I received an advance reader’s copy (ARC) of Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher. Since this version is just a proof and not the final version, I won’t quote directly and will keep my comments general.

T. Kingfisher is an auto-read author for me, if you haven’t noticed by now. I have yet to read a book of hers that I didn’t like!

Hemlock & Silver follows Anja, a healer who specializes in poisons and their cures. Due to her profession, most people regard her as rather strange, but she doesn’t care, as long as she’s got work. So when the king hires her to discover what ails his daughter Princess Snow, she agrees and travels to the palace. Once there, she finds more questions than just what’s wrong with Snow. Because the other princess, Rose, has died recently after her mother attacked her. And then there’s the mirrors all over the palace, and the bizarre world that Anja finds beyond them. Surely this place doesn’t have anything to do with Snow’s sickness… right?

I don’t know how else to start this review besides saying THIS WAS SO GOOD. I don’t even gravitate toward fairy tale retellings that often, except apparently when they’re written by Kingfisher. Then, I devour them.

Firstly, I love how all the key elements of the Snow White story are present—the apple, the mirror, the wicked queen—but twisted about in such clever ways. And Anja is a wonderful main character to follow on this journey, full of wit and intellect but also very much out of her element in the strange world of magic and mystery that the palace offers. I further loved how analytical and scientific she is, as that’s something you don’t often see in fantasy novels. And sure, her version of science is quite outdated, relying on the four humors, but she still has a decent understanding of the scientific method, and I loved her approach to research.

Beyond Anja, Kingfisher continues to prove herself incredibly adept at writing likeable characters, especially of the supporting variety. For example, I want to be best friends with Javier, Anja’s bodyguard. And their relationship was completely delightful to watch grow and change. The other supporting characters like Grayling, Aaron, Lady Sorrel, Snow, and the king were also fantastic. Sometimes the dialogue sounds a little too modern to me, and kind of takes me out of the story. On the other hand, I suppose it’s nice that Kingfisher doesn’t let herself get bogged down in writing the characters speaking in a stuffy Renaissance-esque style. Plus, their interactions are fun to read about.

But other than wonderful characters, this book features another thing I love: Kingfisher’s signature creepy things. Though this book isn’t nearly as scary as The Twisted Ones, it does have some seriously wild stuff in it, and honestly, I loved it. The mirror world is so eerily amazing, if a bit gross at times. Yet somehow, there’s a sense of playfulness in this place and in Kingfisher’s prose that keeps this firmly in the fairy tale category—if a fairy tale that definitely leans more Grimm than Disney (as fairy tales should, in my opinion). And the way that everything came together at the end, with revelations and drama and action, was excellent and gripping. This was good, considering a couple of Kingfisher’s endings have felt a tiny bit anticlimactic to me, and I was glad to see that wasn’t the case here.

In the end, I loved Hemlock & Silver. It’s a dark story rife with frightening images, but also has a lot of humor and witty dialogue that makes for a nice balance. I adore the characters, and the plot moves along at a great pace. The audiobook, narrated by Jennifer Pickens, is a stellar production. This is definitely a story I can see myself rereading, one of my favorite Kingfisher books to date, and I can’t wait to buy the finished version!

Hemlock & Silver will be published on August 19th, 2025!