Hemlock and Silver by T. Kingfisher

TL;DR: A slower starting Kingfisher with fun mirror elements.
Source: NetGalley , Thank you so much to the publisher!

Plot: Anya is obsessed with poisons and antidotes and gets asked to help the king’s daughter – creepy mirrors appear!
Characters: Kingfisher has a type of character she writes well and this is that character, smart and quirky.
Setting: I actually loved the desert setting here! It was different and fascinating. I’d like to see more of it.
Fantasy: Besides our setting it was pretty much just in the mirrors. I do wish we’d had a touch more.

Summary:

Healer Anja regularly drinks poison.

Not to die, but to save—seeking cures for those everyone else has given up on.

But a summons from the King interrupts her quiet, herb-obsessed life. His daughter, Snow, is dying, and he hopes Anja’s unorthodox methods can save her.

Aided by a taciturn guard, a narcissistic cat, and a passion for the scientific method, Anja rushes to treat Snow, but nothing seems to work. That is, until she finds a secret world, hidden inside a magic mirror. This dark realm may hold the key to what is making Snow sick.

Or it might be the thing that kills them all.

Thoughts:

Kingfisher just works for some people, me included so unless you haven’t read her work you’re going to know where you fall here. It’s nothing ground breaking for her. It’s quirky, whimsical, with touches of horror and just a wholesome good time. If you’re not a fan this one isn’t going to change that for you.

That said I enjoyed it as I do almost all of her work. Anya is our quirky, maybe too smart for herself, main character who is asked by the king to find out who is poisoning his daughter. Trick is Anya isn’t sure she’s being poisoned. She follows the court to the desert palace for some rest and with the aid of her assigned bodyguards stumbles into to some unexpected magic.

There is a slight romance plot here, and a touch of horror as well. I do wish we’d had much more on the horror because mirrors can be used so well to be creepy, and we had a drop or two of that, but it definitely could have gone farther. The first portion of this was a bit slow as well but overall it came together fantastically.

If you like Kingfisher, pick this up. It’s as easy as that. I enjoyed myself and it’ll definitely be entering my Kingfisher collection when it’s released. Give me more Mirror Gelds though – I love those creepy fellas!