Sorcery of Thorns

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.

Rating:

This poor book has languished on my shelf since Christmas, and I finally got around to reading it thanks to Keri @ Are You My Book, since we buddy read it together.

Sorcery of Thorns is full of tough librarians saving the day, adorable sorcerers, charming demons, and enough murder and mystery to ensure there was no way I was putting it down until it was done.

I really enjoyed this book, but I did feel like the protagonist was the weakest link, which is a shame, because I wanted to love Elisabeth so much. She’s the reason I picked up the book in the first place. Aside from her, though, I felt like this book really delivered, and I want more from this world (even though, considering it’s a standalone, it doesn’t seem like it’s meant to be).

This is a world I would gladly sacrifice some humans to live in, with magic libraries, grimoires with personalities, sorcerers, demons, and just enough plotting and scheming to make it exciting.

This is a dark world, which made it all the more fun. There are absolutely deaths and some questionable content that makes you side-eye the characters hard. It makes for a really nice juxtaposition to the lighter aspects of the world, like great libraries that I’m sure we all wish we lived in, and cute little category 1 grimoires that are more akin to house cats.

For every cute aspect, there’s a dark shadow, though … like category eight grimoires bound in human skin that would just as soon destroy you as look at you. Or the fact that people keep dying at the Great Libraries, and there seems to be a dark secret hidden among them.

Once this book really gets going, the pace goes at a pretty steady clip, which sucked me in because I wanted to know how it ended.

I’ll admit that the antagonist is pretty easy to spot early on if you’re paying attention, so there’s not much mystery around that. His endgame and intentions, however, were a bit of a surprise, so there’s something to look forward to still. The antagonist isn’t particularly complex or nuanced, and his motives leave something to be desired, in my opinion, but it did lead to some pretty epic situations.

I was told this was enemies-to-lovers, but I don’t think that’s quite accurate. The romance was sweet, but it was more like “misunderstood mutuals to lovers,” which I suppose doesn’t have the same ring to it.

I don’t feel like it can really be enemies to lovers if neither side really threatens the other and if one side of the equation doesn’t feel any hate or ill will towards the other in general. So I’m just throwing that out there. There are no real hate dynamics at play here, and the two are in opposition only by virtue of their positions. So if you’re going into this book for some good enemies-to-lovers romance, you’ll likely be disappointed.

Instead, what this book offers is a sweet budding romance between two people with big secrets who have to learn to trust each other and work together.

Which is a fun, albeit different, dynamic and definitely not as easy as it sounds. Nathaniel and Elisabeth are well matched as a duo in this book because they’re both stubborn, which leads to some nice tension as their egos conflict, but they’re also, at the heart of it, both trying to do what they think is right.

Silas is an absolute treasure and, hands down, by far, my favorite thing of this entire book.

If you’ve ever read/seen Black Butler, he is essentially Sebastian. And if you haven’t … what are you doing with your life? Why are you here instead of watching it? Shoo. Off with you. This is a terrible oversight on your part that you should rectify immediately.

Silas is a demon, and as such knows he poses a threat to his master and … well, most of humanity? He’s aloof and sarcastic, yet at the same time caring and attentive and really just an absolute bundle of contradictions with a wicked bite.

What I’m saying is I want a whole book from his perspective, please. Several of them, even. Silas has been in the service of Nathaniel’s family for generations, which means he’s seen some things. Things that are hinted at but never delved into. In fact, most of Silas’ history is vaguely suggested, but not really explored.

I want more books about Silas. Just all the books about Silas. Of all the characters in this book, he seems like the most fleshed out and interesting, and gosh, I had all the feels for him. I know this book is a standalone, but I would absolutely love a companion book delving more into Silas’ history.

The magic in this was so interesting, and it was a little bit of a mix between good and bad.

As far as the good, there are so many really interesting spells that are displayed, like Nathaniel bringing a bunch of statues to life. Always a favorite trick of mine. There’s such a variety of things that could be done, though, and it was really interesting to see!

Also, demon bonding is a thing! This is a concept I’ve seen before in other media, and while I can’t say it was done particularly uniquely in Sorcery of Thorns, I did enjoy seeing it all the same. Demons are always fun, and I like seeing what they’re capable of.

I am, however, a little disappointed with how soft the magic is, almost to the point where there were no rules and things were made up on the fly.

Since there is no clear definition of what magic can and can’t do, for the most part, every use of magic was something new and unexplained, to the point where some of it felt a little convenient. I think that stems from the clear lack of rules, because then spells are only introduced as the plot demands it, so of course there’s just ever more powerful magic being performed. I would have loved a little more explanation as to the limitations of magic.

Elisabeth kind of … doesn’t really do anything in this book to solve anything?

If I’m honest, Nathaniel and Silas are really the stars of the show and the ones who end up sacrificing everything. I actually think the book would’ve been so much stronger if it had just been from Nathaniel’s point of view, because the main story and arc was really about him.

Other than the couple times she wields her sword against monsters (something she arguably has no right doing because it never once says how she actually knows how to fight or use a sword since she hasn’t received that part of her training yet), Elisabeth is really just a bystander in her own story.

She isn’t even the one that solves the Big Dilemma at the end of the book. I just feel like so much more could have been done with her character, and it almost feels like a missed opportunity. Ultimately, I feel like her contributions to the book were less about her character and more about the circumstances in which she was raised. The plot more happens to her than she actively affects the plot.

I’m calling shenanigans on the big reveal about Elisabeth’s abilities.

I’m going to word this as carefully as I can so I don’t actually reveal anything at all. Basically, though, she can do things for a reason, and her best friend discovers this reason in a very scientific way that I refuse to believe no one else thought about prior to this. It’s kind of nonsensical to think that, in all this time, only her friend considers this.

Let’s start with the most important question: would you work in a magical library if you could?!

Keri: Absolutely! Though I don’t think I could be a warden…not only do I lack any coordination, but if a grimoire turned into a monster, I don’t think I could handle stabbing a book, haha.

Sammie: I already work in a regular library, so really, the only way to go up from here were if it were a magical library, so heck yes! Also, I get a pointy sword! Not seeing a downside here. Okay, sure, maaaaybe a book will rise up and eat me one day, but if I’m honest, I already expect this from my TBR, so it’s kind of just business as usual.

The books in this magical library had different personalities, from harmless (and kinda cute) class 1 to deadly and dangerous class 8. If your biography were to be written and live in a magical library, what class would it be and what would its personality be?

Keri: Oooh, if my biography were magical grimoire it would probably be very small (haven’t done much, lol), and to make myself feel less lame, let’s say it would be class 3. Not completely docile, could do a bit of damage, but not quite dangerous to be locked up (is it class 4 that gets locked up, or is that when they just start putting them in a more exclusive area?). For its personality, I have a feeling it would be very cat-like. It would like to be around the librarians, usually sleeping or watching from the corner, and would demand attention every so often, likely at the most obnoxious or inconvenient times.

Sammie: I think mine would probably be a class 5. Not dangerous enough to really be a threat, but enough where it comes with a warning for those that choose to handle it. Also likely bound in human skin and written in the blood of my enemies, because why not? Its bark would definitely be worse than its bite, though, and honestly, it’d probably spend most of its time rotating between napping and insulting the librarians that wander in.

There are so many extraordinary displays of magic in this book, ranging from the wondrous to the terrifying. If you could perform just one (and only one) spell for the rest of your life, regardless of magnitude or difficulty, what would you want your one spell to be?

Keri: Hmmm, my first thought was to be like the MC from Daughter of Smoke and Bone and have my hair grow naturally blue or magically learn how to speak every language. But if I can only do one spell, I should probably consider doing something like reversing global warming, shouldn’t I?

Sammie: Meh, using my one wish to better humanity is laaaame. I’m totally stealing Keri’s wish here from when we were messaging about this book. It would definitely be to snap my fingers and all my thoughts rush from my brain to the computer and organize themselves in a clear, concise, and logical manner. Think of all the uses, from quickly writing books to writing book reviews in a snap! All the time I’d save!

You’ve stumbled upon a mirror that lets you speak with anyone in the world through their mirrors. Huzzah! Who do you attempt to contact? (For the sake of this, let’s assume they won’t get mad at some rando appearing in their mirror.)

Keri: Oooh, this is really hard! Maybe one of my fav authors? Like SJM or Leigh Bardugo? Not sure I could form coherent sentences though, so perhaps if they didn’t notice I was speaking from the mirror, I could pretend to be their consciousness or something and be like “psst, you should write a book about this character next.”

Sammie: Oooh, that’s so sneaky and devious and I love it. I dunno, is it weird that I want to choose a blogger or a writer and just whisper weird, random, encouraging things? “You keep going on that book. You’ve got this.” “The plot is with you today. Do the thing.” “It’s okay, you can kill that character. The readers will understand.” Is that weird? I don’t even want to name a name. Maybe it’ll even just be someone random so we don’t even have a connection other than me being the weird voice that gives them encouragement and praise haha.

In the book, sorcerers can bargain with a demon, and then the human bears a mark that signifies this bargain. For Nathanial and Silas, it’s a streak of white hair. If you bargained with a demon, what would you want your mark to be?

Keri: Oh oh oh, something badass hopefully! An unnatural hair or eye color is cool, but can I get like fangs? Or claws? Or wings? Gills? A mermaid tail? Or are those too big to be marks? Tbh I would even settle for something as subtle as pimple-free skin.

Sammie: Oooh, I never figured wings would be an option, but that would be super neat! In the book, it seems like it just alters some part of their current physical body, so I’m going to go with that. I think it’d be cool to have, like, completely stark white hair. Oh! Or a really neat tattoo-like mark. Except instead of the pain from getting a needle stabbed into you thousands of times, you just have to trade a little bit of your life. Sounds fair to me.

I know we both loved Silas so much in this, even though he was a demon (okay, maybe a little because of that). If you had to choose one character from any book to be your demon, which character would you choose?

Keri: Any character?? Oh no, there are too many options! Well despite how great he is, I can’t choose Silas, because that’s too lame of an answer! Hmmm, honestly Nathaniel could probably make for a great demon. Or Nikolai from the Grisha world (eek I still need to read King of Scars)!Oh oh oh! I just read Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann in June and I think the MC Alice would make a great demon! She’s hilarious, and sounds like she’d be an amazing friend and person to hang around. Plus she seems more kind and good-natured so hopefully she’d be bad at bargaining for years of my life and only ask for a couple?? I want magic, but like…I’m cheap, ya know?

Sammie:

This book is technically a standalone, but if you could have a companion novel, what would you want it to be about, and what would you want to see more of?

Keri: Oh, I think we touched on this a bit already, but I would love ALL the companions for this world! I would love to see one about Silas, or his past or future owners. It would also be cool to see other parts of the world that aren’t so directly involved in the libraries or sorcery. Like those wood creatures (blanking on their name), I would love to know more about them and other magical creatures! And omg, a companion book set in the demon world–that would be SO EPIC! Honestly, I feel like there are so many possibilities for companion novels in this world.

Sammie: I definitely want one from Silas’ point of view. I don’t even really care what it’s about. I just want more Silas. Although, one of Silas’ past owners and struggles would be fantastic. And oh my gosh, YES, something with him interacting in the demon world and how he got his position and earned his reputation.

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