Hardinge isn't horror, although she is often creeping dread. Or, insofar as she is, she's my kind of horror. She and Kingfisher share a love for doing good set against the backdrop of the macabre.
This is, basically, a book about trauma. It says its a book about curses and that's because Hardinge is VERY good at what she does, but this is actually a book about pain and anger and hate and trauma and that kind of people it can turn us into and the kind of people we can turn ourselves into.
And also an entire Pan's Labyrinth of terrifying creatures and the scariest creatures of all are the perfectly ordinary birds.
I loved it so much.