Published June 4th, 2019
456 Pages
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. – Goodreads
Just like Margaret Rogerson’s first book, An Enchantment of Ravens, Sorcery of Thorns has been hyped months before it was released and hyped as one of the best books of June. However, just like An Enchantment of Ravens, Sorcery of Thorns fell flat half way through the book (you can see my review of it here).
I love love love the fact this story is surrounded by a library and books. Rogerson does a great job world building and spilling in that love of books not only within the characters but in the entire book and world. I was sucked into this story because of that.
There was a promise that Elisabeth would be this timid girl that will come out swinging to save her world, not just her world but her world. This promise holds for a while but every time Elisabeth did something, I never understood how. This girl who doesn’t really know much some how is able to do all these things. I was searching for her personality. Yeah, you can say she is determined, you can say that she is smart, you may even be able to say brave but there is nothing else.
The whole orphan mystery can only get you so far.
What bothered me was how she viewed sorcerers. She lumps them all in one category as evil and eventually makes an exception for one. This really bothered me. Because she is rude . . . like disrespectful rude and everyone allows that. Nathaniel entertains that stereotype she has and marks it off as if she is naive. I was not for that.
I was very close to DNF this book at 49%. Nothing was really happening and I was felt that I was being lead on the promise that something better was coming. I got bored. Nathaniel wasn’t really doing anything for me. He had no depth and was just as boring as Elisabeth.
For me, this book wasn’t worth how long it was. The ending was cute (yes I did finish it) and actually appreciated it although it was predictable.
Overall,
The book has massive potential but was dragged and the characters did nothing to help the amazing world, Rogerson was able to create.
2 Pickles
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