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Foxheart #2
Thornlight
Resourceful twin sisters and a desperate queen must find a new source of magic to stop their kingdom from being consumed by darkness. This classic fantasy-adventure from bestselling author Claire Legrand is full of twists, turns, and unforgettable moments. Thornlight is a must-have for fans of Tahereh Mafi and Diana Wynne Jones.
A stand-alone companion to the acclaimed Foxheart.
Centuries and centuries ago, the Vale was split in two in a war between witches. Ever since, an evil darkness has been climbing, climbing, climbing out of the Break, infecting everything it touches. The people of the Vale fight it with discs made of lightning—and with an ancient spell. Brier Skystone is the youngest, most talented lightning harvester the Vale’s ever seen. Her twin sister, Thorn, is a sensitive artist who’s braver than even she knows. And young Queen Celestyna Hightower is determined to be Mender of the Break, the last of her family to bear the weight of anchoring the spell—which is really more of a curse.
As the darkness keeps coming, these three girls will each undertake their own perilous journeys to try to save their home—and each quest reveals an electrifying surprise. Perhaps they’ve been fighting the wrong monster all along.
New York Times–bestselling author Claire Legrand creates an intricate and layered world full of unicorns, witches, mistbirds, grifflets, and unlikely heroes—with an appearance by the legendary witch Quicksilver Foxheart. This stand-alone companion to Foxheart explores what it means to be brave, and the destructive force of war on nature and community
Fast-paced, memorable, and surprising, Thornlight is a perfect introduction to Claire Legrand’s work and will appeal to fans of Kelly Barnhill and Jessica Townsend.
A stand-alone companion to the acclaimed Foxheart.
Centuries and centuries ago, the Vale was split in two in a war between witches. Ever since, an evil darkness has been climbing, climbing, climbing out of the Break, infecting everything it touches. The people of the Vale fight it with discs made of lightning—and with an ancient spell. Brier Skystone is the youngest, most talented lightning harvester the Vale’s ever seen. Her twin sister, Thorn, is a sensitive artist who’s braver than even she knows. And young Queen Celestyna Hightower is determined to be Mender of the Break, the last of her family to bear the weight of anchoring the spell—which is really more of a curse.
As the darkness keeps coming, these three girls will each undertake their own perilous journeys to try to save their home—and each quest reveals an electrifying surprise. Perhaps they’ve been fighting the wrong monster all along.
New York Times–bestselling author Claire Legrand creates an intricate and layered world full of unicorns, witches, mistbirds, grifflets, and unlikely heroes—with an appearance by the legendary witch Quicksilver Foxheart. This stand-alone companion to Foxheart explores what it means to be brave, and the destructive force of war on nature and community
Fast-paced, memorable, and surprising, Thornlight is a perfect introduction to Claire Legrand’s work and will appeal to fans of Kelly Barnhill and Jessica Townsend.
464 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 20, 2021
12 people are currently reading
6639 people want to read
About the author
Claire Legrand
31 books5,077 followersClaire Legrand is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of fourteen novels, including the Empirium trilogy, the Middlemist trilogy, SAWKILL GIRLS, and SOME KIND OF HAPPINESS. She is one of the four authors behind THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, an anthology of dark middle grade fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
April 27, 2021
Claire Legrand just has a way with words. Whether it is something light and fluffy like Thornlight or spooky, gritty like Sawkill Girls. Thornlight is a comapanion to Foxheart and while you do not have to read Foxheart first, as with all companions, it is a good idea to do so to get some of the references and context. Otherwise Thornlight is a self contained story on it's own.
I really had such a fun time with this story. It is not the greatest thing I have ever read but it was exactly what I needed at the time. Lately I have been reading some meh books and books that deal with more adult topics, so it was time to take a detour. Give my brain and mind something that was not so serious. Thornlight is a story about sisterhood and facing your fears and finding the strength with yourself. It is a very self empowering story told through the perspectives of three very different ladies. We have Thorn who is a girl that is living in her sister's shadow and trying to find her own place in the world. Brier a girl who is the greatest Harvester the Vale has ever known. Last we have Celestyna, the queen of the vale who is trying not to repeat the mistakes of her predecessor's. Each lady goes on a very different journey and each has a very distinct voice. There are also some loveable side characters like Noro, Mazby, and Zaf to name a few.
The world of Thornlight is not vast but it is rich with history and and you get to learn quite a bit about the Vale in Thornlight. Now, I will remain quite vague about the world, only because the plot of this story is very world driven. It is the driving force of the story from the very beginning.
Once again Thornlight was just what I needed at this time and I am very thankful for such a light hearted, yet empowering female driven story. Claire Legrand deserves so much more praise and I urge you to give her books a shot. They have been some of my favorites in just the past 2 years.
I really had such a fun time with this story. It is not the greatest thing I have ever read but it was exactly what I needed at the time. Lately I have been reading some meh books and books that deal with more adult topics, so it was time to take a detour. Give my brain and mind something that was not so serious. Thornlight is a story about sisterhood and facing your fears and finding the strength with yourself. It is a very self empowering story told through the perspectives of three very different ladies. We have Thorn who is a girl that is living in her sister's shadow and trying to find her own place in the world. Brier a girl who is the greatest Harvester the Vale has ever known. Last we have Celestyna, the queen of the vale who is trying not to repeat the mistakes of her predecessor's. Each lady goes on a very different journey and each has a very distinct voice. There are also some loveable side characters like Noro, Mazby, and Zaf to name a few.
The world of Thornlight is not vast but it is rich with history and and you get to learn quite a bit about the Vale in Thornlight. Now, I will remain quite vague about the world, only because the plot of this story is very world driven. It is the driving force of the story from the very beginning.
Once again Thornlight was just what I needed at this time and I am very thankful for such a light hearted, yet empowering female driven story. Claire Legrand deserves so much more praise and I urge you to give her books a shot. They have been some of my favorites in just the past 2 years.
September 23, 2020
I have been waiting years for this companion novel to Foxheart. And then, suddenly, it's here. And I got a chance to read it early. I could not resist. I am so glad that I did not. Because Thornlight was every kind of perfect. I loved it beyond words. Giving it five stars, of course. This story was simply way too incredible. Sigh.
As always, the writing was so perfect. I never have any trouble falling in love with Claire's writing. She's amazing and her books have all been so too. Claire also writes the very best characters. And stories. This book was simply way too good. And I enjoyed it very much. I wish it had been even longer; I kept wanting more.
This book is told from three point of views. All amazing and all needed. I never had issues with jumping from one to the other. And I loved reading from all of them. Sigh. I shall try my best to not post spoilers about this precious book. But I will be sharing some details. All good, all awesome. This book was long and so precious and I loved every moment of it. We get to know twins Thorn and Brier. And Queen Celestyna. There is so much to love about this. Like in Foxheart, there was magic. But not in the same way. Not many people in this place had magic. The witches were gone. There was a big chasm splitting their land in two. With darkness escaping and changing the land. With a monster trying to climb out of this place to kill them all. It was so awesome.
Thorn and Brier were twelve years old. And completely different. Brier was the hero of their town. Best at harvesting lightning to help them. She even has her own unicorn. He was great. Brier was amazing. And Thorn was not. She was the shadow of her sister. She swept trash from the streets. People did not notice her. She was quiet and shy and cried all the time. I loved her to pieces. And she and Brier were the best of friends. They loved each other the most. Their parents were even alive, haha. But away at the chasm.
Celestyna was sixteen years old, older than the twins. And she was the queen of this place. Her parents dead. Only her younger sister with her. She would do anything to keep the monster from breaking free. She would do anything to keep them all safe. And so she does. I loved this girl. But gosh. She was fully complicated. And I loved that even more. Her story was so sad too. And I cried a few times in this book. Mostly because of scenes with Celestyna. She was just amazing. And I loved her little sister. Adorable.
We get to read from all three point of views. And I loved that so very much. We also get another point of view. From Cub. And my gosh. He was amazing. I so loved his chapters. I loved getting to know him and learn about his past. There was so much to know. Sigh. I cannot fully describe this book. Just that I loved it so much. These characters went through so much. All broken at some point. All so strong and brave. I loved how they changed, got better, braver. Each had a journey to take. Reading about this was the best.
There is so much going on in this book. It is full of adventures. Dangers. Monsters. Curses. Witches. All of it beyond incredible. There is some type of special lightning that Brier harvests along with others each day. They use this lightning to try to keep the monster in the chasm from escaping and killing all of them. We learn so much about all of this. So many secrets. So much pain and death. I loved all of it so much. We get to know a bunch of characters, and I couldn't help but love all of them. Ha. They were awesome.
As this was a middle grade, there was no romance. But there were hints of romance to come. Between Thorn and Zaf. And it was the cutest thing. Their friendship was adorable and their almost romance was so cute. They would be perfect together. The friendships in this book were all written so well. Between the twins. Between Thorn and her cute animal Mazby. Between Brier and her unicorn Noro. Noro and Thorn too. They spent a lot of time together in this book. And it was so very awesome. I so adored this unicorn.
We also see Quicksilver again. And Sly Boots. And Ari too. They are not in this book a lot, just enough. A few years older, still fully adorable. It is not fully confirmed that Quicksilver and Sly Boots were a couple, but well. The hints were huge. And I still ship them the most, haha. So a couple it is. I just loved this small glimpse into what happened after Foxheart too. Thornlight is very much a companion novel, yet set in the same world, just a few short years later. Filled with magic and adventures. They're both incredible books.
Thornlight was even more perfect than I thought it would be. Completely incredible and heartbreaking. Such perfectly flawed characters. Such great friendships and relationships. Very well written magic and witches. This book had such a great plot. And I loved every moment of this book. It was simply perfection. Huge thank you to Greenwillow Books for my auto-approval on Edelweiss, so that I could read this book seven months before it comes out. I cannot wait to own all the finished copies. You must read this story.
---
This review was first posted on my blog, Carina's Books, here: https://carinabooks.blogspot.com/2020...
As always, the writing was so perfect. I never have any trouble falling in love with Claire's writing. She's amazing and her books have all been so too. Claire also writes the very best characters. And stories. This book was simply way too good. And I enjoyed it very much. I wish it had been even longer; I kept wanting more.
This book is told from three point of views. All amazing and all needed. I never had issues with jumping from one to the other. And I loved reading from all of them. Sigh. I shall try my best to not post spoilers about this precious book. But I will be sharing some details. All good, all awesome. This book was long and so precious and I loved every moment of it. We get to know twins Thorn and Brier. And Queen Celestyna. There is so much to love about this. Like in Foxheart, there was magic. But not in the same way. Not many people in this place had magic. The witches were gone. There was a big chasm splitting their land in two. With darkness escaping and changing the land. With a monster trying to climb out of this place to kill them all. It was so awesome.
Thorn and Brier were twelve years old. And completely different. Brier was the hero of their town. Best at harvesting lightning to help them. She even has her own unicorn. He was great. Brier was amazing. And Thorn was not. She was the shadow of her sister. She swept trash from the streets. People did not notice her. She was quiet and shy and cried all the time. I loved her to pieces. And she and Brier were the best of friends. They loved each other the most. Their parents were even alive, haha. But away at the chasm.
Celestyna was sixteen years old, older than the twins. And she was the queen of this place. Her parents dead. Only her younger sister with her. She would do anything to keep the monster from breaking free. She would do anything to keep them all safe. And so she does. I loved this girl. But gosh. She was fully complicated. And I loved that even more. Her story was so sad too. And I cried a few times in this book. Mostly because of scenes with Celestyna. She was just amazing. And I loved her little sister. Adorable.
We get to read from all three point of views. And I loved that so very much. We also get another point of view. From Cub. And my gosh. He was amazing. I so loved his chapters. I loved getting to know him and learn about his past. There was so much to know. Sigh. I cannot fully describe this book. Just that I loved it so much. These characters went through so much. All broken at some point. All so strong and brave. I loved how they changed, got better, braver. Each had a journey to take. Reading about this was the best.
There is so much going on in this book. It is full of adventures. Dangers. Monsters. Curses. Witches. All of it beyond incredible. There is some type of special lightning that Brier harvests along with others each day. They use this lightning to try to keep the monster in the chasm from escaping and killing all of them. We learn so much about all of this. So many secrets. So much pain and death. I loved all of it so much. We get to know a bunch of characters, and I couldn't help but love all of them. Ha. They were awesome.
As this was a middle grade, there was no romance. But there were hints of romance to come. Between Thorn and Zaf. And it was the cutest thing. Their friendship was adorable and their almost romance was so cute. They would be perfect together. The friendships in this book were all written so well. Between the twins. Between Thorn and her cute animal Mazby. Between Brier and her unicorn Noro. Noro and Thorn too. They spent a lot of time together in this book. And it was so very awesome. I so adored this unicorn.
We also see Quicksilver again. And Sly Boots. And Ari too. They are not in this book a lot, just enough. A few years older, still fully adorable. It is not fully confirmed that Quicksilver and Sly Boots were a couple, but well. The hints were huge. And I still ship them the most, haha. So a couple it is. I just loved this small glimpse into what happened after Foxheart too. Thornlight is very much a companion novel, yet set in the same world, just a few short years later. Filled with magic and adventures. They're both incredible books.
Thornlight was even more perfect than I thought it would be. Completely incredible and heartbreaking. Such perfectly flawed characters. Such great friendships and relationships. Very well written magic and witches. This book had such a great plot. And I loved every moment of this book. It was simply perfection. Huge thank you to Greenwillow Books for my auto-approval on Edelweiss, so that I could read this book seven months before it comes out. I cannot wait to own all the finished copies. You must read this story.
---
This review was first posted on my blog, Carina's Books, here: https://carinabooks.blogspot.com/2020...
April 18, 2021
I absolutely loved reading this. I'm glad I read the first book because I understood the backstories of characters that show up in this book. I had a lot of fun reading this [especially because it's the first arc I've ever read]. I do love the first book more.
April 14, 2021
“It is no small thing, to have a gentle heart."
Thornlight is a heart(warm/break)ing story about magic and sisters and witches and curses and emotions and mistakes and consequences and bravery, and it was excellent.
I went in knowing this book is billed as a stand-alone companion novel to Foxheart, but I was still a bit worried that I wouldn’t know what was what, but the world building and character development were both so well-done that it absolutely works on its own.
Bonus excellence:
* Complex girl characters: Briar + Thorn + Queen Celestyna + Zaf are all unique and multi-layered and I loved them (even when they were being terrible)
* Magical creatures: Noro the snarky unicorn (he reminded me of Swift Wind from She-Ra) wa the best + Mazby the baby grifflet sounded super adorable
Thornlight is the first book I’ve read by Claire Legrand and definitely won’t be the last.
Highly recommended for fantasy-loving middle grade kids - perfect for 10+.
** thanks to NetGalley & HarperCollins Children’s Books / Greenwillow Books for the review ARC.
Available: April 20, 2021
Thornlight is a heart(warm/break)ing story about magic and sisters and witches and curses and emotions and mistakes and consequences and bravery, and it was excellent.
I went in knowing this book is billed as a stand-alone companion novel to Foxheart, but I was still a bit worried that I wouldn’t know what was what, but the world building and character development were both so well-done that it absolutely works on its own.
Bonus excellence:
* Complex girl characters: Briar + Thorn + Queen Celestyna + Zaf are all unique and multi-layered and I loved them (even when they were being terrible)
* Magical creatures: Noro the snarky unicorn (he reminded me of Swift Wind from She-Ra) wa the best + Mazby the baby grifflet sounded super adorable
Thornlight is the first book I’ve read by Claire Legrand and definitely won’t be the last.
Highly recommended for fantasy-loving middle grade kids - perfect for 10+.
** thanks to NetGalley & HarperCollins Children’s Books / Greenwillow Books for the review ARC.
Available: April 20, 2021
December 15, 2025
"This is a story about a brave girl, though she would be the first to tell you that she's not very brave at all. And she would be wrong."
This blurb on the back of the book is the furthest from the truth. When I first discovered this book in the library, I was taken in by the cover and cute illustrations, thinking it must be a cute and whimsical story (how wrong I would be)
This book contains the following dark topics: genocide of an entire group of witches, physical abuse, verbal abuse, murder, euthanasia, rampant and graphic depictions of death, constant stream of cruel thoughts and actions, and unforgivable and downright nasty behavior.
I would not describe this book as anything other than vile. Which sounds harsh, but here is my reasoning. From reading the synopsis, I assumed this book would be about a shy and timid girl finding the courage to be brave, overcoming her fears, and realizing her inner strength of posessing a kind and gentle heart. Thorn, our heroine, was a very unlikable character the longer the book progressed. In the beginning, I had sympathy for her, being overlooked as a sweep and living in her sister's shadow. She was set up to be the underdog, someone for us to root for. And I love a good underdog story! But my sympathy for her was slowly and continously lost the more I read of her, reading her cruel thoughts and her cruel actions over and over again. Despite her cruelty coming from the curse, it was nauseating reading her saying cruel things to her companions who put up with her behavior, berrating the witch (Quick Silver) who saved Zaf and deemed them useless for being magicless, contemplating kidnapping QuickSilver or other witches to bring them to the Queen against their will, demanding Zaf to transport them back to their home kingdom when she knew Zaf was exhausted and doing immense magic like this could kill her, the cruel things she thought in her mind about wanting to hurt this character and that character, carrying through with hurting people and the graphic details of her charging a soldier and strangling that soldier until near death and was only foiled from completing the act due to her companions stopping her. This was the majority of the book; there was no greater darkness in the Break, nor in the skies of the Vale, than there was within Thorn Skystone. Thorn--curse altered--saying and doing cruel things without remorse, and refusing to apologize for any of it even at the end when the curse was removed, was not a fun read. The curse made Thorn aggressive, reckless, and grossly hostile.
This was NOT a story about the power of gentle hearts or frightened children learning to become brave.
The cruelty didn't stop with Thorn. I have no sympathy for the queen, who was selfish, cruel, murderous, and whiny. Celestyna was exceedingly cruel, and downright abusive to everyone around her. Murdering a helpless witch to attain the curse, thinking herself powerful for committing the act and wielding the curse and inflicting pain upon an innocent creature, hitting her sister when her sister calmly questioned her, hitting her advisor when he calmly questioned her because both were honestly confused about the state of their world and justifiably concerned for Celestyna's health and safety. She constantly took her own hurt out on the Gulgot again and again when she became fustrated, and enjoyed it. She knew about the slaughter of witches and continued it anyway, she killed her parents for the curse to pass on to her that functionally doesn't make sense. The magic in this world does not make sense. If the characters do not understand their own world and magic, how is the reader supposed to? The obliviousness to how their own magic worked, that it was the curse that poisoned the land and not the Gulgot, felt like a negligent and gross misuse of power. It was LAUGHABLE when Orelia said 'we were blind to our own ignorance' when it was not the citizens of her kingdom but the monarchy, HER FAMILY, who set up this curse that inflicted vast devastation on their people and land and was nearly about to destroy their world. This is the monarchy that started the curse, but also sanctionced the slaughter of witches as vengeance to punish the witches of the past for engaging in a war.
Death and mentions of mass death were rampant throughout the book. There was a fraction of hope, but not enough to save this book.
Alot of the characters' actions were not well thought out and lacked cleverness when we were told they were being clever. As I was reading I was thinking of how scenes and characters could be improved, until I stopped caring, which should not be the reader's duty.
Though the Gulgot was wrongly villainized, it was never explained why it was wrongly villainized or why it was given the name Gulgot at all. Would that have required me to read the first book? It would have been interesting it there was a twist to the Gulgot's tale, but that was lost when Cub (Gulgot) was revealed to be a victim very early on, so reading this book was like reading an atrocious account of an abused child. It left me sickened.
The relationships between the characters felt stale and poorly developed. I was also shocked how so many side characters let themselves be pushed around, bullied, and used as punching bags by Thorn and Celestyna. I was shocked how these side characters were 'gentle parenting' Thorn and Celestyna when confronted by their cruelty when they should have abadonded the girls on the spot. The romance between Thorn and Zaf felt unbelievable, and not in the unbelievable spectacular way, just unbelievable, as in I do not believe a romantic connection could be forged between them when there was no chemistry or fun banter or fun scenes as the bare minimum between them. They felt like toxic coworkers, not even friends, at most. The dialogue was stiff. Finding Quick Silver was promised to be the adventerous quest of the book, but it was very anticlimatic.
Given the vast hurt that was carried out by so many characters, especially Thorn and the Queen, one would think forgiveness would be a topic the author would dive heavily into to save her characters from being irredeemable, or unlikeable. Nope! After the curse was lifted, Thorn did not apologize for her awful behavior to anyone, and though she felt guilt about killing the Queen (the reason for the Queen to die didn't make sense and the last scene of the queen's euthanasia/mercy killing/ assisted death was grossly sickening) it was short lived and then she was rewarded to being the new queen's advisor. When it came to possibly apologizing for her bad behavior, for using characters as literal punching bags, Thorn made it all about herself, she's sad about how she cries so much, believing crying as much as she does is a bad thing! Woe is Thorn for crying! Not woe is the woman she almost strangled to death....Not Woe is the unicorn she used as a verbal punching bag... The characters rallied around Thorn, consoling her and congratulating her for her gentle heart. Ugh. Not one (human) character in this book possessed a gentle heart, except maybe Cub.
None of these kids deserve a position of power, or should lead anyone. This monarchy needs to be dismantled for grounds of literally carrying out a genocide and being responsible for nearly destroying their world....the obvious answer is a revolution and overthrowing the monarchy, but I digress.
I feel like this book needed trigger warnings for the amount of violence within it, especially for a middle grade book. I am shocked this was published FOR CHILDREN or how anyone could find enjoyment in it. I would not recommend this book to anyone, unless it be for a lesson in how not to write non-horror middle grade books, because this was NOT a story about a shy girl finding courage. It was about normalizing abuse, and displacing blame away from yourself, 'it was not me, it was the curse!'....There was not one proper apology in this book either! People are really incapable of taking accountability for their own behavior! Even Celestyna chickened out by choosing death. Verbal assaults, physical assaults, innocent bystanders letting themselves be walked all over, devoid of compassion and whimsy. There was very little I liked, and I lament the time I spent reading this especially during the Christmas season, when I want to fill myself with holly jolly goodness, and not doom and gloom around every corner...
I hated this book, and I don't use the word hate often. I regret putting down Septimus Heap for it.
This blurb on the back of the book is the furthest from the truth. When I first discovered this book in the library, I was taken in by the cover and cute illustrations, thinking it must be a cute and whimsical story (how wrong I would be)
This book contains the following dark topics: genocide of an entire group of witches, physical abuse, verbal abuse, murder, euthanasia, rampant and graphic depictions of death, constant stream of cruel thoughts and actions, and unforgivable and downright nasty behavior.
I would not describe this book as anything other than vile. Which sounds harsh, but here is my reasoning. From reading the synopsis, I assumed this book would be about a shy and timid girl finding the courage to be brave, overcoming her fears, and realizing her inner strength of posessing a kind and gentle heart. Thorn, our heroine, was a very unlikable character the longer the book progressed. In the beginning, I had sympathy for her, being overlooked as a sweep and living in her sister's shadow. She was set up to be the underdog, someone for us to root for. And I love a good underdog story! But my sympathy for her was slowly and continously lost the more I read of her, reading her cruel thoughts and her cruel actions over and over again. Despite her cruelty coming from the curse, it was nauseating reading her saying cruel things to her companions who put up with her behavior, berrating the witch (Quick Silver) who saved Zaf and deemed them useless for being magicless, contemplating kidnapping QuickSilver or other witches to bring them to the Queen against their will, demanding Zaf to transport them back to their home kingdom when she knew Zaf was exhausted and doing immense magic like this could kill her, the cruel things she thought in her mind about wanting to hurt this character and that character, carrying through with hurting people and the graphic details of her charging a soldier and strangling that soldier until near death and was only foiled from completing the act due to her companions stopping her. This was the majority of the book; there was no greater darkness in the Break, nor in the skies of the Vale, than there was within Thorn Skystone. Thorn--curse altered--saying and doing cruel things without remorse, and refusing to apologize for any of it even at the end when the curse was removed, was not a fun read. The curse made Thorn aggressive, reckless, and grossly hostile.
This was NOT a story about the power of gentle hearts or frightened children learning to become brave.
The cruelty didn't stop with Thorn. I have no sympathy for the queen, who was selfish, cruel, murderous, and whiny. Celestyna was exceedingly cruel, and downright abusive to everyone around her. Murdering a helpless witch to attain the curse, thinking herself powerful for committing the act and wielding the curse and inflicting pain upon an innocent creature, hitting her sister when her sister calmly questioned her, hitting her advisor when he calmly questioned her because both were honestly confused about the state of their world and justifiably concerned for Celestyna's health and safety. She constantly took her own hurt out on the Gulgot again and again when she became fustrated, and enjoyed it. She knew about the slaughter of witches and continued it anyway, she killed her parents for the curse to pass on to her that functionally doesn't make sense. The magic in this world does not make sense. If the characters do not understand their own world and magic, how is the reader supposed to? The obliviousness to how their own magic worked, that it was the curse that poisoned the land and not the Gulgot, felt like a negligent and gross misuse of power. It was LAUGHABLE when Orelia said 'we were blind to our own ignorance' when it was not the citizens of her kingdom but the monarchy, HER FAMILY, who set up this curse that inflicted vast devastation on their people and land and was nearly about to destroy their world. This is the monarchy that started the curse, but also sanctionced the slaughter of witches as vengeance to punish the witches of the past for engaging in a war.
Death and mentions of mass death were rampant throughout the book. There was a fraction of hope, but not enough to save this book.
Alot of the characters' actions were not well thought out and lacked cleverness when we were told they were being clever. As I was reading I was thinking of how scenes and characters could be improved, until I stopped caring, which should not be the reader's duty.
Though the Gulgot was wrongly villainized, it was never explained why it was wrongly villainized or why it was given the name Gulgot at all. Would that have required me to read the first book? It would have been interesting it there was a twist to the Gulgot's tale, but that was lost when Cub (Gulgot) was revealed to be a victim very early on, so reading this book was like reading an atrocious account of an abused child. It left me sickened.
The relationships between the characters felt stale and poorly developed. I was also shocked how so many side characters let themselves be pushed around, bullied, and used as punching bags by Thorn and Celestyna. I was shocked how these side characters were 'gentle parenting' Thorn and Celestyna when confronted by their cruelty when they should have abadonded the girls on the spot. The romance between Thorn and Zaf felt unbelievable, and not in the unbelievable spectacular way, just unbelievable, as in I do not believe a romantic connection could be forged between them when there was no chemistry or fun banter or fun scenes as the bare minimum between them. They felt like toxic coworkers, not even friends, at most. The dialogue was stiff. Finding Quick Silver was promised to be the adventerous quest of the book, but it was very anticlimatic.
Given the vast hurt that was carried out by so many characters, especially Thorn and the Queen, one would think forgiveness would be a topic the author would dive heavily into to save her characters from being irredeemable, or unlikeable. Nope! After the curse was lifted, Thorn did not apologize for her awful behavior to anyone, and though she felt guilt about killing the Queen (the reason for the Queen to die didn't make sense and the last scene of the queen's euthanasia/mercy killing/ assisted death was grossly sickening) it was short lived and then she was rewarded to being the new queen's advisor. When it came to possibly apologizing for her bad behavior, for using characters as literal punching bags, Thorn made it all about herself, she's sad about how she cries so much, believing crying as much as she does is a bad thing! Woe is Thorn for crying! Not woe is the woman she almost strangled to death....Not Woe is the unicorn she used as a verbal punching bag... The characters rallied around Thorn, consoling her and congratulating her for her gentle heart. Ugh. Not one (human) character in this book possessed a gentle heart, except maybe Cub.
None of these kids deserve a position of power, or should lead anyone. This monarchy needs to be dismantled for grounds of literally carrying out a genocide and being responsible for nearly destroying their world....the obvious answer is a revolution and overthrowing the monarchy, but I digress.
I feel like this book needed trigger warnings for the amount of violence within it, especially for a middle grade book. I am shocked this was published FOR CHILDREN or how anyone could find enjoyment in it. I would not recommend this book to anyone, unless it be for a lesson in how not to write non-horror middle grade books, because this was NOT a story about a shy girl finding courage. It was about normalizing abuse, and displacing blame away from yourself, 'it was not me, it was the curse!'....There was not one proper apology in this book either! People are really incapable of taking accountability for their own behavior! Even Celestyna chickened out by choosing death. Verbal assaults, physical assaults, innocent bystanders letting themselves be walked all over, devoid of compassion and whimsy. There was very little I liked, and I lament the time I spent reading this especially during the Christmas season, when I want to fill myself with holly jolly goodness, and not doom and gloom around every corner...
I hated this book, and I don't use the word hate often. I regret putting down Septimus Heap for it.
October 17, 2020
Okay. I must first be transparent. My child found the Foxheart book in my E-arc pile first. He loved it. I kept saying I was getting to it but he just went on and on about it. I broke down skipped over some books to read and I fell in love with it. When I saw Thornlight pop up, I knew I had to request it. I was not wrong. I am now a fangirl of everything Claire Legrand. If you haven't read this series you have to start now!!! Plus, read her other books, it will be well worth the time spent. Foxheart and Thornlight make me feel like a child again when magic and possibilities were endless. I love the characters and the heart of the stories. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review these novels!
Read
January 13, 2021I maybe don't like Legrand as a writer? Like, the sentences are beautiful but I'm never happy with what they add up to.
October 9, 2021
I will admit that I didn't read the first novel in this series, but it wasn't detrimental to my enjoyment of this gem of a novel. It had some of my favorite characters: unicorns, griffins, witches, cursed royalty, twins who trade places, monsters, and weird weather patterns (not exactly a character, I know). The cover is gorgeous and the story within reflects its light.
Brier and Thorn Skystone are twins: Brier is beloved by all for her skill with capturing lightening and her beauty as she strides through town on the back of her proud and sassy unicorn. Thorn stays out of the spotlight and works as street sweeper. She collects trash she finds and turns it into beautiful art. Her loyal companion is a baby griffin. They couldn't be more different despite being twins. When Brier is injured, Thorn takes her place and embarks on a quest that will test her mind and her heart. Will she be enough to take on a centuries old curse? Is she the right twin for the task? Can witches and humans and monsters be friends? Read on to find out!
Cub is my favorite character and he's the perfect metaphor for life.
*Yes, I will be reading book 1 now***
Brier and Thorn Skystone are twins: Brier is beloved by all for her skill with capturing lightening and her beauty as she strides through town on the back of her proud and sassy unicorn. Thorn stays out of the spotlight and works as street sweeper. She collects trash she finds and turns it into beautiful art. Her loyal companion is a baby griffin. They couldn't be more different despite being twins. When Brier is injured, Thorn takes her place and embarks on a quest that will test her mind and her heart. Will she be enough to take on a centuries old curse? Is she the right twin for the task? Can witches and humans and monsters be friends? Read on to find out!
Cub is my favorite character and he's the perfect metaphor for life.
*Yes, I will be reading book 1 now***
February 21, 2023
Sadly the more I think about this book, the less I liked it. I’m usually pretty good at suspending disbelief and I enjoy fantasy and fairytales, but the ending left a bad taste in my mouth (especially when the rest of the book was leaning toward the message that killing = bad).
The curse didn’t make any sense. Why did the queen have to die? Why did Thorn have to be the one to do it?! Why couldn’t her assistant guy do it (the curse didn’t have a hold on him so how could it prevent him from doing so)? How did Thorn, who was also infected with the curse, killing the Queen end the murder curse? And wasn’t the princess letting this happen count as her being complicit in it and pass the family curse on to her? Apparently the old magic or whatever just told them this was how it would work but it was not clear why it would work.
I would have rated this at least 3 stars if the ending had made more sense, but I feel like a child having to kill another child for no comprehensible reason was not a great end to this fairly inclusive and anti-violence tale.
The curse didn’t make any sense. Why did the queen have to die? Why did Thorn have to be the one to do it?! Why couldn’t her assistant guy do it (the curse didn’t have a hold on him so how could it prevent him from doing so)? How did Thorn, who was also infected with the curse, killing the Queen end the murder curse? And wasn’t the princess letting this happen count as her being complicit in it and pass the family curse on to her? Apparently the old magic or whatever just told them this was how it would work but it was not clear why it would work.
I would have rated this at least 3 stars if the ending had made more sense, but I feel like a child having to kill another child for no comprehensible reason was not a great end to this fairly inclusive and anti-violence tale.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 6, 2021
This is another wonderful, thoughtful, deeply moving book billed for children but which should be read by all ages. Not just for the messages it contains, but also for the wonder it celebrates, the wonders of imagination, possibility, and acceptance. At the heart of this book is the damage we humans do when we single-mindedly focus on saving what is good for us, for our family, town, country, culture, and fail to see how this 'saving our own' may in fact be deeply harming another family, town, country, culture. This breeds war, drought, even extinctions, as the book so aptly shows us through the quests of sisters Thorn and Briar to save the Vale.
The characters will alternately charm and infuriate, the language will beguile, the plot will wrap the reader in its fancy, all the while whispering real-life connections to the subconscious. A book not to be missed, a book for all ages to stretch the imagination and stir the conscience.
The characters will alternately charm and infuriate, the language will beguile, the plot will wrap the reader in its fancy, all the while whispering real-life connections to the subconscious. A book not to be missed, a book for all ages to stretch the imagination and stir the conscience.
May 17, 2022
I love this. I picked it up randomly from hoopla not realizing it is kind of a sequel to another book (a standalone though, more of a companion novel). It's one of those books with so much heart and I was totally near tears, I'll admit it. The actual prose is really pretty too and I cannot recommend the audiobook enough because I really feel like it added something to the experience. I just want to hug everyone. I've always kind of avoided Claire Legrand because of the wild-sounding nutcracker retelling (I don't remember how this came to my attention but read some reviews for Winterspell, seriously) but I am so glad I wasn't paying attention because this book is exactly what I miss about middle grade. I don't think I'm gonna start reading her bibliography or anything but I really just might read Foxheart.
This probably would have been a 4 or 4.5 star but I'm adding an entire star for how much I love Cub.
Oh, also: maybe don't read the blurb?
This probably would have been a 4 or 4.5 star but I'm adding an entire star for how much I love Cub.
Oh, also: maybe don't read the blurb?
September 22, 2023
"It is no small thing to have a gentle heart." ♥️
This book was hard for me to rate. 5 stars for my enjoyment... but this was in the juvenile fiction section and declares that it is for ages 8-12, which is insane. I personally would consider this book WAY too dark for preteens. Lots of evil, intrusive thoughts, violence, revenge, and murder. Not what I expected from a book about twin 12-year-olds with a flower-adorned unicorn on the cover. 😅 Just your friendly reminder that you should actually read books before allowing your children to read them, rather than just taking them at face value!
Parents should know:
- not for the recommended ages
- self-harm
- gay/lesbian relationships
- murder, including a child killing her parents
- evil, intrusive thoughts
- lots of death
- violence, including a child trying to strangle someone
- assisted suicide
Positive messages:
- it's okay to cry
- fear may blind us to the truth
- being gentle is not the same as being weak
This book was hard for me to rate. 5 stars for my enjoyment... but this was in the juvenile fiction section and declares that it is for ages 8-12, which is insane. I personally would consider this book WAY too dark for preteens. Lots of evil, intrusive thoughts, violence, revenge, and murder. Not what I expected from a book about twin 12-year-olds with a flower-adorned unicorn on the cover. 😅 Just your friendly reminder that you should actually read books before allowing your children to read them, rather than just taking them at face value!
Parents should know:
- not for the recommended ages
- self-harm
- gay/lesbian relationships
- murder, including a child killing her parents
- evil, intrusive thoughts
- lots of death
- violence, including a child trying to strangle someone
- assisted suicide
Positive messages:
- it's okay to cry
- fear may blind us to the truth
- being gentle is not the same as being weak
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
dnf
February 4, 2023I decided to DNF at around 44%. It's not that it was egregiously bad in any way, it's just that I couldn't find it in me to bother to renew the audiobook from the library. This is a pretty slow paced book that bounces around between about four points of view, and at 44% it simultaneously felt like nothing was happening and that I already knew approximately what the ending would be. Maybe I don't actually know what the ending will be, but I was not interested in finding out, so I stopped. If I'd read this physically and therefore more quickly, perhaps I would have finished it, but as an audiobook it was just taking too long for too little investment. Also, the narrator has a very pretty voice but gave two of the male characters (a teenage boy and a unicorn) voices that were very similar and hard to tell apart.
October 17, 2020
Okay. I must first be transparent. My child found the Foxheart book in my E-arc pile first. He loved it. I kept saying I was getting to it but he just went on and on about it. I broke down skipped over some books to read and I fell in love with it. When I saw Thornlight pop up, I knew I had to request it. I was not wrong. I am now a fangirl of everything Claire Legrand. If you haven't read this series you have to start now!!! Plus, read her other books, it will be well worth the time spent. Foxheart and Thornlight make me feel like a child again when magic and possibilities were endless. I love the characters and the heart of the stories. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review these novels!
March 6, 2021
This is a real treasure of a book! It is a beautifully written and engaging story. Thornlight is filled with adventure and unicorns and brave girls. However, I think it is marketed to a slightly younger audience than it should be. I began reading Thornlight to my 8 and 10 year-olds. My 10 year-old loves this fantasy adventure as much as I do, but it is too dark for my 8 year-old. I would guess that the right age range is from 10 to about 13. I teach middle school and I will be recommending this to my students who love adventure, fantasy and strong female characters. Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy in return for an honest review.
September 21, 2021
Thorn and her twin sister Brier are as different as sisters can be, except for the fact that they're identical twins. Brier, brave and extroverted, harvests lightening for the Vale. Thorn, meek and kind, is a street sweeper who makes are from the trash she finds. Their parents are off on at war fighting an unknowable and unseeable beast that threatens to climb out of the chasm and destroy the Vale with its darkness. It's a long and complicated story, but perfect for fans of the genre. I think it stands alone - I have not read the first one and followed the story just fine. Middle school book I think.
January 24, 2022
A wonderful story about the love between siblings, about coming into your own person, and about courage and sacrificies, with a strong trio of MC's, and . We also got to meet some of our friends from Foxheart again. I was glad to see them doing just fine, despite everything that happened in their story.
This novel was very moving and sad, but also quite funny in some parts. Did not expect to cry as much as I did. But believe you me, .
This novel was very moving and sad, but also quite funny in some parts. Did not expect to cry as much as I did. But believe you me, .
June 11, 2021
"Thornlight" is a pleasant fantasy that keeps the reader engaged throughout. It's the story of an unlikely female hero who rids a kingdom of a curse of its own making. The story is filled with witches, unicorns and monstrous creatures. Characters are well defined. The mystery that holds this story together unravels slowly to build suspense. It's a fun and enjoyable summer read..
July 25, 2021
A beautiful and wild adventure though a magic-starved land; a quest to save a kingdom and a whole population of witches; a story about sisters, learning themselves and each other, stepping out of their shadows and growing up. This book is lovely and has the classic vibe of an old adventure story from when I was a kid–talking unicorn and all!
November 30, 2024
I am always a sucker a good children's book, and there are few authors that do it better than Claire Legrand. Not quite on the same level as Some Kind of Happiness, but still fantastic nonetheless. I am eager to read the other book in this universe, Foxheart.
April 20, 2021
This was so lovely and warm and almost...old fashioned feeling? In a good way.
May 30, 2021
Gorgeous and moving fantasy
November 26, 2021
This is a delightful companion to Foxheart! This is a beautifully told story, I could see it. Cub is a beautiful character and I cried so many times. Storytelling at it's finest.
April 24, 2022
Beautiful. Brought me to tears.
December 24, 2022
Beautifully written.
August 12, 2023
I enjoyed this story more than the adult novel I recently read by this author. It does delve into some dark topics for a young audience, like assisted suicide, but the pacing was much better.
February 24, 2023
Welcome to the Vale, a land where nothing is what it seems.
Something is happening to this land.
Something…wild.
Lightning, the only defense against the Gulgot, is beginning to rebel.
Storms are going away.
And the Gulgot is coming closer every day.
Three girls, one a queen, one an invisible twin, and one an visible twin, will have to save the kingdom.
“‘Magic isn’t has sweet as all your glittering kiddie stories have told you.’”
Queen Celestyna is willing to do anything to save the kingdom. Even if dark magic is involved. Even if she might die. Even if it harms the one thing she is fighting for. Her parents told her what to do. Keep your little sister safe. Protect the kingdom. Don’t surrender. But the darkness is overwhelming her, just as she realizes that she might be “sharing “ the curse.
“But in the middle of the night, while everyone she loved slept, it was much harder not to think terrible things.”
Thorn, a shy and quiet artist, always feels invisible compared to her sister, Brier. Brier is always seen, always heard, always more talented than her. But when Thorn is accidentally sent to the war front to gather more lightning, she discovers a more confident, braver Thorn, as well as the most beautiful girl she has ever seen. Ot is this girl that makes Thorn want to go to the Star Lands, where a witch resides. A witch with the power to destroy the Gulgot. But are the stories true? And what is the price of this new Thorn?
“”What a happy girl that Brier had been.”
Brier is the perfect lightning collector. So perfect that she doesn’t know the truth about what exactly is in the lightning. Brier is destined to save the Vale. Until everything goes wrong. A lightning bolt strikes her, leaving Brier hurt and sick. Thorn is forced to take her place. But when she tries to save her sister, she finds that she was the enemy, not the ally, the whole time. Everyone she knew was lying to her. Now she has an impossible choice : betray her kingdom and save the lives of hundreds, or betray her true love and new found friends and win the war.
“‘You have raised your voices to say things few could ever believe and even fewer wanted to hear.’”
With a dash of Lesbian love, adventure, a thrilling sense of danger , this was a great book!
Something is happening to this land.
Something…wild.
Lightning, the only defense against the Gulgot, is beginning to rebel.
Storms are going away.
And the Gulgot is coming closer every day.
Three girls, one a queen, one an invisible twin, and one an visible twin, will have to save the kingdom.
“‘Magic isn’t has sweet as all your glittering kiddie stories have told you.’”
Queen Celestyna is willing to do anything to save the kingdom. Even if dark magic is involved. Even if she might die. Even if it harms the one thing she is fighting for. Her parents told her what to do. Keep your little sister safe. Protect the kingdom. Don’t surrender. But the darkness is overwhelming her, just as she realizes that she might be “sharing “ the curse.
“But in the middle of the night, while everyone she loved slept, it was much harder not to think terrible things.”
Thorn, a shy and quiet artist, always feels invisible compared to her sister, Brier. Brier is always seen, always heard, always more talented than her. But when Thorn is accidentally sent to the war front to gather more lightning, she discovers a more confident, braver Thorn, as well as the most beautiful girl she has ever seen. Ot is this girl that makes Thorn want to go to the Star Lands, where a witch resides. A witch with the power to destroy the Gulgot. But are the stories true? And what is the price of this new Thorn?
“”What a happy girl that Brier had been.”
Brier is the perfect lightning collector. So perfect that she doesn’t know the truth about what exactly is in the lightning. Brier is destined to save the Vale. Until everything goes wrong. A lightning bolt strikes her, leaving Brier hurt and sick. Thorn is forced to take her place. But when she tries to save her sister, she finds that she was the enemy, not the ally, the whole time. Everyone she knew was lying to her. Now she has an impossible choice : betray her kingdom and save the lives of hundreds, or betray her true love and new found friends and win the war.
“‘You have raised your voices to say things few could ever believe and even fewer wanted to hear.’”
With a dash of Lesbian love, adventure, a thrilling sense of danger , this was a great book!
July 12, 2021
This dark fantasy follows four points of view, two sisters, a misunderstood monster and a young queen. I enjoyed the delve into darkness and the exploration of what is right from each point of view. Seeing Quicksilver and Sly Boots was fun and bittersweet. The plot was paced in such a way as to keep my interest flowing evenly. I love Legrand's authorial voice!
July 5, 2023
Beautiful.
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