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nrogers_1030's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Grief, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, and Body horror
Minor: Kidnapping
bluejayreads's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-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? It's complicated
4.5
After being surprised by how much I enjoyed Vespertine, I added a couple more of Margaret Rogerson’s books to my reading list. I didn’t have high hopes for this one – the back cover made me think there would be way more romance than I enjoy – but as happened last time, I was wrong. This book is very good.
This book covers a lot of similar tropes to Vespertine. Even though there’s no actual church in this book, the Great Library system acts just enough like one to get that “I grew up believing wholeheartedly believing everything the church says but now that I’ve experienced the real world everything’s much more complicated than I thought and maybe this thing they said was evil actually isn’t” vibe. If that isn’t a relatable deconversion mood, I don’t know what is.
Elisabeth is a perfectly serviceable character. She’s not a great force of personality, but she is a great force of will and stubbornness and determination to do the right thing, even if it turns out the right thing is the thing she’s been told is evil her whole life. Her power is in how much she cares about protecting others and doing the right thing. Well, that and sword fighting, a skill that never really gets explained but I guess I can chalk up to library training. (The “power she never guessed” reveal from the back cover is never built up, an anticlimactic reveal, and completely irrelevant to anything, so I’m not factoring that in.)
I was a little concerned about an enemies-to-lovers romance angle popping up. It did happen (I don’t think it’s a spoiler because if you’re at all familiar with YA fantasy you would know it’s coming), but it was a side plot to all the main plot stop-the-people-attacking-the-libraries happenings. Nathaniel also got to be a character in his own right before he became a love interest, and vintage, I’m happy with him as a character and the romance overall.
Also, Nathaniel’s demonic servant almost felt like a color-swapped Sebastian from Black Butler – which was a major bonus for me, since Black Butler is my favorite anime of all time.
As far as plots go, it was pretty straightforward. Elisabeth figures out the culprit pretty early, and most of the story is focused on figuring out the why and how so she and Nathaniel can stop him. The why is a big reveal, but only the “how” would count as a twist. But even without a complex plot, it’s quite enjoyable. There’s mystery elements, a heist, semi-sentient books, plenty of magic, and bloody fights (sword- and otherwise) with demonic creatures. It’s not what I would call action-packed, but there’s plenty of action around other engaging and magical stuff.
Sorcery of Thorns is just a little too straightforward to make my Top Favorites list, but it was a great read. It’s magical enough to hold my interest, the motives of the antagonist are difficult to discover without being frustrating, and it has some relatable feelings about the institution you grew up in being wrong, the complex shades of gray between “right” and “wrong,” and how awesome libraries are. Overall, a very good book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Child death, Grief, and Body horror
Minor: Mental illness
kryzysowa_narzeczona's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
lilifane's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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? Yes
5.0
I had my doubts about this book. I only knew it takes place in a library and has to do with solving a mystery. Which is kind of correct but then again it's not really what you expect when you hear this.
So I was a little disappointed in the beginning but soon got used to the actualy story and from then on had the time of my life reading it. So let me gush a little bit.
I loooooved the characters and was surprised by the represantation in this book. The main character, Elisabeth, is a tall girl. A really tall girl, bigger than most of the boys/men around her and that was SO cool to read. She's been growing up in a library for magical books and has some mysterious abilities that others don't have. At the beginning of the book she witnesses an attack on her library and tries to uncover the truth behind it. What bothered me the most about her for a long time was how ignorant and prejudiced she is at the beginning, especially for someone living in a library and spending her whole life reading books. I thought that was only a way to give her some room for character development, but in the end it actually made a lot of sense. I also feared this would turn into a damsel in distress situation where Elisabeth had to be rescued all the time, because she tends to get in trouble often... but luckily she is quite capable of rescuing herself thank you very much.
Then there are side characters that are bi, aromantic, disabled (there is a blind librarian and braille is hinted at). Most of this is only mentioned as side notes though, just to show that it's all a regular part of this world. And I liked that.
Another thing I really liked was the fast pace of the story (you can hardly take a breath because one thing happens after another and another and another and another). It's so action packed, so much is happening, but there are also some quiet moments that let you bond with the characters and fall in love with them. My heart was stolen by a demon called Silas, he's the most precious character of all.
I enjoyed the humor, especially Nathaniel's comments towards Elisabeth... which leads to the romance plot that I also enjoyed a lot. It was actually quite refreshing. There was no artificial drama, no miscomunication, no cheesy lovey dovey stuff, just straight forward friendly banter turned into fun flirting with a bit of doom from an approaching apocalypse sprinkled into it.
I loved everything that had to do with the library contents, the investigation, the mystery, but there was a little bit too much fighting for my taste. Soooo many fight scenes. The last quarter of a book feels like one long fight which was a little exhausting.
One last thing I should mention: This book is 100% predictable. If you have a feeling, you know how the story will proceed or how a problem will be resolved, you can be sure that's exactly what will happen. Really no surprises whatsoever. Oh, and you never have the feeling that a situation is hopeless or drags on for too long. There is always a way. And I also enjoyed this a lot, because everything that happens is prepared beforehand and it doesn't feel like information is being withheld just to surprise you or a situation unnecessary prologed just to annoy you.
So I was a little disappointed in the beginning but soon got used to the actualy story and from then on had the time of my life reading it. So let me gush a little bit.
I loooooved the characters and was surprised by the represantation in this book. The main character, Elisabeth, is a tall girl. A really tall girl, bigger than most of the boys/men around her and that was SO cool to read. She's been growing up in a library for magical books and has some mysterious abilities that others don't have. At the beginning of the book she witnesses an attack on her library and tries to uncover the truth behind it. What bothered me the most about her for a long time was how ignorant and prejudiced she is at the beginning, especially for someone living in a library and spending her whole life reading books. I thought that was only a way to give her some room for character development, but in the end it actually made a lot of sense. I also feared this would turn into a damsel in distress situation where Elisabeth had to be rescued all the time, because she tends to get in trouble often... but luckily she is quite capable of rescuing herself thank you very much.
Then there are side characters that are bi, aromantic, disabled (there is a blind librarian and braille is hinted at). Most of this is only mentioned as side notes though, just to show that it's all a regular part of this world. And I liked that.
Another thing I really liked was the fast pace of the story (you can hardly take a breath because one thing happens after another and another and another and another). It's so action packed, so much is happening, but there are also some quiet moments that let you bond with the characters and fall in love with them. My heart was stolen by a demon called Silas, he's the most precious character of all.
I enjoyed the humor, especially Nathaniel's comments towards Elisabeth... which leads to the romance plot that I also enjoyed a lot. It was actually quite refreshing. There was no artificial drama, no miscomunication, no cheesy lovey dovey stuff, just straight forward friendly banter turned into fun flirting with a bit of doom from an approaching apocalypse sprinkled into it.
I loved everything that had to do with the library contents, the investigation, the mystery, but there was a little bit too much fighting for my taste. Soooo many fight scenes. The last quarter of a book feels like one long fight which was a little exhausting.
One last thing I should mention: This book is 100% predictable. If you have a feeling, you know how the story will proceed or how a problem will be resolved, you can be sure that's exactly what will happen. Really no surprises whatsoever. Oh, and you never have the feeling that a situation is hopeless or drags on for too long. There is always a way. And I also enjoyed this a lot, because everything that happens is prepared beforehand and it doesn't feel like information is being withheld just to surprise you or a situation unnecessary prologed just to annoy you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Murder, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Child death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, and Mental illness
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