by T. Kingfisher
Tor, 2025. 359 pages. Fantasy
Healer Anja regularly drinks poison. Not to die, but to save—seeking cures for those everyone else has given up on. But a summons from the King interrupts her quiet, herb-obsessed life. His daughter, Snow, is dying, and he hopes Anja’s unorthodox methods can save her. Aided by a taciturn guard, a narcissistic cat, and a passion for the scientific method, Anja rushes to treat Snow, but nothing seems to work. That is, until she finds a secret world hidden inside a magic mirror. This dark realm may hold the key to what is making Snow sick. Or it might be the thing that kills them all.
I love T. Kingfisher's dark fantasies that make the lightest nod to fairy tales (last year she did something similar with A Sorceress Comes to Call). While Snow White is a side character in this story, the plot is a completely different tale full of mysterious creatures, dark spaces, evil villains, snarky talking cats, and light romance. I also love that the main character of this tale is a fully grown adult. This is a great choice for adults who grew up loving the magic of fairy tales, but ask for a little more from their fiction now.
If you like Hemlock and Silver you might also like:
by Alix E. Harrow
Tor, 2023. 308 pages. Fantasy
Eden, Kentucky, is just another bad-luck town known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive 19th century author who wrote The Underland—and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. Everyone agrees that it's best to let the house—and its last heir, Arthur Starling—go to rot. Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses, but a job offer at Starling House might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Soon Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she's never had: a home. As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a choice: to dig up secrets and confront their fears, or let Eden be taken over by nightmares.
by Katherine Arden
Del Rey, 2017. 322 pages. Fantasy
In a village at the edge of the wilderness of northern Russia, where the winds blow cold and the snow falls many months of the year, a stranger with piercing blue eyes presents a new father with a gift—a precious jewel on a delicate chain, intended for his young daughter. Uncertain of its meaning, Pytor hides the gift away and Vasya grows up a wild, willful girl, to the chagrin of her family. But when mysterious forces threaten the happiness of their village, Vasya discovers that, armed only with the necklace, she may be the only one who can keep the darkness at bay.
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