murderer way!

If you're extra grossed out by (view spoiler)[ bugs (hide spoiler)] there's a short scene in chapter 8 that might get to you.

I think this is the first time I have a Whispersync ebook/audio as I'm reading for the first time, but it works differently now than before? So it's not really syncing at all <_< So, even though I thought I might actually be able to listen to the audio but still hightlight the ebook, it hasn't happened because I'm too lazy to search for the bits I'd want to highlight. Not that I usually stop to highlight much anyway when reading T. Kingfisher for the first time, but I had meant to try it this time.

I'm not far into it (a couple of chapters) but, yeah, this starts out darker than I'd expected. It's not going to be bedtime reading for me.

The whole Kindle ebook sync thing seems to be a mess these days. Sometimes it works. Often it doesn't for me, even just between ereaders. So I'm not surprised to hear that it's having trouble with audio too.

It works from ebook to audio but not from audio to ebook, which is how I need it to work. Also it used to ask if I want to sync, now it does it automatically and starts playing the audio from the spot where I was in the ebook :S So yeah, no highlighting, or if I do, I have to make sure to manually navigate to where I am in the audio to stay on track. Kinda annoying but oh well.

It feels (morbidly) funnier after the first chapters, which are indeed dark. I almost said that the beginning feels like T. Kingfisher trying to be serious and grim, and then wham her essence hits the fan in a glorious blast of demonic chickens :D

edit: I figured out the Whispersync thing. You have to start the audio from the Kindle app. The player isn't the same as in the Audible app, less controls and the text in the ebook gets higlighted as the audio plays :S I hate it! I'll stick to listening in the normal way through the Audible app and search the ebook if I have something I absolutely want to highlight.

I'm seeing N&B all over the book community net. Now I'm curious. This will be my first book by this author, and I'm sort of new at reading horror. Dark fiction is something I do read. So what my poor book budget for the month will blown out of the water. :-) :sigh:

It's definitely more dark fantasy than horror! I don't know if I'd rec this as the most T. Kingfisher book to ever Kingfisher, but there's no reason why you couldn't start here :)

(I have three chapters left.)