Book Review: Thorn | Intisar Khanani

This is Book #7 overall that I read this year. I read this book because I thought that it would count for my 20 or 2020 Challenge. This book was actually released in 2012 and was just re-released this year so it doesn't count towards my 2020 challenge. I'll start with a spoiler-free discussion and have a brief discussion of spoilers.

This book is a retelling of the Goose Girl. While reading the book I wasn't even aware that it was a retelling. I wasn't familiar with the original story so I wasn't sure where the story was heading. If I had known that this was a retelling or if I had known more about the original story, I think that would have helped my perception of the pacing. I have been trying to go into books more blind, but that might not be the best decision. I liked the book, but I think it definitely dragged a little and was a bit longer than it needed to be. It was quite a simple story that was stretched over so many pages.

My favorite part of the book was definitely the main character, Thorn. I loved her. I thought her character was really interesting. I don't usually like those kinds of perfect "Snow White" type characters. But Thorn was portrayed in a way that was sweet in a completely unselfish way. These super sweet characters usually seem really insincere and like they have hidden motives for why they are acting this way. Thorn doesn't do these things for the respect of others or so other people like her. She does them because she cares about other people and it's the right thing to do. That or they can become pushovers and let really bad people off the hook because they choose to forgive them or see the best in them. Thorn seems really sincere in how she cares for other people and how she will sacrifice herself for the good of others. She's not annoyingly heroic. I also like that she fights for justice against bad people. I didn't really understand some of her decisions or thought processes and it got a little frustrating at times, but overall I did really like her as a character. I also thought Valka was a great villain. I loved to hate her.

I do want to talk a little bit more about the release date. I decided to read this because it was on a collection of 2020 recent releases and I thought it was available to rent at my library. After finishing the book I found out that this was originally released in 2012, and was re-released in 2020. It doesn't seem like many changes really happened between the two versions either. This book says that it's supposed to be part of a series. I think this does work very well as a stand alone, but there were some aspects that do seem unfinished. I think this book would work best as a stand alone, but these unfinished aspects should (and easily could) have been addressed in this book. A lot of the side character's arcs seem unfinished including Prince Kestrin and Red Hawk. Falada seemed pretty useless as a character to me. Even though additional books seemed unnecessary in my opinion, it made these unfinished character arcs purposeful to try and add more material and purpose for the rest of the series. But, knowing that this book was originally published in 2012, it makes it seem that an additional book is extremely unlikely. Maybe the re-release will create more demand for a sequel and one will be created. Also, the short story at the end seemed pretty pointless to me.

The magical side of the world was not really explored. I didn't like that we never really learned much about how magic worked in this world. The magic system was very confusing to me throughout and I couldn't understand how it all worked. Also the climax of the story was extremely anticlimactic.

When reading a summary of the original Goose Girl story, I like how the story was modified in this retelling. I like the ways that it was made more modern and how it was altered to fit the new themes and messages.

***SPOILER SECTION***

The fight with the lady was extremely unsatisfying for me. Valka's reveal was extremely satisfying though. I loved that part where everyone discovered who she truly was. It was so easy to hate Valka, so it was so rewarding to see her finally get punished.

That's pretty much the only spoiler thing that I wanted to discuss really quick.

***END OF SPOILER SECTION***

Overall, I did like the book. I didn't love it as much as I wanted to but while reading it I did like it. I'd give this a 3/5. Have you read this book? I'd love to hear your thoughts down below.