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sophiesmallhands's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Death, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Sexism
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Child death
bexi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I have a few minor gripes with the writing but I simply love the story, the world, and the characters too much to give this anything other than 5 stars.
I was excited to read it every night. I didn't want it to end and I'm low-key sad that I finished it. There's a companion novella and yes, I am going out to the nearest bookstore tonight to purchase it.
Shoutout to booktubers for putting this book on my radar. And for comparing it to Howl's Moving Castle - that was the selling point for me. If you enjoyed HMC (book or movie), pick this up because I agree with the comparison.
Now somebody please adapt this into a miniseries for television because I wants ittt ðŸ˜
I was excited to read it every night. I didn't want it to end and I'm low-key sad that I finished it. There's a companion novella and yes, I am going out to the nearest bookstore tonight to purchase it.
Shoutout to booktubers for putting this book on my radar. And for comparing it to Howl's Moving Castle - that was the selling point for me. If you enjoyed HMC (book or movie), pick this up because I agree with the comparison.
Now somebody please adapt this into a miniseries for television because I wants ittt ðŸ˜
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Child abuse, Child death, Gaslighting, and Panic attacks/disorders
rem_reads's review
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I would sell my soul to Silias.
Content Warnings
Minor: Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Child death, and Animal death
maiishigami's review
adventurous
funny
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Death of parent
filipateodoro's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The writing style wasn't completely my thing, but the book is FUN. The perfect book to get out of a reading slump. A bit childish for me at times, bit still entertaining and it doesn't have the usual problems that bother me in YA.
It could've been a 3.5, but the fun I had reading it and the *awesome* magic system bumped it up to a solid 4 stars.
It could've been a 3.5, but the fun I had reading it and the *awesome* magic system bumped it up to a solid 4 stars.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Murder, and Trafficking
hannahbailey's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
TW: death (of parent, child), blood, violence, grief, injury, body horror, forced institutionalisation, misogyny, murder, confinement, torture, panic attacks
There are lots of strong points to this book, including a well-developed main character. The fantasy setting and magic system were interesting and had potential, but they were never fully explained. Sadly what lost me was I felt the book was being pulled multiple ways between grimoires and libraries and sorcery and power. If the author had gone with one or the other, but kept the plot the same, I think this would be a much stronger novel. That said, the grimoires element was something I'd not seen done before and that was interesting enough to keep me reading. Another book I think would translate really well on screen as a TV series.
The love interest, whilst interesting at first, changed his tune too quickly and became a character used for comic relief throughout the novel. This felt strange and unnecessary to me. Although the book has a dark academia/fantasy vibe, it wasn't dark enough to require so many quips from the guy to lighten the mood. The situations were serious but not depressing, so the humour was unwarranted (and unwanted) for me. The trigger warnings do seem very dark, but the fantasy setting and YA genre disconnects them from reality and they are less horrific in the context of the book. This is still a very strong YA novel and a younger reader may not pull it apart as much as I am prone to do.
There are lots of strong points to this book, including a well-developed main character. The fantasy setting and magic system were interesting and had potential, but they were never fully explained. Sadly what lost me was I felt the book was being pulled multiple ways between grimoires and libraries and sorcery and power. If the author had gone with one or the other, but kept the plot the same, I think this would be a much stronger novel. That said, the grimoires element was something I'd not seen done before and that was interesting enough to keep me reading. Another book I think would translate really well on screen as a TV series.
The love interest, whilst interesting at first, changed his tune too quickly and became a character used for comic relief throughout the novel. This felt strange and unnecessary to me. Although the book has a dark academia/fantasy vibe, it wasn't dark enough to require so many quips from the guy to lighten the mood. The situations were serious but not depressing, so the humour was unwarranted (and unwanted) for me. The trigger warnings do seem very dark, but the fantasy setting and YA genre disconnects them from reality and they are less horrific in the context of the book. This is still a very strong YA novel and a younger reader may not pull it apart as much as I am prone to do.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Torture, and Panic attacks/disorders
rinku's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The ideas and concepts behind Sorcery of Thorns were so interesting and the beginning was so intriguing but sadly towards the end, the book was lacking some things so that I could only give 3.5 stars.
Like I’ve said, I really enjoyed the main idea. Elisabeth is an apprentice at a library with Grimoires, living books that are sometimes friendly, sometimes straight up evil. After being accused of a murder she didn’t commit, Elisabeth is brought into the capital by the magician Nathaniel and his demon companion Silas. There, she learns that she’s part of a bigger conspiracy that threatens the fate of her world.
It was so sad to see how Elisabeth not only had to adjust to this new situation but how judgmental all the people were towards her. Here, I liked how Rogerson integrated modern concepts, like paparazzi, into a medieval setting. There were other interesting concepts introduced, like different dimensions. I feel like many of those idea had so much potential but not all of this potential was used. Other things I quite enjoyed were the action scenes.
In contrast, some moments of the story were quite predictable, like Ashcroft being the (stereotypical) villain. Until the end, I was still not sure what his motivations were . Also, we had the typical dancing ball. Some moments didn’t make too much sense for me, like how at the beginning, Finch doesn’t believe her even though you can clearly see that Elisabeth was in a battle. This was probably because he just wanted to get rid of Elisabeth , but there could’ve been maybe a better explanation why Elisabeth had to leave.
All in all, the pacing of the story was quite good but towards the end, it became a bit slow because some miscommunications happened which was annoying. Compared to this, I found it clever that the libraries built one big summoning circle . I have to admit that I don’t remember so much about the final fight since for some reasons, I was zoning out a lot while reading it.
What I furthermore liked about this book was the writing style. It portrays the emotions of the main character well, describes magic and everything else quite vividly and creates atmospheric settings, like the libraries or the Thorn Manor. What I noticed though is that the German translation that I’ve read had some grammar mistakes and missing words.
When looking at the characters, I liked both Nathaniel and Elisabeth. Elisabeth was sometimes a bit too naïve for my taste, e. g. believing that Ashcroft’s doctor would actually help her. There was some chemistry between them, and I appreciated that the romance was more on the slow burn side – because we meet him in the course of the first pages, I was afraid that I would be an insta love. What was also great was the development of the characters. Another character I liked was Silas. He’s so interesting and you should never forget that he’s a demon, no matter how nicely he acts.
Overall, I have the feeling that more could have been made of Sorcery of Thorns. With the world and the characters, there’s an interesting basis but the plot just lacked some things for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Confinement
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Violence, Murder, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual content and Torture
bookish_slagathor's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I'm always skeptical when it comes to YA novels and have a tendency to avoid them, but thanks to me buying this on a whim and my friend who also needed someone to read it with her, I finally managed to finish this book. And now I want more!
Margaret Rogerson has an amazingly beautiful and flowing writing style and a knack for bringing her characters to life. It was a joy to read her novel and I will be definitely looking into her other works after this.
Not to mention that this book has a capable female MC, the sweetest romance that I've read in the past few months (or maybe even in the past year) and an exciting story with strong feminist vibes to boot. Definitely something I would recommend getting your teen child, but also something I'd recommend for adults as well. It's just so good!!!
In any case, this book convinced me to try and be a tad bit more open minded when it comes to YA literature. Some books may surprise me with their maturity.
Margaret Rogerson has an amazingly beautiful and flowing writing style and a knack for bringing her characters to life. It was a joy to read her novel and I will be definitely looking into her other works after this.
Not to mention that this book has a capable female MC, the sweetest romance that I've read in the past few months (or maybe even in the past year) and an exciting story with strong feminist vibes to boot. Definitely something I would recommend getting your teen child, but also something I'd recommend for adults as well. It's just so good!!!
In any case, this book convinced me to try and be a tad bit more open minded when it comes to YA literature. Some books may surprise me with their maturity.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism and Misogyny
Minor: Death, Gaslighting, Blood, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, and Murder
sammymilfort's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Blood, and Body horror
Moderate: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore
Minor: Child death and Vomit
noveltay's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I liked this one more than her other books!! It was good, characters were loveable- even the one you weren’t supposed to love. It would have been nice to get more of an epilogue than we got, but also leaving the ending up to the reader is cool in it’s own.
My only real complaint was how long the chapters were, made it slower to read for me personally.
My only real complaint was how long the chapters were, made it slower to read for me personally.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Blood, and Confinement