I am very ugly and she will be beautiful and there is no reason that you should believe the fairy instead of the girl. The stories go the other way. [p. 84]
Toadling has been guarding the tower, and the thorn wall around it, for more years than she can remember. The world around the tower has changed beyond recognition. Surely by now people have stopped telling stories about 'a princess in a tower and a hedge of thorns to keep the princes out'? But one day a knight makes camp near the thorn hedge, and Toadling, whilst tying elf-knots into his hair, finds herself conversing with a human for the first time in centuries.
This is a sweet story with dark shadows: not the Sleeping Beauty familiar from fairytale and film, but a story about a changeling, a knight, and a monster. Halim, the knight (who gently tells Toadling that the word 'Saracen' is not used much any more), prefers stories to swordplay, and wants to break the curse that he believes is afflicting Toadling. She tries to convince him that there's no curse: that her occasional dropping into toad-form is normal and natural. If there's a curse, it's her own gift gone awry. But she has tried, for such a long time, to do her best. And she tells him of the time when she lived in the castle, before the hedge of thorns grew...
Subtle, poignant and written with precision and elegance, Thornhedge tells a familiar story in an unexpected way. And, after all the horrors, there's a happily ever after -- though time, as Toadling reflects to herself, flows differently depending which world you're in. Ever after, or just for now: happiness still matters.
Shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Novella, 2024.
No comments:
Post a Comment