‘Unraveller’ by Frances Hardinge

This is the story of Kellen and Nettle who live in a world ruled by commerce but bound by magic in the form of strange creatures who inhabit the Deep Wilds and ‘Little Brothers’, super-creepy spider-like creatures who ‘gift’ humans the ability to curse those they hate.

Kellen was bitten by a Little Brother as a child and has the ability to unravel curses, though it takes more than breaking a spell to free someone from the trauma of being cursed, as Nettle knows. She was cursed by her stepmother and is still haunted by the time she spent as a heron and by the fate of her brothers and sister. Those who have cursed are locked away to stop them cursing again but when the cursers begin to go missing, it seems that someone might be trying to build an army of cursers—an army with a particular grievance against Kellen, the Unraveller. With the help of a mysterious stranger called Gall and his sinister Marsh Horse, Kellen and Nettle must track down the missing cursers and figure out what on earth is going on.

This book is weird, even by France Hardinge’s standards: a complicated web of a tale, with so much depth and so many layers that you feel tangled up in it. But never fear, this consummate storyteller patiently positions each strand and, like Charlotte, spells out her message with sparkling clarity by the end.

How can a book that is so bloody and gruesome (there is a LOT of decapitation) also be filled with so much kindness and redemption? It’s a mystery. Frances Hardinge was clearly bitten by a magic literary spider as a child.

Yet another achingly beautiful, heart-stabbing, brain-twisting story from the Queen of Fairytales.