Hugos 2024: Thornhedge by Ursula Vernon

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

Published: 2023
Acquired: April 2024
Read: June 2024

This is a finalist for the Best Novella Hugo; while I automatically pick up (almost) all Best Novel finalists, I only purchase finalists in other categories for authors I particularly like. T. Kingfisher (a.k.a. Ursula Vernon) is one of those authors, as I have very much enjoyed her previous Hugo finalists, especially A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking.

This is a fairy tale retelling, focusing on Sleeping Beauty—the central conceit is the question, "What if there was a good reason for the fairy godmother to put her to sleep for a long time?" It's an interesting idea, but I didn't find the execution very interesting; this is probably the weakest Kingfisher/Vernon book I've read. Most of it is given over to the backstory of the godmother, which is doled out pretty slowly, and I didn't find the climax of the story very interesting. It's well written of course, but it doesn't compare to, say, last year's What Moves the Dead or Nettle and Bone for complexity and depth.