I am a longtime McKillip fan. I remember finding “Riddle-Master of Hed” on a used book rack as a young teen. When I finished reading it, I held the closed book in my hands, turned it over, and started reading it again to see all the connections I had missed the first time. Her “Forgotten Beasts of Eld” was my favorite book for many years.
Over the years I wandered away from automatically reading everything she published. The same themes and characters seemed remixed in each book, and the stories floated along vaguely without making sense.
I picked up Kingfisher when it popped up in a library search for “T.Kingfisher”. It’s a more recent book, from 2016. The King Arthur underpinnings give the book a strong structure, and the way she fixes the fore-doomed parts of the story is very satisfying.
Like with “Riddle-Master of Hed,” I turned the book over and started again when I finished it. It rewarded re-reading with more connections with the King Arthur story, and more details that I skimmed over the first time.
There is a strong theme of missing parents, and repairing broken connections. Some of the familiar themes were missing – no musicians! Some were there – cauldrons and castle kitchens cooking feasts. Shape changing. Learning magical skills quickly and easily. I liked that perceptiveness was a valued magical skill.
On the positive side, there are strong, competent women knights. On the negative side, all the important women characters are tall, willowy, and have light hair and eyes. A couple of incidental characters without speaking parts are described as plump. All the relationships are heterosexual. Everyone seems to be white. Even the man described as having “lamb’s wool” hair is also described as having pale colored hair. I would have hoped for better from a book written in 2016.
Recommended with those caveats.
