Nettle & Bone

How it reads

Nettle & Bone is fantasy (dark fairy-tale fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is adventurous. It's driven by momentum, discovery and getting into trouble. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in an invented world, in no single period, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are family, redemption and power and politics. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending resolves happily. At 243 pages it's a quick read. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.