Title: Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Publisher: McElderry Books

Published: June 4, 2019

Read as: US hardcover

Average Goodreads rating: 4.24

My rating: 4.5

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)

“You unmanageable, contrary creature. You have made me believe in something at last. It feels as wretched as I imagined.”

This is one of those books that I am having trouble finding something say about. Often times I will have this problem if I find a book mediocre or boring. With Sorcery of Thorns that is not the case.

I’m having trouble finding the right words to talk about this book because of how good it is.

Elisabeth is amazing. She is mind blowingly brilliant and determined. Elisabeth is one of my new favorite female leads. Her physical appearance rarely came into conversation outside of her being abnormally tall for a woman which was awesome. She is also very intelligent and won’t give up on the truth of things. Her moral compass is strong but she is still willing to take chances and make mistakes in order to do what is right.

Then we also have out male lead, Nathaniel. He was more of what you’d expect in a YA fantasy novel. Starts off stubborn and emotionally closed off but then reasons and suddenly he is a sweet love bug. I liked him for the most part but, lets face it, he was more a support character to Elisabeth’s brilliant one. Also towards the end he has a rather sudden mood shift that I found awkward and unwarranted.

Lastly, my favorite. Silas. You know what, he is wonderful. Unapologetic about who he is, honest to a fault, loyal…his loyalty has reasons as well but you come to care for him and his reasons. In the end he surprised me and that just made my heart happy.

Something else I enjoyed about this story is that while it has a vivid cast of characters the story is just as much plot driven as it is character driven. Rarely have I read a book that found a good balance between the two but this one had it for me. Beautifully crafted plot progression along with sensible character development is something I wish I ran across more often. Usually it is either/or with one of the options feeling awkwardly stagnant.

Overall, the only issue I can take away from this book is Nathaniel’s sudden personality shift. It just felt awkward and took me out of the flow of the story for a bit. The rest of this story is utterly fantastic and I cannot wait to see what Rogerson has for us next!

Review | An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

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