-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
Summary | Discuss | Reviews | More Information | Read-Alikes
From Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes an original and subversive fantasy adventure.
This isn't the kind of fairytale where the princess marries a prince.
It's the one where she kills him.
Marra never wanted to be a hero.
As the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter, she escaped the traditional fate of princesses, to be married away for the sake of an uncaring throne. But her sister wasn't so fortunate―and after years of silence, Marra is done watching her suffer at the hands of a powerful and abusive prince.
Seeking help for her rescue mission, Marra is offered the tools she needs, but only if she can complete three seemingly impossible tasks:
―build a dog of bones
―sew a cloak of nettles
―capture moonlight in a jar
But, as is the way in tales of princes and witches, doing the impossible is only the beginning.
Hero or not―now joined by a disgraced ex-knight, a reluctant fairy godmother, an enigmatic gravewitch and her fowl familiar―Marra might finally have the courage to save her sister, and topple a throne.
1000 Books February 2026 Read: The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
Hugo Award Winners since 2016, but I haven't read any of these books. Proceed with caution! (Year, author, title) 2016 Jemisin. The Fifth Season 2017 Jemisin. The Obelisk Gate 2018 Jemisin. The Stone Sky (I sense a great author here! Also known for The Broken Earth series, of which some of the ab...
-NanK
Hugo Awards, 2023
"[A] darkly funny feminist fairy tale...The plot snaps along as quickly as a good joke, and beneath the whimsy, there's an underlying sympathy and sincerity that enables Kingfisher to handle tricky issues like domestic violence with great compassion and care. At its heart a story of good people doing their best to make the unjust world a fairer place, this marvelous romp will delight Kingfisher's fans and fairy tale lovers alike." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Blending fairy-tale familiarity and common-sense characters, Kingfisher's prose balances grim circumstances with humor and heart. Readers of Alix E. Harrow's A Spindle Splintered and Melissa Albert's The Hazel Wood series should pick this up immediately." - Library Journal (starred review)
"Nettle & Bone leans into the macabre and evokes the Grimm-est of stories...Highly recommended for fans of fractured fables like Naomi Novik's Uprooted (2015) and Helen Oyeyemi's Gingerbread (2019)." - Booklist (starred review)
"This book is so exciting, deeply wise, sad, brutal and compassionate all at once. And beautifully written, with a plot as cunning as fine embroidery...When I finished I could hardly bear to tear myself away from this eerie, vivid world, with its struggling, flawed, wonderful characters." - Catriona Ward, author of Last House on Needless Street
"Nettle & Bone brings Kingfisher's signature honesty and authenticity to a fairy tale setting―the result is refreshing, earnest but not naive, and deeply satisfying. I devoured it. This is one that's going to stay with me for a long time." - Sarah Gailey, author of Magic for Liars
This information about Nettle & Bone was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo Credit: JR Blackwell
T. Kingfisher (she/her) writes fantasy, horror, and occasional oddities, including Nettle & Bone, What Moves the Dead, Thornhedge, A House with Good Bones, and A Sorceress Comes to Call. Under a pen name, she also writes bestselling children's books. She lives in New Mexico with her husband.
If you liked Nettle & Bone, try these:
by Louis Sachar
Published 2026
The beloved author of Holes presents his first adult novel, a modern fantasy classic of forbidden love, a crumbling kingdom, and the unexpected magic all around us.
The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye
by Briony Cameron
Published 2025
This epic, dazzling tale based on true events illuminates a woman of color's rise to power as one of the few purported female pirate captains to sail the Caribbean, and the forbidden love story that will shape the course of history.
by T. Kingfisher
Published 2024
From USA Today bestselling author T. Kingfisher, Thornhedge is the tale of a kind-hearted, toad-shaped heroine, a gentle knight, and a mission gone completely sideways.
Poetry is like fish: if it's fresh, it's good; if it's stale, it's bad; and if you're not certain, try it on the ...
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
