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sammymilfort's review against another edition
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
notacartoonyet's review against another edition
adventurous
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Kidnapping, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, and War
Moderate: Forced institutionalization
theespressoedition's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Sorcery of Thorns took me by surprise in the best way possible. I went into it knowing very little: there was a magical library and it's set during autumn. That's it! I think that might have made it stand out all the more.
The story is very quick to suck you in. It's not necessarily fast-paced so much as it's just not slow. There's always something happening to further the plot and I'm grateful that I read a physical copy rather than listening to it, only because I think I would've missed important elements if I had utilized an audiobook. The chapters are a bit longer than is my typical taste, but truthfully, I didn't realize how long they were because I often forgot that I was even reading! It's definitely an atmospheric escape book.
There's not a particularly large cast of characters. Only four are of utmost importance with a handful of secondary characters that provide excellent support to the main cast and help to further the story. While some may categorize this novel as "enemies-to-lovers," I wouldn't be so quick to slap that label on it. The protagonists may not mesh well at the beginning, but they aren't truly enemies. They're more like misunderstood colleagues. This will make much more sense if you read the book!
I'm sure I'm not the first to state that Silas is the stand-out character in this book. He's absolutely fascinating and I would absolutely love an entire book (or spin-off series) just about his story. I'm hoping that the sequel will include a lot more information about him and how the demon-and-sorcerer relationships came to be.
There are a lot of really beautiful quotes throughout this action-packed book. Two that stood out to me were:
The story is very quick to suck you in. It's not necessarily fast-paced so much as it's just not slow. There's always something happening to further the plot and I'm grateful that I read a physical copy rather than listening to it, only because I think I would've missed important elements if I had utilized an audiobook. The chapters are a bit longer than is my typical taste, but truthfully, I didn't realize how long they were because I often forgot that I was even reading! It's definitely an atmospheric escape book.
There's not a particularly large cast of characters. Only four are of utmost importance with a handful of secondary characters that provide excellent support to the main cast and help to further the story. While some may categorize this novel as "enemies-to-lovers," I wouldn't be so quick to slap that label on it. The protagonists may not mesh well at the beginning, but they aren't truly enemies. They're more like misunderstood colleagues. This will make much more sense if you read the book!
I'm sure I'm not the first to state that Silas is the stand-out character in this book. He's absolutely fascinating and I would absolutely love an entire book (or spin-off series) just about his story. I'm hoping that the sequel will include a lot more information about him and how the demon-and-sorcerer relationships came to be.
There are a lot of really beautiful quotes throughout this action-packed book. Two that stood out to me were:
You belonged in the library, as much as any book.
and also..
I think--I think I was a bit dead already, before you came along... You've reminded me to live. That's worth having something to lose.
Really, Sorcery of Thorns is a beautiful book with so much great adventure, fantastic characters, and a story that will keep you hooked from beginning to end. It is absolutely winding up on my favorites list for 2022!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Child abuse, and Sexism
raaafael's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Violence
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
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
jfield351's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
I read this book from the 1st-4th of February, as part of the Dymocks challenge for ‘award winning’ - it has won best book of the year by amazon, kirkus, and bookpage, as well as being in top ten picks for certain communities. I really enjoyed this book, although I really wasn’t captivated by the first few chapters. The romance sub plot started pretty early on and that was interesting! I did seem to figure out a lot of the plot reveals before they got revealed, such as the criminal being chancellor ashcroft and the libraries being a pentagram . Some things I didn’t like were how chapters jumped several hours in time without depicting how Elisabeth got out of whatever situation she was in. the chapters are long which would usually be fine but i’ve got a cold at the moment and it’s hard for me to concentrate for that long. also in this edition it’s really annoying that most of the words on the edge of a line cut off so that the text can be a perfect square but i really did not like that. i also didn’t love the character of nathaniel, i feel like with his backstory he shouldn’t have been so charming and joking. idk maybe he was just in love. The description in this book is beautiful, I can see everything so vividly as I read. The concept of magic and the grimoires was fascinating and so developed! It was a really good book! 4.25 stars.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, Grief, Murder, Forced institutionalization, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Abandonment, Torture, Violence, and War
martereadsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Confinement, and Death
Moderate: Torture, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Gore, and Grief
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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