Path of Thorns Published by Titan Books
Age Group: Adult
Format: Fiction
Genres and Categories: Dark Fantasy, Gothic Fantasy, Paranormal, Magic Users, Teacher Characters, Various Magic, Vision impairment, Werewolves, Witches
Series: Sourdough #2
My Rating:
Published on: 5th January 2026
Pages: 384
Disability Representation: Cataracts
Buy this Book! Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Blackwells / Bookshop.org US / Bookshop.org UK / Waterstones / BookBeat Audio
Add to Goodreads

A lush and twisted dark fairy tale suffused with witchcraft, dark secrets and bitter revenge from the award-winning author of All the Murmuring Bones. Exquisite, haunting and at times brutal, readers of Naomi Novik and Erin Morgenstern will be entranced.

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.

From the award-winning author of All the Murmuring Bones, dark magic, retribution and twisted family secrets combine to weave a bewitching and addictive tale.

This book was provided for free by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!

Content Warnings:

Please note
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programmes I earn a small commission from items purchased using links featured in this post at no extra cost to you. Click here to learn more. Every purchase you make through Just Geeking By helps keep this blog running.

I had heard a lot of good things about A.G. Slatter and saw her on a panel at CYMERA last year. I have All The Murmuring Bones sitting on my bookshelf; however, until The Path of Thorns, I had not read anything by her… or so I thought! It turns out that she wrote my favourite story from the Hex Life anthology! I only found this out after I finished The Path of Thorns, and if I had known beforehand, I wouldn’t have been surprised by how much I loved this book.

The Path of Thorns is a gloriously gothic fantasy mystery that follows Asher Todd to the estate of Morwood Grange, where she begins her role as governess to the Morwoods’ three young children. We are immediately made aware by Asher that she is not a governess, that the fantastic references that got her the job are forgeries, and she is there for something much more sinister. It is that unknown reason that makes this book so delicious to read. Slatter draws it out bit by bit, teasing it out like a knot in a piece of embroidery.

As we learn more about Asher and her mission, her secrets, we also learn more about the Morwoods and the other members of the estate. There are secrets going back generations at Morwood Grange, and the things that go bump in the night are not just figments of imagination. In The Path of Thorns, Slatter has woven together a story that encompasses the untold struggles of family, the burden women silently bear and how desperately we fight for approval even when we know it will never come.

Thanks for reading my book review for The Path of Thorns by A. G. Slatter. The Path of Thorns is set in the same world as some of Slatter’s other work, the world of “Sourdough”, although it is a standalone novel and can be read as such.

Don’t forget to check out the rest of my reviews if you’re looking for some more book recommendations 🙂 You can also now sign up for my newsletter to get an email each month with a list of my new reviews!

Support Just Geeking By

I hope you enjoyed this post! If you did please consider sharing it on social media using the nifty buttons at the end of this post <3

If you enjoyed this content please consider helping to support my blog. You can do this in multiple ways (click here to find out how!) or by donating via Ko-Fi to help me reach my current goal.