Hemlock & Silver
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4.6 • 75 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
From New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes Hemlock & Silver, a dark reimagining of “Snow White” steeped in poison, intrigue, and treason of the most magical kind
Healer Anja regularly drinks poison.
Not to die, but to save— seeking cures for those everyone else has given up on.
But a summons from the King interrupts her quiet, herb-obsessed life. His daughter, Snow, is dying, and he hopes Anja’s unorthodox methods can save her.
Aided by a taciturn guard, a narcissistic cat, and a passion for the scientific method, Anja rushes to treat Snow, but nothing seems to work. That is, until she finds a secret world, hidden inside a magic mirror. This dark realm may hold the key to what is making Snow sick.
Or it might be the thing that kills them all.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Quirky, dark, and wildly intriguing, this fantasy novel inspired by the classic fairy tale “Snow White” has everything we could ask for—even a woman in STEM. Poisons are Anja’s life’s work. As a healer, she’s devoted herself to understanding and undoing them. So when the king’s daughter Snow is afflicted by an unknown poison, he implores Anja to save her. Except what Anja discovers behind Snow’s grave condition isn’t a poison at all—it’s a series of magical portals hidden insidiously within mirrors. We adored Anja’s relatable impatience when it comes to people (she much prefers her talking cat or her venomous snake) and her dogged curiosity, even when the case leads her down a path she has zero experience in: magic. But the mystery is just too tantalizing—both for her and for us.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Combining dark fairy tale aesthetics with a medical mystery plot, this utterly delightful Snow White riff from Hugo and Nebula Award winner Kingfisher (A Sorceress Comes to Call) transports readers to a New Mexicoesque kingdom of deserts, mesa houses, and saints with the heads of venomous snakes. Kingfisher's gift for charmingly kooky protagonists is on full display in healer Anja, an eccentric scholar of antidotes and obsessive problem solver who can't resist the puzzle posed to her by the king, who seeks a cure for the mysterious illness plaguing his daughter, Princess Snow. The king suspects poison, but Anja can't find any trace of it—until she catches Snow eating a strange, metallic-looking apple. Anja and her bodyguard, Javier, investigate, finding their way into a bizarre mirror world that may hold the key to Snow's illness—or may lead to their deaths. The diagnostic mystery at the heart of this meticulously crafted secondary world fantasy makes for a refreshingly novel plot structure, and Kingfisher wows with her ability to effectively worldbuild using just a few choice details that then come together to create an almost dizzyingly satisfying climax. Meanwhile, the monstrous mirror-gelds are a Lovecraftian revelation and Anja's feline sidekick, Grayling, will steal hearts. This is Kingfisher at her best.
Customer Reviews
Loved it!
I loved the humor and the way the story was told in such a fresh way. Thank you for such a smart story!