Hunted meets The Wrath and the Dawn in this bold fairytale retelling—where court intrigue, false identities, and dark secrets will thrill fans of classic and contemporary fantasy alike.
Princess Alyrra has always longed to escape the confines of her royal life, but when her mother betroths her to a powerful prince in a distant kingdom, she has little hope for a better future.
Until Alyrra … hope for a better future.
Until Alyrra arrives at her new kingdom, where a mysterious sorceress robs her of both her identity and her role as princess—and Alyrra seizes on the opportunity to start a new life for herself as a goose girl.
But as Alyrra uncovers dangerous secrets about her new world, including a threat to the prince himself, she knows she can’t remain silent forever. With the fate of the kingdom at stake, Alyrra is caught between two worlds, and ultimately must decide who she is and what she stands for.
Originally self-published as an ebook and now brought to life with completely revised text, Thorn also features an additional short story set in-world, The Bone Knife.
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I should start this review off by saying that I am terribly biased. The Goose Girl was one of my favourite faerie tales when I was growing up. To this day, I can still hear my mother’s voice reading off the words: “Alas, alas, if thy mother knew it; sadly, sadly, she would rue it.”
That said, because I love The Goose Girl so much, I think there was the potential that I might have been disappointed in a poor retelling. I can safely say that Thorn is an even more worthy retelling than I was expecting, however. I am used to reading shallow faerie tale retellings which focus on surface-level romance and take no chances. Thorn surprised and delighted me more than once by taking the harder path, using the original faerie tale to expose cruel realities and hard choices. Thoreena was a complex main character who did her best to make good choices, even when the problems had no easy answers. Occasionally, she dragged her feet against those hard choices in a way that some readers might find tiring—but I empathized with her situation, and I found that the time she spent delaying only made her final decisions that much more satisfying.
I respected the author’s portrayal of the prince in the story as well; a matter which I found even more surprising, as I rarely enjoy portrayals of pampered, powerful people. For all of his good intentions, the prince is often realistically hindered by his total lack of understanding of the way the world works for those less powerful. That he is shown as well-intentioned but ultimately incapable of carrying out the good he wishes without more knowing help strikes incredibly true for me, and so I was able to care about him as a character, in spite of his clueless privilege.
There were times overall when the story might have benefitted from some tightening up, but none of that detracts from the deeply thoughtful, sentimental feelings it gave me. I was reminded of reading my first Tamora Pierce novel—the writing is simple and heartfelt, but it addresses its audience as though they are mature, and worthy of hard questions and themes.
In short, I will be picking up a physical copy of Thorn for my shelf, where space is surely at a premium. I am absolutely certain that I will reread it again and again.
Princess Alyrra has the chance to escape her abusive life, but it means marrying a prince she’s never met, one with a murky reputation. Before she can reach her new home, a vengeful sorceress strips her of her identity and her role as princess. Alyrra seized the opportunity to leave behind the politics and intrigues of court life. She takes a job as a goose girl, believing it will offer her the value she so deeply desires. But as events progress and more lives are put at risk, Alyrra must decide what she truly believes in.
I struggled with the beginning of this one. The first page was so negative that I abandoned it twice. But I gave it a third chance and I’m so glad I did! There’s a reason the beginning is so depressing, and Khanani does an amazing job of working just the right emotion in the reader. We despair and fear with Alyrra, but we hope and thrill with her too. The heartbreak she feels in the face of tragedy is told in such a way to bring you to tears.
Alyrra truly wants to believe she’s doing the right thing, but as things get progressively worse, she must stop pretending and accept her fate. But it’s not as trite as that. In order for her to take her rightful place as princess, Alyrra must face the deepest fear caused by years of abuse and manipulation. Khanani handles these with great care and consideration.
In the end I loved everything about this book. I’m so glad I didn’t give up on it, and I’m super excited to learn there’s another coming out next year. If you’re looking for a fairytale retelling full of heart that’s not afraid to tackle deeper topics, this is the story for you!
I just adore Intisar Khanani’s characters and worlds. Thorn was a delight with characters it was easy to love struggling to find a way forward after events turned their world upside down. Loved it.
I almost didn’t read this book (because the blurb sounds very similar to other books I’ve read) but that would have been a shame since this book was AMAZING! I’m so grateful to have won it on Instagram. I almost shouted and cried at one point of the story (if you read it, you might know which part). The MC is chock-full of humility, honor and courage. She’s one to root for! I’m usually not a fan of first person POV but the execution of the story was stellar. I started to read slower because I wanted to savor the words and not let the story end. Engaging, enthralling and entertaining, earning a whole-hearted 5 stars from me and a spot on my favorites shelf. A must read for YA and fantasy fans.
The writing in this book is nothing short of amazing. Through all of her works I have read, I can ell you this: Intisar is a master wordsmith. Better than many best selling authors even, and that’s no overstatement. (Probably an understatement, if anything.)
I also liked that I have finally found a fantasy world that isn’t strictly populated with white people, which is so, so incredibly nice. Such diversity sets this world apart and is remarkably refreshing.
I occasionally felt the novel was slow, though not too much for me to dock the book a full point. Even so, with today’s literature we as readers grow accustomed to fast-paced action tossing us from place to place, but just because a story differs from that trend isn’t a bad thing. If anything, it’s something to be welcomed for a change of scenery. The characters were nice and varied, and the world is full and fleshed out. The plot itself was also well done.
For its rich world, refreshing quality and astounding writing, Thorn earns itself top marks!
I highly recommend this book. Thorn is a retelling of the Goose Girl fairy tale, but it reads as a fresh and original story. Thorn does not follow the typical tropes of fantasy.
Plot seemed familiar, not a bad read just not a page Turner for me.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this book as goose girl isn’t one of my favorite fairytale but I tried the sample and I was hooked. The language is so rich and the description placed me right in the story with our main character. This book brings in new details but also holds true to the original story. It invoked so much emotion as I read. I found myself in tears at the sad parts and my heart racing as Thorn escaped and then ended up falling down a ravine. There was so much to love about this story and I really enjoyed how the prince was the wind and how he had been part of her life for longer than she imagined.
I loved the progression of our main character from someone who wanted to hide to a brave woman who stood up for herself and fought for those weaker than her. There were stories within the story, such a wonderful book. I highly recommend it!
My favorite of the Goose Girl retellings.
I had a distinct sense of déjà vu when starting to read this book. I thought whoa, wait—didn’t I already read this? But then I realized it wasn’t quite the same, and what I had already read was THE GOOSE GIRL by Shannon Hale. So this is a different fairy tale retelling of “The Goose Girl,” similar and yet not. The main points were basically the same, but the differences were intriguing and made this one unique from THE GOOSE GIRL. I really can’t say one book was better than the other; I liked them both. The ending was satisfying, with no declarations of instant love anywhere that would’ve seemed fake.
It was a bit bloody and violent in parts, so beware of beatings, physical abuse, and rape triggers. I enjoyed the twist/reveal with the Wind. There were interesting explorations of justice, revenge, and forgiveness playing out in this book that give great food for thought, ideas to think about long after the last pages are read.
Thorn follows Princess Alyrra, who later becomes Thorena on a journey to discover the meaning of justice and the strength inside herself.
Now, while I appreciated the message behind the novel, I have to say I did have a tough time getting into the novel. The reason being is that the plot dragged on. There is much talk of Alyrra being submissive, allowing herself to be a prisoner by making herself a prisoner of her fear, but for much of the beginning, it is unsure how the plot is going to proceed. Moreover, when the plot finally gains some semblance of momentum when she becomes the Goose Girl, it continues to drag on. It feels too long, and a really well-written novel should not feel exhausting to read.
Nevertheless, this novel does deal with a lot of important issues. There is much abuse going on, physical, mental and emotional abuse inflicted on Alyrra that she has to overcome. For Alyrra, it is empowering. The moments when she starts to stand up for herself and finds her voice, those are some of the best moments in the novel and they showcase Khanani’s talent at character development. Alyrra does become fierce but she does not lose her kindness, her goodness, and that is very important.
The novel does raise this argument of justice versus revenge. The fairy in this novel is trying to get justice for her mother but in doing so, has let her need for revenge corrupt her. At one point, Alyrra seeks justice for her friend left for dead in an alleyway, but when faced with the kind of justice she has dealt, she begins to question what is right, what is justice, and how it can be defined. Her sense of right versus wrong is strong and it does raise this question for the reader: when does justice stop being justice? It is a thought-provoking moment in the novel that is addressed in various situations for the reader to see through Alyrra’s eyes.
Overall, while the messages behind the novel are powerful, and the character development brilliantly done, the overall story takes too long to develop leaving those core messages lost on the reader.
Disclaimer: I read an ACR copy of the revised 2020 version of the book from the author. However, I am keeping my original review of the 2012 publication below as well, which I purchased on my own.
I have had the privilege of watching this book grow and mature from a solid good story to a highly polished gem. Intisar Khanani has put in an enormous effort (an extra 20,000 words!) into fleshing out Alyrra’s emotional growth and character development and the book has only gotten stronger for it. This is a book of self-discovery, healing, the debate on what is right and what is just and what the law is and should be for people. It is about finding yourself and personal responsibility. I cannot stress enough how much I find the newly published book to be inspiring. As Intisar’s dedication states this book is “for every girl who has ever doubted she has what it takes.”
Original 2012 review:
I came across this book by accident, having heard that a high school classmate had published her first novel, so I went to Amazon to have a look out of curiosity and purchased it when I saw that it was a fantasy genre, which generally appeals to me. This was all I knew about the book before I started reading. This is a retelling of the Goose Girl fairytale, but I must be one of the only people not to have known this tale beforehand, so aside from a broad archetype tale of lost heroine looking for her happy ending I really had no clues to the plot at all.
It was a wonderful read for me. The only bad thing I can say about this book is that I rather dislike narrative in the present tense. I was quite disappointed at the first page when I realised it was going to be told this way, but within a couple of chapters it stopped mattering, which to me means the prose flowed well enough that I could sink into the whole tale and envision it around me as I read without being distracted by clumsy narrative or forced descriptions or anything. I was in Thorn’s world from beginning to end and nothing in the writing made me stop and go “oh, well that was awkwardly put…” In fact, I couldn’t put it down and read the whole book in one sitting.
I love the fact that, for a book categorised as Young Adult fiction, it deals with very serious themes. I think there are too many YA novels I read when younger that under-estimate the depth and maturity of their YA readers. This book does not hide cruelty or sugarcoat people’s vices, but it deals with each such issue solemnly to allow younger readers to explore the world of humanity and question actions and consequences. I might no longer be a young reader myself but I thoroughly enjoyed this tale and look forward to reading more from this author!
This book was different but in a good way. Ms. Khanani didn’t sugarcoat the tough themes – abuse, rape, poverty. I liked that the main character, Alyrra/Thorn, had to think through the meaning of justice. What is cruel punishment for a crime? What is a fair punishment for a crime? Are the laws too lax or exacting?