Thorn by Intisar Khanani | ARC Review

Thorn
by Intisar Khanani
Series: Dauntless Path #1
Published on March 24, 2020 by HarperTeen
ISBN: 9780062835703
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 512
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

A princess with two futures. A destiny all her own.

Between her cruel family and the contempt she faces at court, Princess Alyrra has always longed to escape the confines of her royal life. But when she’s betrothed to the powerful prince Kestrin, Alyrra embarks on a journey to his land with little hope for a better future.

When a mysterious and terrifying sorceress robs Alyrra of both her identity and her role as princess, Alyrra seizes the opportunity to start a new life for herself as a goose girl.

But Alyrra soon finds that Kestrin is not what she expected. The more Alyrra learns of this new kingdom, the pain and suffering its people endure, as well as the danger facing Kestrin from the sorceress herself, the more she knows she can’t remain the goose girl forever.

With the fate of the kingdom at stake, Alyrra is caught between two worlds and ultimately must decide who she is, and what she stands for.

It’s weird both reading and re-reading a book. I read the original version of Thorn years ago when it was self-published (and also much shorter) and at the time, I loved it. And whether it’s because I’m just older and a different person now, or a more critical reviewer — or both — I don’t know, but I can’t say I enjoyed this version as much.

One area where Thorn excels in is the re-telling. The story follows the tale of the Goose Girl and it matches pretty well to the main points while also standing on its own as a story. It’s’ something I look for in a re-telling and was happy to see remained true for this book. I was delighted when much of the original book was included too, characters as well as plot points, because it felt like revisiting an old friend.

Unfortunately, despite those shining points, the bulk of the book wasn’t quite what I hoped for. For the first quarter of the book, I felt like I was slogging through the goose pen. And it’s tough to talk about because (TW: physical/emotional abuse) Alyrra/Thorn deals with a lot from both her brother and mother. When you first meet her, she’s very meek and simply trying to get through each day and find joy where she can. Most often in the kitchen or stables.

I wanted to see her overcome all this but after reading a decent chunk of the book where Alyrra is being walked over with little change… it was too much for me. She went from being a character I wanted to watch grow and come into her own to one I was tired of reading about. Healing isn’t instant and I never expected that from her character but what I saw instead was almost a 180-degree flip from this character who suffered at the hands of her family and struggled to stand up for herself, to one who did but still let life happen to her rather than making choices on her own. In both cases, she’s fairly passive and yet somehow Alyrra, especially when she assumed the name of Thorn, felt real. Very real. In the choices she made and how she moved through each day. This was the story of how she came into her own, and I truly think this book will resonate with a lot of readers, especially teens, because of that.

But it didn’t for me and I chock that up to it not being in that mindset anymore. Coming of age stories used to be what I was drawn to as a teen, myself, but it’s not what I go for anymore. So this is definitely isn’t a mark against the book so much as a change in who I am as a reader looking at this story again.

As for the rest of the story, I liked the additions to the world but I guess I’m stuck in the mindset of this being a standalone as it was before and it felt like the story was stretched a little thin to pad it out and give it room to grow with a sequel. I’m not sure it needed that and could have been just as engaging on its own, but perhaps that’s more personal preference.

I did think the pacing needed some work and I often found myself setting Thorn aside in favor of other books because it dragged at times. This isn’t an action packed fantasy, if that’s what you’re looking for, but one definitely more focused inward on the characters rather than the world itself. I’d have also loved to see a bit more of the world because we get bits and pieces but not enough to make this fantasy world stand on its own from other books (except maybe the talking horse). Perhaps that will be explored in the next book but it’s definitely something I felt like I was missing.

This review is starting to ramble but the short version is I liked Thorn but I didn’t love it and I think that has more to do with who I am now as a reader rather than the book itself. Just not quite the right fit with this one but I would recommend checking it out if you have it on your radar!

Click here to read my review of the original book from 2012.

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About Austine

I'm a 20-something research proposal developer with a background in the life sciences and education. Reviewer of books since 2011, amateur photographer by day, and aspiring author by night. I believe animals (and books) are better than people.