Thorn [Kindle Edition]

Intisar Khanani (Author)

Book Description

For Princess Alyrra, choice is a luxury she's never had ... until she's betrayed.

Princess Alyrra has never enjoyed the security or power of her rank. Between her family's cruelty and the court's contempt, she has spent her life in the shadows. Forced to marry a powerful foreign prince, Alyrra embarks on a journey to meet her betrothed with little hope for a better future.

But powerful men have powerful enemies--and now, so does Alyrra. Betrayed during a magical attack, her identity is switched with another woman's, giving Alyrra the first choice she's ever had: to start a new life for herself or fight for a prince she's never met. But Alyrra soon finds that Prince Kestrin is not at all what she expected. While walking away will cost Kestrin his life, returning to the court may cost Alyrra her own. As Alyrra is coming to realize, sometime the hardest choice means learning to trust herself.

What people are saying: 

"A troubled princess, an unknown prince, a betrothal, a magnificent white horse, a dangerous sorceress, a wanted thief, magic, mystery, and danger. What more could you want? How about an interesting, in-depth plot that deals with issues such as abuse, grief, justice, loss, pain, revenge, and betrayal? This book has all of these and more." - Vendethiel, Amazon review 7/1/2012

"Princess Alyrra/Thorn is the most engaging main character I have met in a long time. All she wants is to be left alone and yet, when push comes to shove, she does step up and do the right thing. She is humble and compassionate and brave, though she doesn't believe it." - Author Elisabeth Wheatley

"The climax is a bit of a show-stopper, a wonderful outbreak of magical manipulation with everything at stake, and no real certainty of how things will go." - Pauline's Fantasy Reviews 8/24/2012

Readers of Robin McKinley and Mercedes Lackey are sure to enjoy this retelling of the classic Grimm's fairy tale, "The Goose Girl."

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'Wow' is a good term to describe Thorn, debut YA fantasy novel by author Intisar Khanani. This book certainly left me in awe ... Thorn tells the story of the Goose Girl, a well-known fairytale I read a couple of times when I was a kid but never enjoyed that much. I mean, it was enjoyable, but I had other fairytales I enjoyed a lot more back then. However, this adapted version of Goose Girl is a spectacular novel that pulled me in from the first page and refused to let me go till I turned the last page." - I Heart Reading 6/27/2012

"We first meet Prince Kestrin in a rather unusual way that definitely left a powerful impression. He's rather mysterious and for the longest time neither Alyrra nor the reader knows if he can be trusted and what his motives are. He's very perceptive and eloquent, and it always seems as if he has an ulterior motive. I wouldn't describe him as a "bad boy" but he definitely has that alluring and mysterious vibe about him, and it doesn't hurt that he's a prince." - A Reader Lives A Thousand Lives 9/8/2012

"All in all, this is a book that is a must read and one that I would recommend easily. It is a book with depth and heart, with characters that will make your heart ache and your soul bleed and a story that will open your eyes to so many different things... This is one book that I am so glad to have given a chance and it is one that I will read over and over again easily. It is a book that will sweep you off your feet, not because it is a simply fairy tale retelling, but because it is so much more than that. So, go and get your copy now and get reading!" - A Daydreamer's Thoughts 10/24/201

From the Author

Writing fantasy has been one of my lifelong passions. I wrote the first draft of Thorn during my senior year in college. I had always wanted to write a novel, so I challenged myself to write a chapter a week. I decided to use one of my favorite Grimm's fairy tales, "The Goose Girl," as the basic storyline and optimistically set to work writing. How hard could it be if I already had the plot? I remember sitting down to read my completed first draft and nearly falling asleep. Suitably chastened but undaunted, I spent the next ten years on revisions and rewrites. I worked through about 13 drafts before deciding to publish. I hope you'll find this story as enthralling as I have.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 512 KB
• Print Length: 246 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Intisar Khanani (May 25, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00869SADQ
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,842 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #80 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Coming of Age

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A great retelling of The Goose Girl June 9, 2012

By Freda C. Shamma

Format:Paperback

Those of us who don't care for the 'love at first sight with the beautiful and/or wealthy and/or powerful' endings of most fairy tales will thoroughly enjoy this retelling of the Goose Girl. I liked the way the timid princess goes from enjoying the undemanding job of goose girl to the thoughtful person who finally realizes that she is the most qualified person to be the rightful princess with obligations to the common people. I also appreciated that she doesn't fall in love with the prince, but grows from fearing him to understanding his shortcomings and strengths.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect fairytale, a better Goose Girl version July 8, 2012

By Mindy K. Wall

Format:Kindle Edition

I love reformulated fairy tales, especially this one. I have read several different versions of "The Goose Girl" which is the tale this novel is based on. The author has taken this simple tale and turned it into a complex, moving novel. I am awed with how a writer can take something and make it so much better.

Alyrra is raised in a seriously dysfunctional household. Her brother physically abuses her, often leaving bruises or cuts. When the king from a neighboring kingdom comes to negotiate for a bride for his son, he realizes that she is not safe and leaves men to protect her from her family. However, they find a way to sabotage her anyway by sending deceitful people with her for the journey. And, as you know from the story, she is made to change places with the other girl and ends up working for the King as a goose girl or stable hand.

Watching the relationships in this story evolve, you realize that the princess has a good heart and has truly learned what it should mean to be the leader of a people. She uses the time as a goose girl to learn what the country really needs, but refuses to be used as a pawn in the situation. She wants the prince to make his own decisions and to take a stand because it's the right thing to do.

I give this story 5 out of 5 clouds. A definite must read.

This product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ah-mazing! June 28, 2012

By pragya

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

4.5 stars

This is a kind of book that will help you settle in comfortably and when you have, it will pull the rug under your feet. Yes, it's like that. Unpredictable and tossing-turning. I like that!

I love the setting of the story (you must be knowing by now, how I go ga-ga over historical fiction). I fell in love with the character of Princess Alyrra. And the twists that the story throws are ah-mazing. Personally I am not much of a lover of fantasy and magic but they are just a part in this book not the whole.

Also, the topics this book touches on show the character of the writer and there is so much depth to every incident and sentence. This is a work of beauty.

And to imagine this being the author's first work, I am more eager to read more of her work. No wonder it has taken years of work in the making.

More About the Author

Intisar Khanani grew up a nomad and world traveler. Born in Wisconsin, she has lived in five different states as well as in Jeddah on the coast of the Red Sea. She first remembers seeing snow on a wintry street in Zurich, Switzerland, and vaguely recollects having breakfast with the orangutans at the Singapore Zoo when she was five. She currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband and two young daughters. Until recently, Intisar wrote grants and developed projects to address community health with the Cincinnati Health Department, which was as close as she could get to saving the world. Now she focuses her time on her two passions: raising her family and writing fantasy. Intisar's next two projects include a companion trilogy to Thorn, following the heroine introduced in her short story The Bone Knife, and The Sunbolt Chronicles, a novella serial following a young mage with a propensity to play hero, and her nemesis, a dark mage intent on taking over the Eleven Kingdoms.