Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Nettle & Bone Kindle Edition
Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel
An Instant USA Today & Indie Bestseller
An Oprah Daily Top 25 Fantasy Book of 2022
A Vulture Best Fantasy Novel of 2022
An NPR Best Sci Fi, Fantasy, & Speculative Fiction Book of 2022
A Goodreads Best Fantasy Choice Award Nominee
From Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes an original and subversive fantasy adventure.
*The very special hardcover edition features a gold foil stamp on the casing and custom endpapers illustrated by the author.*
This isn't the kind of fairy tale where the princess marries a prince.
It's the one where she kills him.
Marra — a shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter — is relieved not to be married off for the sake of her parents’ throne. Her older sister wasn’t so fortunate though, and her royal husband is as abusive as he is powerful. From the safety of the convent, Marra wonders who will come to her sister’s rescue and put a stop to this. But after years of watching their families and kingdoms pretend all is well, Marra realizes if any hero is coming, it will have to be Marra herself.
If Marra can complete three impossible tasks, a witch will grant her the tools she needs. But, as is the way in stories of princes and the impossible, these tasks are only the beginning of Marra’s strange and enchanting journey to save her sister and topple a throne.
“Wholly entertaining."—Buzzfeed
“A modern classic.”—Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of Every Heart A Doorway
“Pure delight. T. Kingfisher uses the bones of fairy tale to create something entirely her own.”—Emily Tesh, award-winning author of Silver in the Wood
Also by T. Kingfisher
Thornhedge
A Sorceress Comes to Call
What Moves the Dead
What Feasts at Night
A House with Good Bones
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherTor Books
- Publication dateApril 26, 2022
- File size4318 KB
Customers who bought this item also bought
Then again, few humans were truly worth the love of a living dog. Some gifts you could never deserve.Highlighted by 1,115 Kindle readers
She had not realized that a nun had more power than a princess, that she could close a door.Highlighted by 692 Kindle readers
She had been born a princess, which should have been lucky, but the price for never going hungry was to be caught in a struggle between people too powerful to call to justice.Highlighted by 545 Kindle readers
From the Publisher
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Deeply satisfying and darkly funny feminist fairytale.... 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 fairytale 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
"Kingfisher is an inventive fantasy powerhouse, and Nettle & Bone represents the burgeoning “hopepunk” ethos at its finest, with its winsome characters and focus on their fight to make the world a better place."―Bookpage, starred review
"Clever and bold-hearted . . . this rollicking feminist fairy tale is filled with redemption, community and courage, its dark passages the road to a satisfyingly uplifting endgame."―Shelf Awareness, 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
“Nettle & Bone is full of delights and surprises―and proves that [Kingfisher] has more than a few tricks left up her sleeve.”―Locus
“With NETTLE & BONE, T. Kingfisher solidifies her place as natural and inevitable heir to the greats of her genre, while remaining clearly and unquestionably a unique voice in fantasy. This book is a modern classic and belongs alongside The Last Unicorn and Spinning Silver on your shelf.”―Seanan McGuire
“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
"Kingfisher’s combination of comedy with feminist rage in a complex fairytale setting makes for a wholly entertaining read." -- Buzzfeed
“Witty, sparkling tale of a heroine’s quest, full of matter-of-fact magic, impossible tasks, and a group of fantastic and charming companions. A delight throughout.”―Louisa Morgan, author of A Secret History of Witches
“Nettle & Bone is pure delight. T. Kingfisher uses the bones of fairy tale to create something entirely her own, written in gloriously clear and transparent prose. I devoured this story of a princess-nun rescuing her sister from an abusive marriage, and every fresh turn delighted me.”―Emily Tesh, Hugo finalist, Silver in the Wood
“Nettle & Bone is what happens when all the overlooked bit players of classic fantasy somehow wind up on the main quest. It's funny, frightening, and full of heart; I loved it.”―Alix E. Harrow, author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January
“Charming and macabre―often both at the same time―Nettle & Bone has bite, proper jokes, effortlessly good storytelling and a really wonderful tomb labyrinth.”―A. K. Larkwood, author of The Unspoken Name
"Kingfisher is a master. Nettle & Bone is a wonderful entwining of darkness & whimsy - witty and brutal and hilarious and true in all the ways that matter. Also, I must immediately have my very own Bonedog."―Travis Baldree, author of Legends & Lattes
“Somehow, Kingfisher writes stories that put you at your ease and make you want to crawl out of your skin at the same time. I loved the way this horrified me―and, in the end, gave me hope.”―Kevin Hearne, New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Druid Chronicles
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B08QGL9BZD
- Publisher : Tor Books; 1st edition (April 26, 2022)
- Publication date : April 26, 2022
- Language : English
- File size : 4318 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 262 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #176 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

T. Kingfisher is the vaguely absurd pen-name of Ursula Vernon, an author from North Carolina. In another life, she writes children's books and weird comics. She has been nominated for the World Fantasy and the Eisner, and has won the Hugo, Sequoyah, Nebula, Alfie, WSFA, Coyotl and Ursa Major awards, as well as a half-dozen Junior Library Guild selections.
This is the name she uses when writing things for grown-ups. Her work includes multiple fairy-tale retellings and odd little stories about elves and goblins.
When she is not writing, she is probably out in the garden, trying to make eye contact with butterflies.
www.redwombatstudio.com
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images

-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Marra was broken hearted when Damia went away to marry the Prince from the massive kingdom across the channel, and it was if she knew she would never see her sister alive ever again. So when Damia was brought home and buried, Marra was almost too shocked to mourn. Then her sister Kania was handed off in marriage to Prince Vorling, as if he could trade one sister for the other. At the same time, Marra was sent to a convent so that Kania’s kingdom might not be married into other hands.
Marra didn’t care, as she wasn’t thrilled with being a Princess, that was until she realized her sister was being slowly killed as a brood mare and that Price Vorling was brutally beating Kania in between pregnancies. It was then that Mara planned to murder the Prince.
This is such an inventive and humorously told story about a mostly very simple young woman who wants nothing more than to live a simple life, and yet has difficult tasks thrust upon her as the only hope. Knowing she has no ability to accomplish anything alone, Marra finds a local witch who can talk to the dead. The witch gives her three impossible tasks and when she comes back after finishing two, the witch is stunned having believed the simple girl would fail and go home.
Marra collects a small group of interesting characters that help her with her quest, and of course she is helping them in some way as well. This has its horrors, and yet is utterly charming and oh so much fun. I’m so glad I went along on the quest.
Marra, the youngest and most reluctant of 3 princesses, finds herself in an abbey avoiding marriage but not knowing if she has the power to stop it. Truly, she doesn’t know if she has the power to stop anything or even DO anything. Life and her strong willed Queen Mother has shaped her to their will. But when she sees things that she can’t unsee, she knows in her heart she must act and find a way to do impossible things, to finally stand up and be the hero she needs. Can she change her fate and maybe save someone else dear to her in the process?
Marra is an excellent heroine even though courage isn’t exactly her native tongue. But perhaps, those who are scared and don’t know how they will be victorious are the most brave when they act anyhow, simply because not taking action is unthinkable. We get to meet some fabulous secondary characters as well in the dust wife and the warrior Fenris. And not one but two fairy godmothers!
This book is suitable for adults and even younger readers. I would have loved this book in late elementary and middle school also. Our MC may have a looser attitude towards romance than some YA books normally would but there is nothing terribly untoward and no real “spice” though I did like that there was some romance thrown in along the way!
Now that the tale is told, I must sit back and think on it for a while and smile with pleasure again and again.
Marra sets out on a quest to save her sister—a sister who doesn’t even like her!—and on the way, she discovers much about friendship and devotion, teamwork, and what one small step after another can accomplish.
T. Kingfisher draws on the tropes of fairytales, but pulls in a modern sensibility, and a woman’s perspective, in this story that I didn’t want to put down. More, please!
Top reviews from other countries
-
I have tons of T. Kingfisher's on my TBR list, and I'm just so glad the first I read was ‘Nettle & Bone’!
I absolutely loved Kingfisher's style of writing—she is so hilarious, and her characters are truly lovely and loveable. The book had some really fun passages and some very touching ones, both well-balanced.
-
I also completely fell in love with all of the characters.
Marra, the main one, is a princess who's not very good at politics; she was sent to a convent, so she's also a nun but not really, as she herself states. And she's got an absurdly adorable skeleton dog.
She wants to save her sister Kania from her husband, the king of the Northern Kingdom, who is beating her—and to do so she'll need the help of a few folks who'll accompany her along her quest.
So, our little team of heroes is composed of a dust-wife with a possessed hen, a warrior who tried to die, and a godmother who's quite bad at gifting babies but ends up with a cursed chick.
And have I mentioned Marra's dog made of bones? Oh, yes.
This was such a surprising and hilarious team of heroes, they had so many memorable and unique dialogue, and I just loved each of them so, so much!
-
If you tend to like reading twisted fairy tales, cosy fantasy, and books with absolutely gorgeous female characters, then you may definitely enjoy this one!
Having recently read ‘Thornhedge’, I decided to read one of Kingfisher’s earlier titles that has been on my wish list for ages. I was immediately captivated by this dark fantasy.
Princess Marra is the third-born daughter of a minor king, who rules a small city-state that houses the only deep harbor along the coast of two rival kingdoms. Her elder sister, Damia, enters into an arranged marriage with Prince Vorling of the Northern Kingdom. However, five months later her body is returned home. Then her other sister, Kania, becomes his second wife. When she turns fifteen Marra enters a convent.
Marra enjoys her life there as she has more power and freedom as a nun than as a princess of the realm. Years pass. When accompanying her family on a visit to the Northern Kingdom, Kania says to her: “Listen! If I die, don’t let her marry you off to the prince. Run away. Ruin yourself. Whatever it takes.” Frightening words.
Marra realises that Prince Vorling is abusing Kania and decides to find a way to rescue her - by killing him. In order to obtain the tools to accomplish this she seeks help from a powerful dust-wife (a gravewitch). Elspeth agrees to help if Marra can complete three impossible tasks.
This is just the beginning of Marra’s quest. She is joined by Elspeth, Bonedog, a magically reanimated dog made of bones, Agnes, a reluctant fairy godmother, Fenris, a former knight, and Finder, a chicken possessed by a demon. This unlikely team plan to somehow take out the prince and free Marra's family and their kingdom from his tyrannous rule.
Kingfisher manages to incorporate some quite gruesome segments alongside lighter, sweet scenes. I feel that it take considerable skill to negotiate that line between the light and dark successfully.
Overall, I loved ‘Nettle & Bone’ and found it a satisfying fantasy with excellent world building. I enjoyed this very much and felt that Marra was a wonderful lead with a quirky supporting cast.











