Thorn is a retelling of the Grimm fairytale, The Goose Girl. I think the most well-known retelling of this story in Shannon Hale’s The Goose Girl, but I haven’t read that (it’s on my list though) or the original, so I came to this with no ideas about the plot etc. I don’t think this hurt me at all as the story made complete sense to me as a standalone piece.
I thought Alyrra was such an interesting and unique character, a princess who’s honest no matter the consequences, forced into a whole life where she has to lie to everyone about who she really is. It’s also the only story that I can think of where, being robbed of their crown, birthright etc., the protagonist makes no attempt to win it back and is happy to settle down into a ‘real’ job with no glory and hard labour. Alyrra is a likeable character, who makes plenty of mistakes and choices which she regrets. But the key is that they’re not silly-annoying-MC choices which make you scream, and she learns from them, growing as the novel goes on.
I thought Alyrra was such an interesting and unique character, a princess who’s honest no matter the consequences, forced into a whole life where she has to lie to everyone about who she really is. It’s also the only story that I can think of where, being robbed of their crown, birthright etc., the protagonist makes no attempt to win it back and is happy to settle down into a ‘real’ job with no glory and hard labour. Alyrra is a likeable character, who makes plenty of mistakes and choices which she regrets. But the key is that they’re not silly-annoying-MC choices which make you scream, and she learns from them, growing as the novel goes on.