Sorcery of Thorns Book Review

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

From Goodreads: All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power.

Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.

As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.

Every now and then a book will surprise you. A little over a year ago, I read Rogerson’s debut YA novel, An Enchantment of Ravens. I’d heard some great things about it, and the hype was quite big at the time I picked it up, and it was kind of meh for me. And since a lot of the things I took issue with were stylistic and writing style choices, I didn’t think she was going to be an author whose books I ever really came to enjoy. So when I learned Fairyloot were going to include Sorcery of Thorns in one of their monthly boxes [with glittery stained edges, no less], I almost skipped my renewal so I wouldn’t get it. Thankfully, the item descriptions were enough to sway me, and I figured at the very least I would probably pick up the novel at some point. The intriguing blurb and the rave reviews from friends and bloggers did see me picking it up much earlier than I anticipated, and wow I am so glad I gave this book a chance.

It was honestly phenomenal. Every single element of it was just perfect in my mind– from the fantastic worldbuilding, to the great characters, to the brilliant descriptions and dialogue and romance and just wow, there is so much to unpack here.

I’m going to have to start somewhere, so I suppose with the plot and worldbuilding is as good a place as any. The whole idea of the grimoires was pretty unique to me, and even before I’d dived into the book properly, I appreciated that the plot was probably going to be quite different from anything I had encountered in YA before. And although there were some tropes woven in there, the plot and the world Rogerson had created definitely made it a new area to explore. I thought the pacing was also quite well done, and although there were some moments when I was able to put the book down and go and do something else, there was always that itch at the back of my mind to return to it.

I think, if there were any small gripes I had with this book, I think I would have liked to see some of the worldbuilding explored a bit more. The descriptions were enchanting and I fell in love with all the wonderful places we get to see in the book, but things like the categorization of the grimoires and some other elements like that are just kind of touched upon and not really elaborated upon. I loved the concept of the grimoires, but I didn’t quite understand how they worked. Obviously, that’s a nit-picky opinion to have, and I’m not entirely sure how much a further explanation would have added to the plot, but I do feel there were tiny areas where it was a touch too lean on information.

What I do really appreciate however, is how improved Rogerson’s writing style appears to be going from An Enchantment of Ravens to Sorcery of Thorns. One of my biggest pet peeves with books is when they are passive, especially when the author feels the need to tell readers things rather than show them. Rogerson utilised a LOT of telling in AEOR, to the extent that it had a big impact on my enjoyment of the book. There were more than a few infodumps, and it was so clunky in places that I lost sight of the characters and my secondhand excitement for their romance. But Sorcery of Thorns more than makes up for it. There is still a reasonable amount of telling, but I can see a lot of improvement in the writing style. For me personally, one of the reasons I hate telling so much is that it feels a bit like the author is being patronising to the reader– explaining things because the reader isn’t smart enough to infer from subtle actions or dialogue. So yes, before I get into a huge writing rant, this is something that I think is a thousand times improved from Rogerson’s first novel to this one. In fact, I do urge anyone who had an issue with the writing style of her first book to try again with this one.

For me, the other big draw to this book was the characters. I loved them soooooo much and I shipped them so hard. I enjoyed Silas a lot, and his strange demon quirks were so amazing, but my favourite character has to be Nathaniel. And oh god, the romance in this book. It absolutely had me on the edge of my seat. It turns out I am an absolute sucker for stories which involve kind of awkward but handsome guys slowly falling for girls and making cute romantic gestures. Those of you who read my Fantasy Books recommendations post the other day, probably know that I likened it to the TV show Once Upon a Time and the Belle and Rumple ship [Rumbelle]. I still maintain it is very like that [minus some of the more problematic elements of the show’s romance, cough cough fourth season onwards Rumple]. In fact, I wouldn’t be too surprised if Rogerson was a fan of the show, or took some minor inspiration from the pairing, because it just really gave me those same feels. Which is simply adorable because I love me some Rumbelle and I am still feeling the long-lingering anger I have harboured since season six. It was just so cute and wholesome and romantic, and Nathaniel might well now be one of my book boyfriends.

In fairness, I think besides the cute gestures and shyness of this romance, one of the things that really worked for me was the dialogue. It was brimming with humour and sass and everything that makes a YA book great for me. I found myself laughing at the things several characters said, and there were a few moments where I did a full blown chuckle. Even though the atmosphere of this book is kind of dark, it’s quite a fun and witty read.

I’m going to stop before I make a total embarrassment of myself [and so I can go swoon over the first few seasons of OUAT again] but I will say that overall, I’d give Sorcery of Thorns a full:

Has anyone else read this book already or plans to? What do you all think of it? Let me know in the comment section down below ❤