The Path of Thorns by A G Slatter
I would like to thank Sarah from Titan for an advance copy of this novel inexchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Titan
Published – Out Now
Price – £8.99 paperback £6.65 Kindle eBook
Asher Todd comes to live with the mysterious Morwood family as a governess to their children. Asher knows little about being a governess but she is skilled in botany and herbcraft, and perhaps more than that. And she has secrets of her own, dark and terrible – and Morwood is a house that eats secrets. With a monstrous revenge in mind, Asher plans to make it choke. However, she becomes fond of her charges, of the people of the Tarn, and she begins to wonder if she will be able to execute her plan – and who will suffer most if she does. But as the ghosts of her past become harder to control, Asher realises she has no choice.
The Gothic thriller is staple of literature. There is usually a house, a very atmospheric location and intensity as characters in close quarters to each other hide and ultimately reveal their secrets. They’re always good value if you enjoy a tense and dramatic read. Throw fantasy into the mixture and of course things get better as reality gets played with. Then add one of the best fantasy authors in the shape of AG Slatter and we get a rather brilliant novel in the form of The Path of Thorns a tale of tales full of secrets, revenge, and a dark delight to discover what hides within a family’s history.
Asher Todd arrives on a stormy day to become governess to the three young Morwood children. This wealthy yet secretive family have only recently had to hire Asher as the previous Governess less after only two weeks. Leonora, the matriarch of the family hides in her room due to fading eyesight, Luther Morwood the next generation of Morwoods glowers at all his family and none of them are aware that Asher Todd does not exist. Asher has her own secrets, knowledge of things that could make her get burnt at the stake and a desire to strike her own revenge against the Morwoods.
I loved this intricate dark fantasy thriller and annoyingly I can’t tell you too much s to why. What powers the tale is Asher’s voice as our narrator. We get fairly early on the sense that Asher is not being fully honest with her new family (that she is using a name and lying about her past are the first clues) and indeed she knows a lot about the family; their history and some scerets they will wish not to be made public. Asher is steely, determined, resourceful and makes herself soon indispensable tot eh family. That she shares her knowledge of medicine (and some would say magic) makes her popular with the locals too as she helps them in the role of a Doctor for a remote location where medicine is expensive, and we start to suspect these skills can be used for some less than healthy activities too. There is a sense of regret from Asher that some innocent people may get hurt by her scheme but we also sense she won’t be giving in because she feels sorry for people. What I can say is how satisfying all the reveals are and really sets ups multiple confrontations and challenges for Asher to navigate both human and supernatural.
What makes this work though as well is the use of location and what makes this novel’s stand out is not simply the standard oppressive manor house but the wider world it sits in. This is a world of depth similar to ours and yet not so. A world where werewolves in the countryside are very real; where the dead do not always rest easily, where magic can be severely punished and yet everyone accepts it is real. Its also a world where everyone likes to tell stories to help explain things and we get small yet powerful folktales of usually a page or less that help explain a character’s motivation or cultural reference. It gives the story a depth and history that is really solid. You feel this world feels impressively solid and although this is set within Slatter’s vast Sourdough world (a world full of tales within tales) no prior knowledge is needed of the other tales as the story gently explains things without infodumps and revelations are set up where clues all come together. It’s a fascinating world to explore and even this remote part of it has a huge amount to uncover.
The last area and I have to tread carefully here is the plot. This is not a story where Asher’s plan goes smoothly. Instead, Asher is in a place where many characters are all playing games against each other to secure their own power and future. But add in magic and this makes the results uncertain. Asher is very bright but so are other characters and very quickly Asher is fighting to survive. Its an impressive feat of writing when a competent character we tend to like (and just possibly worry has gone too far) suddenly finds they are no longer in control of a situation. Linking nicely to the title this is a reminder that sometimes there are no good painless options to live and survive in the world. You just choose the one you feel is best and hope the next step is easier. As this tale leads to a bloody finale, we cannot ay anyone has won…merely we know some characters managed to survive at the cost of others.
The Path of Thorns is a fantastic piece of gothic fantasy. We know things are not as they seem as the ride starts but we are not quite prepared for the twists and turns this rollercoaster of story has in store for us. Danger, revenge, and guilt are all crucial parts of the tale and the key to solving the mystery of a really unusual and interesting central character. I hugely enjoyed it and definitely a reminder why I love reading Slatter’s work so much. Strongly recommended!
