Chrissy's Read Through T. Kingfisher's Backlist Challenge

[Chrissy]

Sometimes you fall completely in love with the first book you read by an author and they become an instant new favorite - love at first sight read.

But other times, you read one book and like it well enough, read a few more here and there and like them too, maybe even love some... And then out of nowhere - BAM! - you get to one that completely bowls you over, spawning a new obsession.

That's what Swordheart and then even more so Daggerbound did for me with T. Kingfisher, new surprise!-favorite books, demanding instant rereads, making me buy them both in audio and kindle format and contemplating adding the hardcovers to my collection.

So now I feel like I need to start on a quest to work my way through everything else T. Kingfisher has written. (This may turn out to be a finish-it-within-a-year challenge or one I only occasionally return to for a decade, taking longer breaks in between. But eventually I want to read them all.)

This thread is to keep track of what I've read already vs what I still want to read... and maybe also for posting reading updates (for any books where I can't bully someone into buddy reading them with me, but feel the need to put my reactions down somewhere 😉).

[Chrissy]

Read
Nettle & Bone

A House with Good Bones
Snake-Eater
Wolf Worm
The Twisted Ones
What Moves the Dead/What Feasts at Night/What Stalks the Deep

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking

Clockwork Boys
The Wonder Engine
Swordheart
Daggerbound
Paladin's Grace
Paladin's Strength
Paladin's Hope
Paladin's Faith

To read: (in no particular order, excluding short stories for now)
Thornhedge
A Sorceress Comes to Call
Hemlock & Silver
Minor Mage
Illuminations
The Seventh Bride
The Raven and the Reindeer
Nine Goblins
Bryony and Roses
Summer in Orcus

Unreleased
A Devil of a Crime
Shieldborn
A Spoonful of Trouble

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'll tagalong for some ... She uses her Kingfisher pseudonym for romances, kid focused books her publisher thinks are too mature for kids to read, and the occasional spooky...

My favorite of her spookies is Hollow Place, but that desert one was good last year... With the bird on the cover...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Snake Eater

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Alot of T. Kingfisher books can be debatably categorized as spooky vs cozy... the relationships tend to be cozy found family, regardless...

[Chrissy]

I just listened to The Hollow Places a few days ago. That one was definitely nice and spooky.
I liked Snake Eater, but I think that was one example where the book I read didn't match the book I expected from the blurb - like we talked about in Last Minute BRs.
Of the spookies I've read already I loved Wolf Worm most, but The Hollow Places is a very close second.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Had to doublecheck... Wolf Worm is the House of Usher one... altho at this point Kingfisher has 2x House of Usher ones, the other being What Moves the Dead

Hollow Places, for me, also has the advantage of being the first Kingfisher I read... even if only a couple years ago, it holds that bit of nostalgia... after that, I quickly started rectifying the oversight, similar to you, in the following months... and then following the new releases...

[Chrissy]

Starting Paladin's Grace - eye reading this time after being put off by the audiobook narrator...

Chapter One
Oh, hello Jorge! It's Halla's paladin friend Jorge. I know him! :)
I didn't realize that was him when I tried this in audio earlier. The Saint of Steel narrator pronounces it the Spanish way, but the Swordheart narrator pronounces it like George, so before I had eye-read either one I didn't realize this was the same person.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Ouch

[Mel]

Oh, the perils of audiobooks.
Specifically of names, because honestly *could* be either.
Like, with Colbert. Javert. Jovert. Those pesky silent letters. Or like, Xavier. Ugh I've messed up Xavier before - there are too many ways!

[Chrissy]

Chapter 5
Well, that was the most awkward meet-cute ever haha.

Chapter 6
(view spoiler)[

Paladins, whatever their many, many flaws, stopped when you said. "Stop." Their gods tended to get very irate otherwise.

Well, that is an interesting perspective. I would've thought paladins being honorable would have to be a defining characteristic for them in order for a god to choose them as a paladin in the first place. Like a god wouldn't choose someone who wouldn't respect a "stop". There's nothing like that in our world, but in the world of the White Rat I thought that god-stamp-of-approval was why everyone automatically feels like paladins can always be trusted.
Grace's view is a bit more cynical. That they're honorable because the god connection makes them be that way and stops them from being dishonorable... but by that logic this shouldn't apply to the Saint of Steel paladins anymore. Their god isn't around anymore to get angry about anything.

...Annnnnd now I'm thinking about how to make perfume out of human flesh. Yep, that's completely normal behavior.

Yeah Grace, stop it. Don't go all Grenouille on us. Your city already has a serial killer. Stay in your lane.
(hide spoiler)]

"What in the name of all the saints is on your head?"

I couldn't help but hear Alex Kingston/River Song when I read this line...even when I tried the audiobook her voice overshadowed the narrator for this.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wPRCWCq...

(view spoiler)[Ngl, a spy who informs people up front that they're a spy... that seems extremely strange spy-behavior. (hide spoiler)]

"Yes, and he could send a boy to pick it up, too, but he wants the excuse to look at me meaningfully and press my hand to his clammy bosom and tell me how sad his lodge has been since I left it."

LOL, I wonder if clammy bosoms are related to clammy hands... perhaps Halla has another cousin 😉

[Chrissy]

Chapter 7
(view spoiler)[

"And we all had the runs," said Istvhan. "So the chicory didn't stay in us long enough to change our minds."
"I'd forgotten that bit." Stephen rubbed his forehead. "Oh Saint, we did, didn't we? When we came to after the fighting...after the tide faded..." He waved his free hand. "I had to throw out that pair of trews. There was no saving them."
"They never warn you that you won't stop to take a shit when the battle tide is on you," said Istvhan.

Look, I get there may be truth to that (and I remember Adolin also explains this to Shallan in Stormlight), but I didn't need Stephen and Istvhan to paint me that vivid a picture! Eww!

"You've met a woman," rumbled Istvhan, who could not actually read minds but occasionally did a startlingly good impression.

😂😂

"I didn't say she was beautiful."
"All women are beautiful," said Istvhan, dismissing this. "It is the job of their lovers to make them feel that way if they do not already."
"I'm not her lover!"
"And you won't be, if you continue to be so craven-hearted. You never used to have this problem."

LOL, I may be falling in love with Istvhan faster than with Stephen. (hide spoiler)]

Also, at this rate of commenting, it's going to take me roughly ten years to finish this book. 😅😂

[Chrissy]

Chapter 8
(view spoiler)[I could quote half this chapter... I love Beartongue's bantering dynamic with the paladins.

The "we have done forced marches through snow" reminded me of Sarkis's "I've slept on the ground with snow coming in through the windows" bit. (hide spoiler)]

[Chrissy]

Chapter 15
(view spoiler)[They are so adorably awkward around each other.

Also truth bomb:

People who wanted you to be vulnerable and grateful tended to get very angry when you stopped being vulnerable and didn't act grateful enough.

Though somehow I don't think you need to worry about the dark side of being rescued with a paladin... (hide spoiler)]

[Chrissy]

Chapter 16
(view spoiler)[

She isn't hiding the fact she's a spy from him. Interesting.

Well, she doesn't really seem to be hiding this fact from anyone (except presumably the people she is actively spying on).

***

She felt a blush coming on and told herself sternly that she had blushed enough for one day and there would be absolutely no more of that. As usual her skin did not listen to her in the slightest.

Relatable! (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Mel's rubbing off on you...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I paused my binge of Exlian Syndrome and re-read Hollow Places last night...

There's definitely some reader frustration to the book that it takes so long to figure out what's obviously going on, in the second half of the book, at night...

But I love the eldritch concepts, and like it more than Twisted Ones...

[Chrissy]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Mel's rubbing off on you..."

These books are just too quotable! Also I love reading Mel's updates and feel like I have to give back. 😂

[Chrissy]

Chapter 17
(view spoiler)[

And it would have been, for example, a supremely bad idea to step forward and put his face against her hair to see if it still smelled of cedar, and then to slide his hand down past the neck of her dressing gown and around the curve of her breast.
Terrible idea. Yes. Quite terrible. He examined the idea carefully from all angles, to make sure that he was aware just how terrible it was. His body had definite opinions about the quality of this idea. Stephen had to adjust the blankets.

😂😂 I truly love this kind of humorous tone so much... simultaneous denial and self-aware poking fun at yourself. (hide spoiler)]

[Chrissy]

Timelord Iain wrote: "I paused my binge of Exlian Syndrome and re-read Hollow Places last night...

There's definitely some reader frustration to the book that it takes so long to figure out what's obviously going on, i..."

Yes, they did take their time figuring that out... My favorite thing about the book I think was the dynamic between the main characters of "okay, let's take turns and only panic one at a time."

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I always feel like Woody was gonna turn out to be a Willow Person... I mean... his name is Woody Norwood... or maybe that's just a nickname from his last name... but still... the coincidence is strong in that...

[Mel]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Mel's rubbing off on you..."

Muahahahaha! Yesssss, my influence is spreading! Soon... Soon more and more BRs will be filled with delicious quotes and reactions, ripe for the picking!



Nah, but FR Chrissy, I'm so excited to open these up - tonight I shall feast! I'm on the way home from karaoke now, and I got this whole train ride to gorge. 🤩

[Mel]

Chrissy wrote: "Chapter 5
Well, that was the most awkward meet-cute ever haha."

Right, I love it when authors find improbably reasons to smush two characters together.

Other readers: But why are they-?
Authors: REASONS!
Me: *smacks* Don't question it! Reasons!

Good point on paladins. I agree that it's the Holy Stamp of Approval. after all, the Dreaming God likes 'em Big and Pretty ✨ (And kinda stupid. And honorable, of course.)

https://youtu.be/ug0tax34AbQ?si=wpNFR...

Point is. I hate creepy religious "or else" manipulation, and clearly the paladins we have met, like Caliban, even when separated from their God, are still honorable people.

Also, pffft! Your clammy cousin comment made me laugh out loud on the train. 😂

[Mel]

Chrissy wrote: "Also, at this rate of commenting, it's going to take me roughly ten years to finish this book. 😅😂"

Yeah, it do be like that.😅

But on the plus side! I always feel like I get more out of a book that I thoroughly react to. Maybe it's a chicken and egg thing, because books where I don't feel like I have much to say, are often less interesting. But it depends. Other times I'm also just really immersed and don't want to stop. Other times I'm looking up the history of water pump technology, and I can't help myself.

Oh, and don't worry, you won't have to wait long for Istvhan! *Glittering eyes* He's next!

[Chrissy]

Chapter 18
(view spoiler)[Zale is here! I love Zale! (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 19
(view spoiler)[Warm socks are the way to a woman's heart LOL

But oh god, they are so bad at small talk... and I can totally relate to that. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 24
(view spoiler)[

She certainly didn't ask to be treated like a bone that two dogs were fighting over.

Yeah. I was about to say I found that entire display a little annoying. But at least he realizes it himself afterwards, all on his own, so that's something. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 25
(view spoiler)[Aww, they kissed. That was going incredibly well... until it went incredibly wrong. Stephen, ugh, you should've kept using your mouth for things other than talking. I do like how Grace isn't taking that shit though.

Maybe it was just her fate to have earnest, awkward conversations with this man.

I mean, there are worse fates...

Normal people flirt. I think. Apparently we just exchange terrible life stories.

😂😂
And of course next they have to stumble across a decapitated head. And Grace finds it by following her nose. (And still, even with how good her perfumer's nose is... if there was a gnole around during that scene, we'd still be 100% sure to get a "humans can't smell" comment.) (hide spoiler)]

[Mel]

Chrissy wrote: "Chapter 15
They are so adorably awkward around each other.

Also truth bomb: People who wanted you to be vulnerable and grateful tended to get very angry when you stopped being vulnerable and didn'..."

Aw man, that's a good truth bomb. I remember there was one that got me bad, but I'm not sure if I wrote it down. Whenever I start my own reread (but at this point I don't think I'll be able to resist) I'll see if it jumps out at me.

Searching through a previous BR, I love that we highlighted some of the same passages. :P

[Mel]

Hm, I made a note at the 43% mark previously for a good truth bomb line. I still don't think it's the one I'm thinking of, but gut-wrenching all the same. (view spoiler)["There was something about poverty that was a little like war. Either you had been there or you hadn't, and it wasn't really possible to explain it to anyone who hadn't." (hide spoiler)]

[Chrissy]

Mel wrote: "Chrissy wrote: "Also, at this rate of commenting, it's going to take me roughly ten years to finish this book. 😅😂"

Yeah, it do be like that.😅

But on the plus side! I always feel like I get more o..."

It's definitely a different kind of fun reading experience. But I feel like it needs to be a certain kind of book for me to be able to read this way. For one, it needs to be quotable enough and needs to give me something to react to. But also, I think it needs to be on the cozy side so I can tear myself away for commentary. If it's the sort of plot that gets me wildly theorizing for example, I'm too impatient to find out if I'm right to put the book down to take notes. Or if I feel like the characters are in terrible danger I can't stop until I know they're okay. And sometimes I just get so absorbed that I don't even realize I haven't looked up from the book for 200 pages.

[Chrissy]

Mel wrote: "Hm, I made a note at the 43% mark previously for a good truth bomb line. I still don't think it's the one I'm thinking of, but gut-wrenching all the same. [spoilers removed]"

Oh, yeah. That's a good one too.

[Chrissy]

Chapter 26
(view spoiler)[Grace yelling at poor Shane about why they all smell like gingerbread because she just can't take it anymore. 😂😂 That must have been such a confusing reaction from his POV. Why is this lady yelling at me about how I smell?? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 27
(view spoiler)[That whole conversation with Istvhan was gold. I love their friendship.

"I gotta sit down."
"You're already sitting."
"I need to sit down...more." He looked vaguely around the room, got up, then sat down again. Judging by his expression, it didn't help.

And then...

If we limited loving to just the sane, undamaged people, the next generation would have about three people in it and presumably humanity would die out shortly afterward.

OMG, Istvhan casually throwing another truth bomb. What are you doing to me?

And I loved the bit about the bishop-with-benefits/paladin-with-benefits thing Istvhan has going on with Beartongue apparently... and Stephen's reaction to finding out! (hide spoiler)]

[Mel]

Ahhh, home at last. I swear the air is so thick it felt like I was swimming back.

Chrissy wrote: "Chapter 18."

All hail Zale! 🎉

Chrissy wrote: "Chapter 25.
Stephen, ugh, you should've kept using your mouth for things other than talking."
Bwahaha! I need to keep that sort of line in my back pocket. "I'm going to stop you right there, because you have a choice right now. And you get to use your mouth tonight for exactly one of them."

In regards to commenting: I get genre being a factor. I mostly read cosy romances and comedy, so those are generally fun to quip at. But actually with mysteries... I may dig in even more? I like catching clues and picking them apart.

...Although! Even annoying hate-reads can be fun to react to, throwing tables about in protest.

Actually, re-reads may tend to get the least action. If I've already dug in before, I'm more likely to be content to mostly lurk and react others' thoughts.

*shrug* In the end it's a case-by-case thing.

[Chrissy]

Okay, I did end up getting too absorbed to comment eventually. Finished Paladin's Grace now. Loved it. On to the next soon...

I have to say that whole confrontation at the church did get a little ridiculous there... and the only thing that saved it was that the characters found it even more ridiculous than I did.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Mel wrote: "Ahhh, home at last. I swear the air is so thick it felt like I was swimming back.

Chrissy wrote: "Chapter 18."

All hail Zale! 🎉

Chrissy wrote: "Chapter 25.
Stephen, ugh, you should've kept using..."

My most memorable hate read was a 1-2 star Buddy Read with Choko...

Kingmaker trilogy:
A Promise of Fire
Breath of Fire
Heart on Fire

I rated them 5/3/2 stars (just checked)... really went downhill... or I was optimistic reading the first book... the author eventually returned to this world, so there's 5-6 books now...

EDIT: looking at the average ratings, this is one of the first times I've seen the first book rated highest instead of lowest... and the third book is widely considered the worst...

Avg ratings of the 5 books: 3.96/3.92/3.72/3.90/3.96

[Mel]

Ah yes, that is pretty damning. Normally there is that self-selecting bias where each progressive book in a series has a higher rating, as people who don't care for the series drop out. 3.72 is already pretty bad, but as a third installment? Oof. (;>ლ)

A good hate-read can be fun to throw popcorn at, but the truly bad ones don't even give you that meagre enjoyment.

Didn't have the series in my TBR to begin with but good to know. ^_^;

[Chrissy]

Hate-reading can be fun occasionally. And I do always end up taking a lot more notes for my review the few times I've hate-read something.
I've never done a hate-reading BR... I think that could be fun. (Hate-watching TV shows with friends is fun.) But I think it would have to be a BR where everyone was hate-reading or at least meh-reading. I think I'd probably hold back otherwise and try to be more diplomatic if there were people who love it discussing it in the same space... idk.

[Chrissy]

On the opposite topic of hate-reading, I started Paladin's Strength last night. Planned to read just a few chapters in bed (with only my phone around and I hate commenting on my phone). Somehow ended up a third of the way in with dry burning eyes and it was past 2 am. How did that happen?

So no quote comments from the first 17 chapters
(view spoiler)[I liked the introduction of Clara.
I love that Brindle is in this. (And just in general that we have a gnole in the group again, I missed the gnoles in Paladin's Grace, there was just that one constable in one or two scenes.)
I love the friendly dynamic between Clara and Galen... that okay we've both apologized, let's skip to the part where we've forgiven each other scene was great.
I loved the after-battle kiss and then Clara's payback kiss, look we're even now, you can stop apologizing
I loved everyone's reactions to the bear. Really should've seen this coming with St. Ursa and all.
I loved Brindle's Swordheart shoutout... I once travelled with a guy who lived in a sword, this is nothing
I love that Galen made the joke about first Beartongue, now a woman with an actual bear tongue, so I didn't have to. 😂
So the nuns have been kidnapped for some sort of Gladiator games sort of thing... that's awful.
LOL at the bear riding scene... I've seen his ass, there's meat on it, why does it feel so bony when he's on my back?
Terrible kidnappers having terrible timing! They were just about to... arghh. (hide spoiler)]

And we're caught up to live reading updates:
Chapter 18
(view spoiler)[

Right. Okay. Woman with sledgehammer surrounded by dead bodies, weirdly sexy. Woman turned into giant bear, biting faces off, deeply not sexy. Please make a note of it.
He immediately resented himself for being an idiot.
What, did you expect her to stand around and get murdered just so you could keep your cock hard?
No, obviously not. That was just...a lot.

😂😂 Okay, maybe it's a good thing they were interrupted, maybe Istvhan should come to terms with that before more happens between them. The bad guys are forgiven for their timing. Not for their actions and intentions, but at least for their timing.

And now, Clara is smelling a decapitated head?... I sense a pattern: failed or aborted make-out session, followed by stomping of in indignant humiliation, followed by smelling and finding decapitated head... well, I can't say that's a formula you're likely to find anywhere else 😅😂

"Damnit," said Istvhan softly, looking down at the headless corpse. "Sometimes I hate being right."

Yeah Istvhan, me too. But at least I think they now know all each other's secrets for now, unless I'm forgetting one... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Kingmaker Chronicles was a normal BR that just devolved into a hateread... me and Choko were the last 2 buddies standing... and I checked and even she rated it 2.44 stars... altho I wonder how much of that was me corrupting her with my hate :D

It was a series about a woman getting captured by some foreign warriors, and then a bit of a stockholm romance, but then they become allies and they help her take back her homeland and become queen... I think there's magic and god prophecies involved... I think it's a fantasy series inspired by Greek/Roman mythology?

I read this like a decade ago, now...

[Chrissy]

Chapter 25
(view spoiler)[I have to say the whole Doc Mason and Tolly bit seems like a filler side-plot so far... but I did like the "don't assume she knows what you're thinking" advice. (hide spoiler)]

[Mel]

I never actively try to hate read anything. It's more likely with an entertaining premise that went wrong, but not in a DNF way. Or sometimes it's not even really a hate read at all - I'm enjoying myself poking through plot holes, or calling the characters stupid, but still having fun. Those can be solid 3-star reads for me. (Which sounds low for some people, but 3 is middle of the road still for me, and I will absolutely 1- or 2-star books that piss me off.)

[Mel]

Chrissy, loving your highlights! (view spoiler)[ I love that Galen made the joke about first Beartongue, now a woman with an actual bear tongue, so I didn't have to. 😂 (hide spoiler)] I would say slow down, except that... I totally get it. I would plow through them myself, if I were to read them back to back for the first time.

[Chrissy]

Chapter 29
(view spoiler)[OMG, that Ethan guy! The last time someone was so interested in asking questions about someone else's waste products was the great saga of Sarkis and the jar of pee. 😂 (hide spoiler)]

[Chrissy]

Finished Paladin's Strength. (view spoiler)[The origin story of the smooth men was...disturbing. This took a left turn into Kingfisher horror territory.
Also, I should've known Doc Mason would turn out to be more than a filler side plot in the middle. Very convenient coincidence. But hey, the Rat is a god, so with gods steering things I can allow for convenient coincidences.
I also knew they'd have to end up swimming somewhere. As soon as Istvhan's fear was revealed, I knew that would somehow come up.
I loved Istvhan and Clara... and Sister Sigrid was awesome with the delivering a much needed slap upside the head in the middle of all the fighting to the death. I wish we had gotten a bit more of an epilogue there at the end, but hopefully we'll get an update of them in the rest of the books. (hide spoiler)]

Probably won't be able to finish another one of these before Dead Beat comes out on Tuesday. So I'll take a brief break from the White Rat world and will be back for the third Saint of Steel towards the end of the week...

[Mel]

I do love the boundless curiosity and practical experiments that her characters do. I mean honestly, that's kind of how I would define and refine my magical worldbuilding too? Like, "Okay, but what would happen if...?"

Other people: *hand-wave* It's magic.
Kingfisher: BUT WHERE DOES THE PEE GO!?

[Mel]

For Paladin's Strength

Yeah, I getcha on the epilogue bit. It's been a minute, so I don't exactly remember how the denouement goes, but especially when you know that each book is going to switch POVs, and you have to leave those characters behind... gimme a little more time to snuggle with that happy ending!

By all means, take a break. I don't know if you're going through these in the order you've written them, but ones I might potentially read are the Sworn Soldier trilogy, Twisted Ones, Seventh Bride, and awww Byrony and Roses, I'd almost forgotten about that one. That one needs a reread for sure. Then with the scary ones I need my hand held through, because I'm a wimp. I still haven't read Sworn Soldier because well, creepy + waiting for trilogy to finish. All that to say, I'll follow along for the others as well, but I can't possibly keep up, so if you strategically space those ones out, I can hop onto more. :)

Hmm... I never did reread Minor Mage, and that one is so short and sweet, so maybe that one too...
*addictively nibbles from my Kingfisher shelves* "Mm, well maybe just one more..."

[Chrissy]

Mel wrote: " I don't know if you're going through these in the order you've written them..."

I'll of course want to finish Saint of Steel first. And then I want to do the horror ones some time in October for spooky season... so that would be Sworn Soldier and Twisted Ones.

For the rest, I have no order in mind yet...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Do I have undiagnosed dyslexia?... Or just tired eyes?... I keep wanting to call this Chrissy T's Reading Kingfisher

[Mel]

Cool cool, do you want to see if anyone else is interested in the spookies for October? Maybe could make a proper BR.

[Chrissy]

Mel wrote: "Cool cool, do you want to see if anyone else is interested in the spookies for October? Maybe could make a proper BR."

I put it in the plan-a-palooza for Spooktober to see if we can get a third...

[Chrissy]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Do I have undiagnosed dyslexia?... Or just tired eyes?... I keep wanting to call this Chrissy T's Reading Kingfisher"

😂 I do that sometimes too. Can't remember now what it was, but I made myself actually laugh out loud a few days ago with misreading something where the thing I was reading it as ended up being hilarious.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

the line breaks at T on my phone browser, and writes the rest on the next line...