.LacyMB reviews UrsulaV's NettleAndBone, a slim gut-punch of a fantasy novel that is one of the spring's most unexpected (and bittersweet) delights.
were absolutely formative for me as both a reader and fantasy fan. Beagle’s unique style, which is simultaneously bleak and beautiful, heartbreaking and heartfelt, and full of bittersweet ruminations about loss and regret, mimics the delicate and complicated strangeness of the best sorts of fairytales. As an author, Beagle both understands the reasons we keep coming back to these kinds of stories and shares our love of them, which makes the simple act of reading his works a soul-deep delight.
Our unlikely heroine is Marra, the youngest daughter of the tiny Harbor Kingdom and a princess who prefers needlework to the politics of ruling. As a third-born daughter, she is able to avoid her sisters’ fates of marrying for the good of the kingdom, and is sent to a convent instead, where she is allowed to sew, read, and learn a variety of applicable real life skills that a sheltered royal would never have had reason to know.
Set three impossible tasks by a powerful witch known as a dust-wife who can speak with the souls of the dead, Marra must weave a cloak of nettles, build a dog of bones, and capture moonlight in a jar in exchange for the tools to kill Vorling. And in most books, this would likely be the extent of the story, as Marra tries valiantly but finds herself incapable of violence, learns a valuable lesson about the value of life, or somehow manages to help the prince see the errors of his ways.
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