Thoughts on : Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Posted by Kay on November 20, 2019 11:55 pm in 4 stars reads | 2 comments

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
Genre : YA, Fantasy
Stand Alone

About the Book  :

All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power.

 

Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.

 

As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.

I’ve read a lot of great YA fantasy this year, and Sorcery of Thorns was definitely one of them.

On Goodreads, I wrote that “My heart says 5 stars but my head says 3.5”. Sorcery of Thorns was truly enchanting, but it does have some flaws that slowed my reading, especially toward the end. 

I thought the pace was a tad uneven, which isn’t that bad, really. But mostly, I thought the story was a bit all over the place. It went in many directions at once – romance, worldbuilding, magic, friendship – and I felt like I wanted a little more from each. The book is about 450 pages long, so it isn’t the smallest, but it still felt, to me, as though the story needed more space to expand. 

This being said, I really enjoyed the book. Sorcery of Thorns is a book about books and for book lovers. Those magical grimoires were so much fun and all along, I couldn’t help thinking the world would be great for an animated movie! I loved how the magic worked and the plot was also a lot of fun, with very few boring moments.

I also really enjoyed the relationships. Yes, the romance is the most predictable, but it’s cute and it made me smile. I’m always up for some good banter and a slow-burn romance, and Elisabeth and Nathaniel definitely delivered.

But more than that, and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone here, I absolutely loved Silas. His character was so interesting. I always enjoy morally gray characters, or exploring what defines “good” or “bad”, and I loved how the author used Silas to introduce these themes.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. It felt magical and enchanting, in a way that made it easy for me to ignore its flaws. And it’s a standalone! (For now, anyway – I definitely feel as though the author could write a story featuring some of the side characters!) It made my heart flutter with happiness and magic, and I couldn’t ask for more.