If you follow my reviews, you know I'm a sucker for a fractured fairytale and this is one of the sweetest I've read.
Toadling was born human but raised by faery folk in the swamps where she learned how to turn herself into a toad. She never remembered her birth family but always felt loved and protected by the greenteeth. So it was with a great deal of surprise that she received an order from the hare goddess to return to her human family and give a gift of magic to the changeling that had been left in her place. Since time moves quite differently in Faery, Toadling is faced with a squalling infant and an anxious mother. Toadling is also faced with the knowledge that she is interacting with her birth parents who have no idea of what lies in their cradle. And although she had practiced and practiced, when the time came to speak the spell, she was altogether unprepared. So it went rather badly…
Feeling responsible for the baby because the spell wasn't cast properly, Toadling spent years watching the infant grow into a child; unable to help or fix what went wrong. Until, in desperation, she was forced to put the child to sleep in a tower and protect her with thorny bushes and brambles. And then she waited.
Many knights heard the story and came to the tower to try their luck. All failed. And Toadling maintained her vigil. For centuries.
And then a different type of knight appeared. He was different. And Toadling found herself feeling different, as well. She discovered that she didn't know what she wanted to happen. Did she want the knight to rescue the girl? Or did she want him to go away as all the others did. But if he did, she'd be all alone again. And what would she do if he did manage to break the sleeping spell?
This story totally turns the innocent princess trope on its head. The knight isn't anything like knights in other fairytales. And there's not anything like Toadling. The story POV changes from Toadling's present where she dithers about what to do; to her past, which explains how and why she came to this situation. It was a charming journey. And it certainly gives one a different perspective of sleeping beauties and dauntless knights.
Kingfisher handles poor Toadling so gently, it's rather difficult to envision a bad ending. But the reader does experience a bit of tension while we wonder just what would give Toadling her happy-ever-after; and whether that's in the cards for her. ~~ Catherine Book
