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A review by mafiabadgers
A Rose Among Thorns by Ash Fitzsimmons
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
tense
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? No
3.0
First read 09/2024 for the r/Fantasy book bingo (indie/self-published square)
This book is set in Blue Ridge, USA, which I'd previously only come across in a fleeting mention in Nora Sakavic's The King's Men. I had assumed that she'd made it up. Well, I'm not going to start acknowledging the corporeity of the US now, so I'm choosing to conclude that these books exist in a shared literary universe, which opens up some very exciting possibilities for crossover fanfiction.
This book is slightly bizarre, tonally, in that it wants to be a cosy urban low fantasy, but in between the plant nursery management and the romantic tension (which is mostly fuelled by Yven's cooking—he makes a lot of breakfast biscuits, which as far as I can make out are somewhere between a bap and a scone), we get what is ostensibly the plot: Rosie's great-aunt has gone missing(mind-controlled by illegal drug manufacturers), increasingly addictive and dangerous drugs are being put on the streets, and a local cop is abusing his authority to grow magic poppies on behalf of a mysterious patron, who has helped him to drug a local beauty into falling into brain-dead love with him . If the book the book gave these moments their due, it could easily become very dark, so if you don't pick up on the cosy tone early on and agree to go along with it, it'll be rather jarring.
The book doesn't work any miracles with the characters or the prose, and you can tell from a mile away that the protagonist is going todevelop super special protagonist powers , but overall it's consistently good fun, and easy to enjoy. Make sure to disregard Storygraph's magical realism genre tag, which really has no business being there, and you should have a good time. My only real critique is that, after becoming fascinated by this magical world and discovering she has powers of her own , Rosie makes absolutely no effort to fight for her place in it, settling for... not having her memories wiped ? She seems both reluctant to let it go and unwilling to explore more, which I concede is understandable, but it would need to be explored more for it to feel natural.
My reviews for the rest of the series:
Roulette
Silent Siren
Floodtide
This book is set in Blue Ridge, USA, which I'd previously only come across in a fleeting mention in Nora Sakavic's The King's Men. I had assumed that she'd made it up. Well, I'm not going to start acknowledging the corporeity of the US now, so I'm choosing to conclude that these books exist in a shared literary universe, which opens up some very exciting possibilities for crossover fanfiction.
This book is slightly bizarre, tonally, in that it wants to be a cosy urban low fantasy, but in between the plant nursery management and the romantic tension (which is mostly fuelled by Yven's cooking—he makes a lot of breakfast biscuits, which as far as I can make out are somewhere between a bap and a scone), we get what is ostensibly the plot: Rosie's great-aunt has gone missing
The book doesn't work any miracles with the characters or the prose, and you can tell from a mile away that the protagonist is going to
My reviews for the rest of the series:
Roulette
Silent Siren
Floodtide