Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

9 reviews

nat_kiverse's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Misogyny, Grief, Body horror, Self harm, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Gaslighting, Death, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

mayas's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

I really loved/enjoyed this book, especially the majority of it. It was really fun and exciting and tense. I really couldn’t put this down and it surprised me that I read almost all of it in 5 days, which is a lot for me for a book this size. 

And the characters were really cool and I enjoyed there interactions, personalities, and banter. I would have loved to explore more about Katrien and even Silas. 

I found the ending a little confusing. I didn’t really understand what specifically Silas did/how he did it. And there were some things I questioned regarding the last act and stuff. I also took a little longer getting through the last 10-20% but I don’t think that really was the book - maybe just personal circumstances. 

And because of this little loss in momentum, I struggle to rate this book. But it’s more than 5 stars. But less than 4.5. When I was reading it (in the momentum bit), I remember thinking it was 4.3. So i suppose 4.25 will be fine :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief

Minor: War

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Sexism, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Police brutality, Cursing, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Abandonment, and Body horror

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 😭

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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

books_and_coffee_vibes's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-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 loved this book with all my heart. I love the development and how the author takes time to build up to the ending and how she builds up the relationship between Nathaniel, Elizabeth and Silas. I must say Silas was Definitely my favorite character. He was incredibly funny without trying and I love the comments on how Nathaniel dresses. I loved him so much. This book bought me so much joy and I’m definitely buying the new one 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Abandonment

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

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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

booksthatburn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I like how much of the early worldbuilding revolves around the grimoires and the propaganda Elisabeth was taught about sorcerers. The way Nathaniel leans into her negative assumptions without actually doing anything to hurt Elisabeth or anyone else means that she learns a lot about the kind of person he is by how he reacts to being misunderstood. It's a wonderful bit of worldbuilding-as-characterization and I love how it works out. He lets her think awful things without trying to defend himself, then when she realizes those assumptions don't match how he's actually behaving it gives her an opportunity to realize she was wrong about him. It's a dynamic that repeats itself throughout the book, gradually receding as they learn to trust each other and communicate more forthrightly. One of my other favorite things in the worldbuilding is how the narration assumes the reader has a starting point in that world, specifically of a person growing up in one of the Great Libraries. Once she leaves, Elisabeth learns some of the outside world's differences in a way that enhances the worldbuilding and teaches about her as a character. If she's startled that the world was one way then it implies that her experience of the Library was different in a specific manner. Immersive worldbuilding is a favorite of mine, and this perfectly fit the kind I like.

Silas is enjoyable as a character whose present form is unassuming but could absolutely fuck someone up if a different version of himself is let loose (Think Mogget from The Old Kingdom books by Garth Nix, but if he liked working). 

I thought the first half was just fine (except for the worldbuilding, which was excellent) and then I loved the ending. I didn't enjoy the matrons speculating about Nathaniel's sexuality, and while the resolution of his identity came though his own telling, it felt a bit off.

Nathaniel doesn't want to be treated as a stud for his bloodline (completely understandable) so he turns away hordes of eligible women. Their mothers are upset and speculate that he might be gay (because obviously it must be he doesn't want a woman at all, not that he doesn't want any of their daughters). It made the reveal that he likes men and women feel a bit like Elisabeth is the exception that proves the rule. On the one hand, I'm excited for a bi character getting a m/f relationship because his queerness isn't dependent on his partner's identity. On the other hand, it made it feel like he's bi so that the narrative can tease his dynamic with Silas. There's no jealousy from Elisabeth on their intimacy, which I appreciated, but altogether it left me unable to enjoy Elisabeth and Nathaniel as much as I wanted.

The audiobook performance (particularly for Silas) perfectly fits each character and really enhanced the story. The plot noticeably had distinct stages (not in a bad way). It's a long enough book to have several points of tension and rest, with the danger escalating in a way that felt appropriate to the world and to what the characters had already faced. There were a couple of points in the latter half where things had been so dramatic that I thought maybe it was about to pull a cliffhanger, but the ending is very satisfying and comes at an appropriate point in the pacing. 

I enjoyed this and am very excited for a sequel if one materializes. It's listed as a series so I'm hopeful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Blood, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Gaslighting, Violence, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Gore, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, and Death

Minor: Mental illness

hapalyn's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Child death, Cursing, Torture, Misogyny, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Medical content

zombiesheep's review

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gaslighting, and Blood

Moderate: Abandonment, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Gore, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Confinement, Grief, Sexual content, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and Panic attacks/disorders