Thursday, December 31, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Thorn by Intisar Khanani

 



Thorn was an originally self published YA Fantasy novel by Intisar Khanani, which was picked up by a major publisher and rereleased this year.  I've actually read one of Khanani's earlier fantasy self-published series (Sunbolt/Memories of Ash), which were both very enjoyable if highly and sometimes distractingly derivative of other works (My review of both stories are here and here).  So it's no surprise that Thorn is openly derivative - the story is in large part an adaptation of The Brothers Grimm's fairy tale "The Goose Girl" into a more fantasy-esque world, to go along with other additions to make this a full novel.  

And well, Thorn manages to portray a strong voiced main character and deals with some strong themes about class and justice in a monarchal fantasy world, which made often made it compelling and hard to put down.  These themes are grafted on as additions to the fantasy version of The Goose Girl story (featuring vengeful Sorceress) and the additions work incredibly well.  At the same time however, the book tries to stick to the story of The Goose Girl as its skeleton, and always comes back to that story even when it's significantly less interesting than the additions.  The result works overall as a novel, but couldn't help make me long for a version of this book less tied to the original Brothers Grimm story.  

TRIGGER WARNING:  Rape (never on page, but the after effects are seen) and Physical Abuse, rarely on page, form major parts of the plot.  They're handled well and are never superfluous, but be forewarned.  

Note:  I read this in audiobook form, and as such if I misspell any names or concepts, that's the reason why.  

----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------------
Princess Alyrra of Adania has always hated the royal life, preferring to spend time with the servants and common people than the nobility.  And as a result of one past act in which she spoke in favor of a servant against a noble girl, Valka, she is shunned by her mother the Queen and abused by her vicious brother, the Prince.  So when the King of Menaiya, a far richer and more powerful kingdom, comes to Adania seeking her hand in marriage for his son, Prince Kestrin, she has no idea what to think, although getting as far away from her brother as possible is a relief.  

But on the journey between Adania and Menaiya, Alyrra falls prey to a deal between Valka and a Sorceress bent on the destruction of the Menaiyan royal family, who casts a spell switching Alyrra and Valka's bodies.  With Valka pretending to be the princess, Alyrra finds herself banished to the life of a common goose girl named Thorn and living in the stables with other common servants.  And despite Valka's efforts, Alyrra finds that she truly enjoys the role of Goose Girl and she is truly content to enjoy the freedom from the Court the spell provides her.  

Yet despite Alyrra's best efforts to enjoy her new life, she can't help notice the injustice at the heart of the kingdom of Menaiya, where kidnappings and worse of commoners go uncared for by the nobles and the only justice to be found is that of street justice.  Soon she will find that the only way to change things might be to try and reclaim her role, even if that means confronting an arrogant Valka and a Sorceress who will do anything to get her vengeance.....
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Thorn is a novel clearly based upon Brothers' Grimm story, The Goose Girl.  As such, readers familiar with the story will know certain things are going to happen, because Khanani sticks very much to the beats of that story: the princess and her cruel corrupt lady in waiting are going to change places, the princess will become the goose girl and still attract the curious attention of royalty, only revealing the truth to an "empty" room....these all happen as in the original story.  Where this adaptation shifts things is in a few places:  first, it makes the plot take on a fantasy aspect, with the place-switching being via magic, and featuring a vengeful sorceress and mages on the sidelines.  Secondly, and more importantly, it builds a more in depth character in the story's protagonist: Alyrra, a/k/a Thorn.  

And Alyrra/Thorn is a tremendous character whose voice carries this story.  Abused by her brother and disrespected by her mother and accordingly the rest of her home Court for taking the side of a servant over that of Valka - who had stolen a jewel and blamed the servant - Alyrra finds herself caring more for the common people than the nobles and while she's glad to get out of her home, she can't help but fear ulterior motives on behalf of the King and Prince of Menaiya, despite their assurances of meaning no harm and that they want to protect her.  After all, Alyrra's defining trait is "honesty" and "caring for others" which are seen only as weaknesses in noble company.  So when she is turned into Thorn and given the job of a lowly servant - taking out the geese and then working with the horses, Alyrra finds herself more than content....and the moment she realizes that her fellow servants actually care for her, its the greatest moment of her life.  And so, if it wasn't for the fact that she feels guilty her body-swap puts the Prince at risk of being betrayed by Valka and the Sorceress, she would have no concerns going full on into her role and leaving the Court behind. 

But Menaiya is not a city of justice for common people, and Alyrra's attempts to ignore politics aren't possible - for this is a city where young women and children are snatched off the street without fear of punishment, where the noble guards and lords care more for hunting down thieves from the rich than the cares of the poor, where the thieves themselves are better instruments of justice than the royals and nobles even attempt to be.  It's a city where such justice, if ever found, is always harsh and brutal, and Alyrra sees first hand how cruel this is to her new fellows and is desperate to try and change things.  But to her dismay, despite her situation coming to the attention of the Prince, he finds himself in his privileged world unable to really understand the problem.  You might expect Alyrra to decide to go back to her role as princess to try and change things, but she isn't interested in doing so when her betrothed clearly cannot see the injustice his family has allowed to propagate.  This theme of class, as seen through Alyrra's goodhearted if a little naive eyes, is really well done.  

But unfortunately, Khanani keeps coming back to the Goose Girl story, even in parts that don't really make sense for her new context (the spilling the truth to an empty room scene is tremendously contrived and makes no sense for this story).  So Alyrra needs to wind up with the Prince, and while the book provides some late context that explains why she might find herself more willing to trust and care for him, it just feels like such an awkward fit given what comes before: especially when it all winds up in a fantasy conclusion in the book's final act requiring Alyrra to vouch for the same Prince who couldn't see injustice when she brought it to him.  Khanani wrote a story with some really interesting main character, side characters, and themes in Alyrra's dealings with commoners in the city, but her returning to the noble Court is just nowhere near as interesting....and doesn't really follow from what came before except for the fact that it has to happen to fit the Goose Girl story.  

A sequel to this book is coming next year (I think it was also originally self published) and promises perhaps to follow up on the themes of class and justice that this book abandons near the end, so there's some hope that we'll get a more satisfactory conclusion to the elements I was most interested in.  And my audio copy of this book features a short story at the end featuring book 2's protagonist, who is certainly interesting - so I will be back.  I still wish however, that this book's editor had argued in favor of the author being more willing to diverge from the story that inspired her, because it's what prevents this from being a YA novel I can truly unequivocally recommend.

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