From the very first sentence this book had me hooked - really, one of the best introductions I’ve ever read (just have a look yourself and tell me I’m wrong). I was not really expecting the horror. I don’t know why not, the world Kingfisher created with Hemlock and Silver practically begs for it, but it snuck up on me anyway. It’s not very much there, not really in your face horror, but it lurks somewhere in the corner, it’s a promise and that works surprisingly well. Now, I’m a bit partial because Nettle and Bone is one of my all time favorite books and ergo Kingfisher one of my favorite authors - just let that be said. There could have been more tension, more creepy crawly scary stuff, the potential was definitely there and it might feel like a waste to not work with that potential. The little romance subplot came kind of out of nowhere and serves no other purpose than to exist imo. It’s cute, but it feels a bit forced. I love Anja and I love how rigidly she holds onto her beliefs, how she handles herself and her surroundings. She’s very … scientific. Perhaps that is the reason why the conclusion I’d come to chapters ago did not occur to her until it stared her in the face. It was a bit annoying but it makes sense. But as I said, I love Kingfisher’s writing. I love her humor, her characters. And this book is no exception.

Is there a cosy horror genre? Because this book definitely fits that oxymoron description. Described as a dark Snow White retelling, the book shares very few plot points with the classic fairytale. The princess is called Snow, and there are magic mirrors. Hemlock & Silver starts in Anja's workshop, where the king requests her to save his daughter, Snow, who may or may not be dying of an unknown poison. So Anja tracks out to hopefully save the princess. At first, the story progresses quite slowly, as she can detect none of the common poisons. But by chance, and with a little help from something that is mostly a cat, Anja stumbles upon a magical mirror world complete with an evil mirror queen, mysterious mirror beings, and an evil plot. As always T. Kingfishers worldbuilding was impeccable and her characters soon felt like close friends. My only subtraction is the very small romantic subplot, that I could have done without.