Nettle & Bone

I read this book because Rish talked about the author on his podcast. I figured I ought to check her out. I got on Libby and reserved some of her books. When it came up, I checked it out and started listening. When I told Rish what I was listening to, he said, "That's the best one." I had high hopes...

It took quite a while for the book to catch on for me, though. The earlier parts of the book didn't grab me all that much. In fact, despite the book being rather short compared to other things I've listened to, I managed to let the time run out on my check out. I had to return the book when I was only four hours in, and wait until it came up for me again.

When it came back up, though, the book felt more alive and exciting to me. Once we got to the part that the quest seemed to truly begin, it felt more urgent and exciting. I was more interested in coming back again and again, and I didn't forget that I had a book to listen to like I had done with it earlier. The last half of the book flew past, and I finished it in days. I returned it substantially early.

Admittedly, the story never really quite appealed to me. The quest was a little strange to me all along. The main character was desperate to save her sister. However, it wasn't the sister that she liked, but the one that she claimed hated her all through growing up. Why did they need to save her? Well, because her evil husband was making her pregnant. The main character was convinced that she was going to die from the pregnancies. Not to deny the danger of a medieval woman's risk from childbirth, but even then, getting pregnant was one of a human being's main drives. It's seems like going on a quest to stop her sister's husband from feeding her too much food, because people who ate too much got obese and might have a heart attack. Everybody around is desperately working to have enough food to survive, but our characters want to save their sister from eating too much?

Other than that, though, it was very interesting and fun. It went in directions that I didn't expect, and kept me coming back for more once we got past the early slowness. There was a little lack in the danger that they were in. It seemed like the author had Nerfed all the challenges they faced. When the Thief Wheel comes for them, takes them, and then just lets them go,  I had to wonder why anyone was scared of it and why there were people stuck on it to begin with.

I guess I'm not as big of a fan of T. Kingfisher as Rish is yet. We'll see if further experience with the author will catch me more. I have a couple more books by her on hold. So, depending on how things shake out, I'll be reading her again sometime soon.