Fiction: Thorn by Intisar Khanani

     Thorn is an immersive retelling of “The Goose Girl” fairy tale.  The novel mirrors the fairy tale’s plot points but with more depth and nuance.
     The main character, Alyrra, is a princess in a small kingdom.  She is ostracized by her widowed mother and physically abusive brother, and spends most of her time hiding among the servants or riding to a forest glen where she confesses her troubles to her friend, the Wind. 
     A foreign king comes to arrange a marriage between Alyrra and his son.  Alyrra is soon betrothed and enroute to the foreign country, accompanied by a hateful fellow noble she once publicly humiliated (Valka) and an unrideable white horse named Falada, an underhanded gift from her brother.

     By the time they arrive at their destination, the hateful noblewoman Valka has stolen Alyrra’s identity and semblance, thanks to a terrifying and all-powerful sorceress.  The sorceress manufactured this exchange as part of a plot to harm the young prince. 

     Alyrra herself is offered the job of a goose girl with a churlish young man who reminds her of her cruel brother.  But she discovers Falada is a Horse, a wise being who can talk and offer her counsel.  She also makes friends among the stable hostlers and is soon happier than she ever was living among the politicking nobility. 
     But the problem of Valka and the powerful sorceress plotting to kill the prince remains.  Alyrra offers to write letters home for Valka (since she can’t replicate Alyrra's handwriting) in exchange for Valka’s agreement to not harm the prince, but this is only a temporary solution at best.  The prince discovers the letters and questions Alyrra, essentially accusing her of forgery and deceit.

     The nature of justice and the price we pay for avenging past wrongs runs throughout the novel and is one of the strongest elements of the story.   A chance encounter with a renowned thief draws Alyrra into the city's underworld.  She comes to understand that the soldiers charged with upholding the king’s law offer no protection to the poor.  Their callous disregard is underscored when one of her friends is brutally attacked.  When the guards do nothing, Alyrra calls on her thief friend to find the attackers, but his “justice” is more brutal than she anticipated. 

     Alyrra loses her beloved Falada and dithers longer than she should, hiding among her fellow servants. Then the churlish goose boy attacks her and she calls on her friend the Wind to help her.  This sets off the climax and she finally confronts the sorceress—with compassion and understanding. 
     She applies these same traits to handling the usurper Valka, and this is another strong element of the story: the King decrees a horrendous execution, but Alyrra tempers his “justice” with compassion, recognizing how revenge ultimately poisons the avenger and leads only to more hatred. 
     I’m reminded of the quote by Friedrich Nietzsche: “Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster.”

     I especially enjoyed that it was the princess saving the prince in this story, and that the romance storyline was handled with emotional maturity. 
     Love is strongly suggested at the end but in no way assured: “I cannot yet tell him I love him, because we need more time without games and deceit between us to find such love.”

     There are weaknesses in the novel: the (justified) accusation against Valka that earned Alyrra her family's enmity seemed relatively minor to me.  It was a political faux pas to accuse the daughter of her mother’s most powerful political ally in public, but Alyrra was a child.  It was poor leadership on her mother’s part that she couldn’t smooth over Alyrra’s mistake, and unforgivable that she ignored her son’s physical abuse of his sister. The fraught situation felt like a plot device to create sympathy for Alyrra—and worked as designed.
     The book contained typical YA fantasy tropes: handsome prince whose motives are misinterpreted by the heroine; an admirable young heroine who can’t see her own worth, yet overcomes her lack of confidence to win the day.  

     However, these tropes were all well-executed and Alyrra’s motivations made complete sense within her worldview and the story as a whole, which kept me immersed and created a satisfying ending. 
     Thorn is a compelling read.  Once I opened the book, I only put it down once to eat supper, then hurried back to finish!  Recommended for lovers of retold fairy tales and “romantasy” fiction.

For another fresh take on The Goose Girl, read my review of A Sorceress Comes to Call

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