Bitterthorn: A sapphic Gothic romance inspired by classic fairytales

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The vibes were perfectly gothic and the great answer to the mystery of the Witch and the castle was not one I saw coming.

I read Bitterthorn for a book club and should add that if it wasn't for that outward motivation, I wouldn't have picked it up based on the short summary alone, so perhaps I'm simply not the right audience for this book.Kat you have outdone yourself on this one and I have to say this is your best writing and story yet, I don’t know whether at this point I want to cry or track you down in London and hug you. She’s written about mental health for Mind and The Guardian, and worked as a translator for Japanese television. Sure, it has those fairy tale trappings there - it advertised as such, but it takes them and makes them its own. Bitterthorn' is one of the most beautiful dark fantasies I've ever read, with a gorgeous sapphic relationship at its centre and a wonderful exploration of what it means to be lonely and seen.

I was also into the gothic imagery with large focus on plants and I loved the castle with its time-quirks (I am a sucker for magical houses! I absolutely loved Kat Dunn’s Battalion of the Dead series so this was one of my most anticipated releases.Talking about better; in the beginning of the book, I really hoped that the housekeeper whose name is Wolf will turn out to be a real wolf and that the servants turn into wild animals at night, but alas, there was actually a village.

All of this is coupled with a senseless need for approval and parental love from those who have never truly loved her (as she never misses a chance to remind us), memories of her deceased mother who is poorly described as depressed or bipolar (it's not clear to me), and the disasters faced when trying to "help" a family of one of the previous companions that I won't even try to describe. She is afraid because she hears wolfs howling around the wood, but then she scolds herself because it's much more probable that she'll freeze to death than that the wolves eat her.But with so many secrets, will she find out the truth behind the disappearance of the previous companions? So, when the witch arrives to take her claim, Mina just says fuck it and volunteers, she doesn't have anything to lose and her dad doesn't even try to stop her. With achingly atmospheric prose, Dunn has crafted characters I would die for and a love story as powerful and enduring as a fairytale. I didn't root for the romance, the plot seemed to rely completely on miscommunications/lack of communication, and I felt more and more as if this would have worked better as a short story. Bitterthorn is beautiful and haunting – the type of story that seeps into your bones and stays with you long after reading.

I thought it was well done for most part, but in the end when Mina finally figured things out her reaction was kind off of, because. Both classic and novel, melancholy and tenderly wrought, Bitterthorn crackles with passion and warmth like a fire on a long winter night. I can definitely see this as being for fans of The Wolf and the Woodsman, A Far Wilder Magic and For the Wolf - all which are books I enjoyed. When the news comes that the Witch living above the city will come to claim another soul as her companion after fifty years, everyone is terrified.I loved the relationship between Mina and the Witch, it had such an awkward and tense beginning but slowly blossomed into something so beautiful and tender.