Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - Magia cierni

Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Magia cierni by Margaret Rogerson

57 reviews

jasperdotpdf's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.25

At first I was a little unsure of whether or not I'd like Sorcery of Thorns. I had a little trouble connecting to Elisabeth as a main character, especially because her dislike for Nathaniel and Sorcery in general felt very juvenile. However, the more I read the more I grew to love this book and I am so glad I stuck with it.

Elisabeth's sheltered and black and white outlook on the world was quickly challenged, which I enjoyed a lot. And although her and Nathaniel's relationship is definitely exagerrated when the blurb describes them as "sworn enemies", them slowly coming to trust and eventually love each other really pulled at my heartstrings.
Margaret Rogerson is truly excellent at writing characters that are loveable through and through. Everone and everything in this book, from Nathaniel and Silas who absolutely stole my heart to Mercy and even the grimoires and their at times hilarious personalities were delightful to read. Even the antagonists were, although unlikeable, very well written in my humble opinion.

I will say that the more high-stakes aspects of the plot, especially the climax of the novel weren't my favourite parts of the story. While the origin of magic is explained, the rules and limitations for it don't really get expanded upon in the book. This makes for, like most soft-magic settings, a very whimsical reading experience, but also lead to me sometimes being unclear on what would be possible for the characters to do and finding the final action sequence a bit hard to follow.
Despite this, I never found myself distracted or put off enough to put this book down, as it had me absolutely hooked. I never felt like I struggled with reading through this, which says a lot, because I have a tendency to lose focus easily when reading.
The magical world - magical both in the atmospheric and literal sense - as well as the characters are the beating heart of this story and more than make up for the smaller shortcomings it has. Rogerson's writing truly shines when it comes to the emotional payoff of intercharacter relationships and had me tearing up multiple times throughout the book.

Sorcery of Thorns is filled with delightful characters, moments that made me laugh, some that made me cry and such a wonderfully vibrant setting. Please read this if you get the chance.

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eviethebookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous funny 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? No

5.0

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sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

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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

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readbyella_'s review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.75

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twistykris's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

4.0

This was a good read! Not my favorite YA novel, and certainly not my favorite YA fantasy novel, BUT is was fun nonetheless. I enjoyed many of the characters (Silas the demon is my favorite), the setting and magic system is creative and immersive, but I felt like the main antagonist/ villain was.. meh?

Predictable reveal that lead to some things that felt unrealistic (and not in a magical-world way, more of a rich-people-getting-away-with-things-because-of-fame-and-power-and-money way..

Maybe it's the cynic in me, but I found it quite strange that these rich, powerful people were so willing to turn against another rich, powerful person.. I had thought there would be some sort of coverup, that these people were also in on this plot, etc

).

The climax dragged on way too long, and overall some of the pacing was slow. Also, some things are revealed about Elisabeth that just felt.. silly? She's the "chosen one" but it's not fully fleshed-out and feels haphazard in a way.

And a critique with the characters: I liked Nathaniel (I do love a grumpy character that starts as an enemy that develops into more) but I felt like his relationship with Elisabeth was a little shallow? I appreciate how it isn't front-and-center, but I wish we got more of their developing feelings for each other.

But Silas is 10/10 snarky and an absolute icon and I adore him. He really brought this book up a star-rating tbh.

I felt like this book could have been like, 50 pages shorter or split into two books, but at this point it's a potential standalone (a .5 coming out this year I guess?) and I'm okay with that. Though if a second one were to come out that revolves around my demon man Silas, I am all in.

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bexi's review against another edition

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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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lizgom's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I usually have a hard time getting into YA romance but this one was cute.
I really enjoyed Nathaniel’s personality and I think that’s why it was an enjoyable romance. He’s witty, sarcastic, humorous and flirty. Elisabeth is probably one of my favorite heroines. She’s everything I want from a main character. I have a tendency to dislike FMCs and I think this speaks volumes about how Elisabeth was written. She’s a girl who grew up in a Library full of grimoires and builds an immunity to magic. Her courage was something admirable throughout the book, I didn’t get the “god she’s so dumb” vibe I usually get from most female protagonists. (Feyre from ACOTAR I’m looking at you.) I genuinely rooted for Elisabeth. I often get frustrated by how naïve most FMCs are written. Hands down Elisabeth is my favorite character written so far.
The romance in this book wasn’t the main plot so if you’re looking for a specifically romance book then you might be a little disappointed because this is a very very light romance. The plot had quite a few things going on. However, it wasn’t overwhelming.

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