Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Sorcery of Thorns
by Margaret Rogerson

Genre: YA high fantasy

My Rating: ★★★

Description:

Elisabeth has lived her whole life as an apprentice in the Great Library of Summershall. She is charged with the task of keeping the grimoires -- magical books created by sorcery -- safe. And keeping the outside world safe from them.
But when an accident occurs and a grimoire escapes, Elisabeth is dragged into a centuries old conspiracy, alongside one of her greatest enemies -- a sorcerer.

Overall Thoughts

A fun, enjoyable book, but nothing super special. It's still worth a read if Victorian fantasy or books about books are things you like, but overall, there are probably more unique stories out there.

I was pretty conflicted with my feelings over this book by the time I finished Sorcery of Thorns. On one hand, I loved the magic, the whole concept of librarians being guardians of monstrous books, the Victorian setting, and Silas (who, let's be frank, is the best character in the whole book.)
On the other hand, I couldn't connect with the main character, Elisabeth, who felt very bland and stereotypical. As a result, I couldn't get on board with the romance. I also feel like the plot wasn't the most original out there, but it would have been fine had the main character been more relateable.

The Characters

The characterization was a bit all over the place. 

Elisabeth, the main character, was overall very bland. I couldn't connect with her character voice at all, and though she did have her moments, overall I couldn't really ever root for her as a character because I just... didn't... care all that much. She was like a number of YA female protagonists I've seen over the years, so she doesn't stand out as anything special. Without giving anything away, I also feel like she didn't end up being that relevant to the completion of the story goal, so I'm not sure why she was the main character at all. 

Her love interest (not really a spoiler, guys) Nathaniel, was okay. I liked his personality, and he had a few really awesome pieces of dialogue. I think I would've liked him a lot more if he didn't have this weird obsession with Elisabeth. I mean, come on, dude, you could do a lot better than her! 

And then there's Silas. Who was, by far, my favorite character. He's the butler, which should tell you... literally everything you need to know. He was great. Truly. I literally was reading the book for him at some points. 

Plot/Pacing

There's not really much to say in regards to plot. It starts out interesting, but soon devolves into a more stereotypical fantasy storyline. Which I would be fine with, if the characters were interesting enough to outshine the plot itself. 

The pacing was good, however, for the most part. There was a portion of the book where I literally put it down in the middle of an action sequence and didn't pick it up for three days, but that was less of a pacing problem than the fact that I just wasn't rooting for Elisabeth at all. 

Worldbuilding

I'm happy to say that the worldbuilding was really fun. I loved the whole idea of the Great Libraries, and the grimoires and Maleficts and literally everything to do with the libraries. I adored the concept, and I loved the way it played out on page. 

The sorcery element was not my favorite, but I still enjoyed it. It's a soft magic system, so there weren't many rules explained on page, and it seemed very typical fantasy magic overall. I still thought it was fun, though. (I call the weirdest things fun. The sorcery in this book literally involves trading away years of your life to demons. *shaking my head*)

Content

Recommended for ages 14 and up. 

POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNING: A character is implied to have some form of PTSD, which results in nightmares. 

Violence is not well-described, but there are several fight scenes and descriptions of blood and wounds. Several descriptions of monsters that could be disturbing for some readers. Some grimoires are made by binding body parts to them which... is exactly as gross as it sounds like. Characters use magic and swords to fight. 

Sexual content is limited to kissing and a few vague references. One kissing scene is pretty sensual and drawn out, with one of the characters starting to undress the other character. They are interrupted before it goes too far. One male character mentions that he "fancied" another male character at one point. 

Swearing is limited to some mild curse words. 

Characters drink alcohol.