Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - O feitiço dos espinhos

I rarely read young adult novels, mostly because the characters often irked me since I read them from my 30-ish PoV and apparently I forgot that I once was teenager myself, lol. Also, love triangle used to drive me nuts. But, I already smitten by the cover of Sorcery of Thorn, the sophomore novel by Margaret Rogerson. Plus, it's a book about books, especially library. A dream made book, for sure. However, before I read this, I read my mutual reviews and decide to lower my expectation when finally decide to read the book.

I'm glad that I end up liked it. Not a lot of course, and not too blow my socks off. Like I said, I usually avoid young adult titles because reasons I mention above. But, I find that right now I don't really mind since my reading taste always evolved. Sure that this book have a slow beginning, but honestly I enjoy read it from the start to the end. The strength of this book is its simplicity. The book set in a vaguely Britain Island setting or you can say it as alternate universe of England. It's also happen to set in 19th century although I don't feel the vibes, one of this book's weakness for sure.

The story pretty much straightforward. It's about Elizabeth Scrinever, an apprentice in the Summershall Great Library whom soon find herself become a key witness to the sabotage event in the library and must save the world from an egomaniac wizard. In this world, people live harmoniously with sorcerer. Yet, Elizabeth constantly reminded that magic is evil. Since Great Library also a home to many dark and malicious grimoires that the sorcerer or Magister used its spell. Although with the story unfold, not all grimoires are evil because some of them are harmless especially class 1 to 4. Elizabeth that act prejudiced toward sorcerer, magic and their demon cohort, in the end become entangled with one, Magister Nathaniel Thorn and his demon companion, Silas. Turn out that Nathaniel and Silas are the only people that Elizabeth can trust when everything fundamental about libraries that she knows are turn upside down.

Sorcery of Thorns are pretty much stand alone and perfect if you want to read a fantasy with romantic element without the fuss to follow so many books in one series. Yes, the story is straightforward, the world building is simple and easy to understand, the characters while seems mundane enough and maybe not that memorable, I find them to be okay. I'm surprised to see that Elizabeth didn't annoyed me and trust me, I'm easily annoyed by wishy-washy heroines especially in the young adult titles. Elizabeth sure act prejudiced at first, but I like that bit by bit she release all her prejudice and act accordingly to what her heart tell. I like that she's soft, and I realize that reading so many hard-edge heroine can be exhausting. Elizabeth have skill with sword, but often I see that she's so emphatic to people who dear for her and in this case, Nathaniel and Silas. I like her relationship with Nathaniel and Silas, how she slowly warmed toward them and didn't hesitate to save them when they are in the great peril. From all the characters, I liked Silas the most, maybe because it's nice to see the demon who believe himself devoid of emotion and compassion yet in the end he evolve to something much better. The romance between Elizabeth and Nathaniel is okay and for me, it's believable. I liked when Nathaniel admit that he falling first to Elizabeth and fall harder day by day. Also, Rogerson write him as a bi and Elizabeth is totally okay with that.

The strength of this book lay in the final act and my favorite scene is when the grimoire takes stand to the world-end problems. Rogerson write that the grimoire is not only book, but they also have a soul, they can feel despite their malicious upbringing. I also like the way Rogerson put her insight, how women's voice constantly unheard of. Some of ironic part happen when Elizabeth declared insane and hysteric because apparently she read so many novels! While this is pretty amusing, I remember that reading so many novels apparently considered as an ailment and must be treated accordingly. How rude! Some of the characters have surname with bookish content, like Elizabeth's surname (Scrivener) and her friend Katrien, her surname is Quillworthy. I guess, this book can't be more bookish with its library setting and grimoires, but seems that I'm wrong!

Sorcery of Thorn is one of those good young adult title I had read and I'm also glad that there's no unnecessary love triangle or a heroine with so many potential love suitor flock to her. This book is perfect to read in a cozy setting but with some internal conflict and high stakes as well. I will recommend this if you want to read a fantasy romance YA stand alone with library as its setting and characters that you will end up love.

Content Warnings

jasperdotpdf's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings