Praiseworthy Pages

Reader Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (5/5 stars)

This novel caught me entirely by surprise; I was not expecting to love it as much as I did. The magic, the characters, the plot, and the relationships were all so meaningful, so well-rounded, so multi-faceted! It’s a dark, earthy fiction that will remind you of why humanity still finds solace in fairytales.

Language: 8/10 (Mild/rare swearing).
Sex: 8/10 (Mild allusions to sex, especially child-bearing).
Violence and gore: 7/10 (Not detailed or extensive).

Plot: 9/10 (Very rarely does a reader stumble across a fairytale that’s utterly unique, a story that’s never been told before. But two old ladies, a stammering princess-turned-nun, a disgraced ex-knight, a demon chicken, and a dog made of bones? That’s new).
Characters: 10/10 (I’m obsessed with the way Marra’s voice remains completely individual. Not many authors have the courage to write a main character with such obvious social weaknesses, and Kingfisher did it beautifully. Also, Fenris? The dust-wife? Agnes? I love).
Writing style: 9/10 (The only, only, only thing that threw me off were the couple times that, stylistically, sentences started off without capital letters. As an editor, that rubbed me the wrong way).

Genre: New adult literature, adult literature, horror, fantasy, closed-door romance, etc.
Potential triggers: Domestic violence, loss of loved ones, miscarriage, murder, etc.
Is this book part of a series? No.
I would recommend this book to readers 14+.