Sorcery of Thorns

by Margaret Rogerson

A New York Times bestseller!

"A bewitching gem...I absolutely loved every moment of this story." -Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Caraval series
"If you loved the Hogwarts Library...you'll be right at home at Summershall." -Katherine Arden, New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale

From the New York Times bestselling author of An Enchantment of Ravens comes an "enthralling adventure" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) about an apprentice at a magical library who must battle a powerful sorcerer to save her kingdom.

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.

Then an act of sabotage releases the library's most dangerous grimoire, and Elisabeth is implicated in the crime. 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.

• ISBN10: 1481497634
• ISBN13: 9781481497633
• Publish Date: 4 June 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Margaret K McElderry Books
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

[layawaydragon]

Reminds me of Sorcerer to the Crown and [???]. NOT like the problematic court of Twilight romance & tomfoolery vibes the cover gives off. I was honestly writing this one off because of the cover. Thank fuck Rivetedlit.com had it for free to read on Dec. 21 2019 and I gave it a proper shot!

Gods, I loved this! It's over 500 pages but they totally flew by. I LOVE the realism with fighting against a power system, being homeless on the streets, and institutions as tools for the powerful.

Yes, my crunchy cinnamon roll bi/pan man LI!!!
Yes, my tall & strong knight-like lady MC!!
She was raised by a magical library and knows nothing. He was raised by a demon in polite society. They've got chemistry and banter and fight together.

I loves them and their fussy demonic guardian. Did I mention he turns into a fluffy white kitty? Eeeee!

Also, holy shit that ending was amazing! CHILLS.

I'm totally down for more of this world, see it evolve. Young orphans and infants being brought to libraries to see if the libraries want to keep them & grow up like Elisabeth. How sorcery changes and what it's like in neighboring countries and around the world.

[Kait ✨]

Loved the premise but I’m beginning to think Rogerson’s writing style is just not for me. This felt like a slog.

[leahrosereads]

Silas brought this up to 4 stars for being just the absolute best character ever. He was amazing and everyone should read this book for his awesomeness alone.

Now, I have to admit, this book took a bit for me to warm up to, and I almost DNF'd it. But that was before Silas, and then he came into this book and made every scene special and added a really necessary element to it. The relationships became more dynamic with him involved, and I'm just so happy I stuck it out.

The story really picks up after about 100 pages and I started really liking Elisabeth and Nathaniel after around that point as well, which really helped with my overall enjoyment of the story.

[nitzan_schwarz]

This poor book deserved a lot better of me, but alas my reading slump has struck right when it was getting down to business and I put it aside until now. In its defense, if you don't consider the literal two months it just sat on my shelf, waiting patiently for me to notice it senpai, I read this one in four or three days, so take that however you will.

I found that I really enjoyed all the characters in this book; Elisabeth and Nathaniel were H O T together, and their chemistry sizzled from the moment their eyes locked. Their form of flirting consists of Nathaniel affectionately calling Elisabeth "You absolute terror" and "you menance" and I am here for it.

Silas is a great demon butler and five minutes without him and the house falls to ruin, and that's a fact.

This book is also very cinematic. There are some scenes in this that I would DIE to see brought to the screen in some fashion. Netflix should get on with that.

[thepunktheory]

Full review on my blog!

I'll keep it short: I loved it. Well, I'm not 100% sure about the end but otherwise, it is a wonderful book.
There's humor, there's tragedy, there are plot twists, libraries, talking books, and magic. What else could you want?
Margaret Rogerson's world is enchanting and different than what I've encountered to far. I wish I could jump right in!
Once I got started, it was almost impossible to put the book down. I read most of it in one sitting and I desperately needed to know how this story would end.
The characters are amazing and I most definitely want to be friends with them. We have the main character Elisabeth who cares for books just as much as I do (and who is clumsy just like I am) and isn't afraid to face a challenge.
Another one of my favorite characters is Nathaniel. His dry humor just takes the cake and made me laugh out loud so many times.
And then there's Silas... I can't say much about him without spoilers but he is certainly fascinating!
Furthermore, I appreciate that although Rogerson included romance in this novel is takes a backseat. I mean, there are more important things going on and the characters clearly see that the same way.
If I am honest, I didn't know what the book would be about before I picked it up. I looked at the cover, was enchanted and dived right in. So I am glad the plot was down my alley!

I really expected more from this book. I enjoyed it a lot, but it has so many flaws... What are these characters? Elisabeth, our main character, was so bland and so naïve. She had simply no real reason why she wanted to be a warden, she had no single reason to trust the physician that her enemy sent to her, and how dare she just be like 'I live here now, that's it'. She did not even thank Nathaniel for letting her stay in his place for... I don't even know how much time has passed in this novel.
Also, Nathaniel had an interesting history, but that's all. He did not really have a personality. Every character lacked personality, so that was not surprising.

One of my biggest issues with the book is the fact that everything is told to you instead of shown to the reader. At a sudden point it was just 'in the meantime this whole storyline happened okay bye'. Yeah... that didn't work for me. Also, we did not get an explanation of why Nathaniel could suddenly have so much strength when he was put to bedrest just a few hours earlier until the last few pages of the book. Why not sooner? It felt as if the author suddenly remembered that she still had to explain that and just pushed it in there.
My main issue is that this book is leaning too heavily on the younger YA tropes such as character development is not necessary, tell instead of show, and consequences don't exist.

Still, I really enjoyed this book. Would I recommend it? From the library definitely! Just try it. To buy? Not really.

[A Darker Shade of Rosie]

I emerged from the last page of this book with a broken heart. Some books can just truly suck you in, and at the end, they spit you back out into reality, and you just feel super lost and melancholy.

I was so impressed by the world this author created, with its magical libraries full of sentient grimoires, broody banter, and devilishly handsome sorcerers and their softy demon servants.

[bookperson]

Really solid standalone. Easy and fun to read, all character arcs equally distributed and closed by the end, which is rare for YA standalone.

[bestmessever]

Wow, what a ride. I loved the way books and libraries were talked about in here. For books to be truly alive and to have personalities and emotions was incredible. I could defintely see myself living in this world.

The characters in here are so relatable. Elisabeth is actually me being a child of the library, and the way she cares for books is just uncanny. I really loved Silas like I would read a 500 page book about just Silas without a doubt. He really reminded me of Sebastian from Black Butler, not sure if that was a purposeful thing or not but that's just how I felt. Nathaniel was interesting and I really found myself drawn to his very dark moments when he was having nightmares and his magic would lose control.

Finally the story was remarkable I was engaged the entire time and I wish there was a sequel that to it. I loved this book.

[HekArtemis]

Books! Books that are alive and can turn into scary dangerous murderous monsters. What's not to love? And thankfully the concept is well executed. We aren't inside the library all the time, but even when outside the libraries we still have a very good focus on the books and bookishness - so yay! It's annoying when a synopsis draws you in with books and libraries and then puts the books to the side - not this story though, they are right there all the way through. With their own minds and personalities too. BOOKS! Also was this kind of a gaslamp fantasy? Unexpected.

I was a little concerned we were dealing with a Born Sexy Yesterday kind of trope, the MC, Elisabeth, is so naive and innocent and gullible. But I don't think her love interest was ever interested in that side of her, but was instead struck by her strength and bravery and curiosity - in fact he seemed to not realise just how naive and innocent she truly was until it was too late. He also isn't the one to really teach her any truths, so we bypass the trope and he doesn't train his future love to be exactly what he wants. The world teaches her what's what, and it's a quick harsh lesson. While she retains some of her innocence she actually does learn from her experiences and loses a lot of her gullibility, becoming much more discerning about how much she can trust people.

And her love interest, Mr brooding-push-everyone-away-can-never-get-close-to-anyone-stay-away-from-me-I-don't-care-about-you-or-anyone-because-I-am-traumatised-and-dangerous. At least he wasn't abusive about it though, he is distant and pushes everyone away but at least he isn't screaming at her all the time or physically pushing her around and slamming her into things or striving to terrorise and torture her into hating him. How annoying that the lack of abusiveness is refreshing, says something about a lot of books that include such a character, doesn't it? Instead he was darkly amusing and self-deprecating.

The two main side characters were a lot of fun too, how good it was to have Katrien in the background pulling off amazing things that we only learn about in passing, while she was also helping the MC with her problems. And she is fun and snarky and just a trouble maker, I love her. And Silas, what can be said? Lovable demons who are still evil demons but are still lovable but still evil but... and a little white cat.

This was a good fun novel, I like that it was stand alone, wrapping up nearly everything but leaving us with an old fashioned, "and maybe this happened, but you will never know mwahahaha" - okay so maybe not mwahaha but still, it was an interesting thing I haven't seen in many newer books. I liked it, I think it is reread-worthy and it was a perfect palate cleanser after reading Lovecraft.