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A review by hannianne17
Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Started this for the book club.
Stayed for the angst and the brooding angry prince.
Fell in love with the sarcastic, self-serving, and iconically hilarious antiheroine.
Representation: Asian main character, lesbian princess, brown bisexual scholar, and the male love interest is red-headed.
Trigger Warnings: self-harm for magic rituals (cuts hand), themes of racism (towards the main character and her friend from the royals), cursing, and gore/violence.
This book literally pulled me out of a reading slump. I appreciated it so much. I love books that have antiheroines. I think I might relate to them a little too much.
I think most of all, I fell in love with the way Violet had to fight for herself and her ability to be vulnerable. Fear of vulnerability and shame are really hard emotions to write well and this author nailed it. Violet was constantly at war with herself about what she wanted and what she equated with survival so she could feel safe.
You watch as she struggles to be enough to emotionally support herself, but she's still whole all on her own. And I think that is a very important and hard distinction to write. I've seen far too many authors write characters that try to balance their hyper-independence by making them completely mold themselves to the male love interest. At the end of the book, Violet was still herself. She was still secure in who she is.
Violet also challenges the idea that we must do what's "right" instead of what's right for ourselves. We've been taught to never bat an eye about a king that makes selfish decisions based on his greed. I think it's time the seers, witches, scholars, and fairies of the world have the ability to do the same without judgement in order to protect themselves from the destruction created by the greedy kings of the world.
There's also the exploration of privilege. Violet acknowledges how Cyrus doesn't have to worry about his reputation or his place in the court. Cyrus pushes her to stand up to his father, but he's completely tone deaf about how that will impact Violet's career. She's doing what she feels she must to protect herself physically and to protect her reputation.
But the quote that got me?
"If the fates control our future, I don't understand to what end...The fates judge us. If we are generous, honest, not too chatty, placable, forgiving, they might twist our threads so we find love and earn our heart's weight in gold...But I don't believe in anything that supposes it knows me better than I know myself."
I'm going to say it again... "I don't believe in anything that supposes it knows me better than I know myself."
The religious trauma inside me was leaping for joy.
I've always been a character development reader. This ticks all of my boxes. All of the characters have arcs and display growth. Some more drastic than others.
AND THE CLIFF HANGER?! OMG I was screaming.
I can't wait to read the next one.
Stayed for the angst and the brooding angry prince.
Fell in love with the sarcastic, self-serving, and iconically hilarious antiheroine.
Representation: Asian main character, lesbian princess, brown bisexual scholar, and the male love interest is red-headed.
Trigger Warnings: self-harm for magic rituals (cuts hand), themes of racism (towards the main character and her friend from the royals), cursing, and gore/violence.
This book literally pulled me out of a reading slump. I appreciated it so much. I love books that have antiheroines. I think I might relate to them a little too much.
I think most of all, I fell in love with the way Violet had to fight for herself and her ability to be vulnerable. Fear of vulnerability and shame are really hard emotions to write well and this author nailed it. Violet was constantly at war with herself about what she wanted and what she equated with survival so she could feel safe.
You watch as she struggles to be enough to emotionally support herself, but she's still whole all on her own. And I think that is a very important and hard distinction to write. I've seen far too many authors write characters that try to balance their hyper-independence by making them completely mold themselves to the male love interest. At the end of the book, Violet was still herself. She was still secure in who she is.
Violet also challenges the idea that we must do what's "right" instead of what's right for ourselves. We've been taught to never bat an eye about a king that makes selfish decisions based on his greed. I think it's time the seers, witches, scholars, and fairies of the world have the ability to do the same without judgement in order to protect themselves from the destruction created by the greedy kings of the world.
There's also the exploration of privilege. Violet acknowledges how Cyrus doesn't have to worry about his reputation or his place in the court. Cyrus pushes her to stand up to his father, but he's completely tone deaf about how that will impact Violet's career. She's doing what she feels she must to protect herself physically and to protect her reputation.
But the quote that got me?
"If the fates control our future, I don't understand to what end...The fates judge us. If we are generous, honest, not too chatty, placable, forgiving, they might twist our threads so we find love and earn our heart's weight in gold...But I don't believe in anything that supposes it knows me better than I know myself."
I'm going to say it again... "I don't believe in anything that supposes it knows me better than I know myself."
The religious trauma inside me was leaping for joy.
I've always been a character development reader. This ticks all of my boxes. All of the characters have arcs and display growth. Some more drastic than others.
AND THE CLIFF HANGER?! OMG I was screaming.
I can't wait to read the next one.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Self harm, Racism, Violence, and Gore