That road trip part of the book was more entertaining, sarcastic with witty dialogues help us take a break after the dark, eccentric, mysterious opening of the story. many thanks to netgalley, macmillan audio, and macmillan-tor/forge for advance copies of the audiobook + e-book in exchange for an honest review. She wants to save her sister Kania from her husband, the king of the Northern Kingdom, who is beating her—and to do so she'll need the help of a few folks who'll accompany her along her quest.

At the same time, Marra was sent to a convent so that Kania’s kingdom might not be married into other hands. I devoured this story of a princess-nun rescuing her sister from an abusive marriage, and every fresh turn delighted me. It takes Marra some time to get going and decide that she has to deal with things herself but once she does she won’t be deterred by anything. Rage shivered through her, a rage that seemed like it could topple the halls of heaven, then vanished under the knowledge of her own helplessness. If they found some of the bands of light and shadow lay a little strangely, they never stayed long enough to puzzle out why.At the first part: we’re introduced to Marra, shy, resilient, youngest of three princesses from little kingdom, sent to convent as one of her sisters is dead and other one is getting abused by the same vicious prince she’s married. At run, the little girl in the middle of the rope had jumped out and begun to run back and forth through the swinging rope, the only sound her feet and the slap of the rope in the dust. At its heart a story of good people doing their best to make the unjust world a fairer place, this marvelous romp will delight Kingfisher’s fans and fairytale lovers alike. Anyway, it wasn't the topic as much as the dark but funny fairy tale feel that made this book so fun.

After years of seeing her sisters suffer at the hands of an abusive prince, Marra—the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter—has finally realized that no one is coming to their rescue.Caitlyn Paxson, writing for National Public Radio, noted that Kingfisher draws tropes from a variety of different fairy tales (including Bluebeard, The Six Swans, and Goblin Market), rather than sticking closely to one particular template. But Marra will complete them all, because it’s the only way she will get the dust-wife to help her complete an even more impossible task: killing a prince. Marra, the main one, is a princess who's not very good at politics; she was sent to a convent, so she's also a nun but not really, as she herself states.