A genre I like to dip my toes into on occasion is that of reimagined fairy tales, specifically stories that take The Brothers Grimm and turn them on their head. Before we get started on this review, take a moment to go read their version of The Goose Girl. I’ll wait here.
Did you do it?
Okay, good. Welcome back.
What did you think? I didn’t feel sorry for the Princess at all. Why? Because royalty rarely ever treats their servants well. The young girl seized her chance to take the place of a true princess, and was somehow able to fool everyone while doing it. How DARE she want to have a better life? If it weren’t for magic, which for the most part was considered taboo, the handmaid would never have been found out.
Which leads us to a reimagining of the story.
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Don’t answer the door. Seriously.
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher, photo from Tor |
When the story starts, Cordelia is sitting in a church, describing herself as being trapped in her own mind. It isn’t until a few paragraphs later that we realize this isn’t just a teenager being contrary - Cordelia is under the control of her sorceress mother. Her only comfort is the time she spends with Fadalia, her mother’s horse. Unfortunately, Cordelia finds out that her only friend is merely a spy for her mother, and her world comes crashing down around her ears. After her noble lover begins to spurn her, Cordelia’s mother decides to marry a Squire, a consummate bachelor who lives with his spinster sister.
This isn’t a story of a sorceress getting her way. This is a story of a group of rather ordinary people fighting back against someone who would use them for her own ends. Cordelia realizes that her mother has to be stopped, and confides in Hester (the Squire’s sister). Together with a ragtag group of friends and servants, they attempt to save the Squire (and themselves) from an evil woman who will use others for her own means.
One thing T. Kingfisher does well is takes a story that we think we know and turn it on its head. In this story, the noble people aren’t so high and mighty that they forget how to care for those in their employ. They want to uplift the people around them, even if in a careless way. There’s stubbornness and fondness between the characters of the Squire’s household and the people who orbit around it. It doesn’t change the power differential - they are nobility, the servants are not - but Cordelia’s mother treats everyone with a degree of disdain and distaste (except when she wants to make a good impression). The real power differential is between those with magic and those without. The mother in this story has the ability to subvert the will of anyone around her, as it suits her will. She also makes sure that it is difficult or impossible for them to speak of.
Cordelia’s mother could represent the worst excesses of nobility. She makes sure that the people beneath her know their place, including berating and threatening them (or forcing them from their positions as soon as she is able). The Squire, Hester, and friends represent what potentially could be when everyone works together without worrying about social status. The story is a feel-good story about defeating evil, finally acknowledging love, and realizing how important the people around us are, even the people who are supposedly beneath us. This version of The Goose Girl has the best ending - where the person who has been under the thumb of power her entire life finally gets to be free.
Oh, and there ARE geese. Heroic, lovely geese. Fierce geese. Especially the one with the limp.
Remember, my friends. When all the chores are done, and the geese are put abed, I shall be here with another book suggestion, should you need it.
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