Happy Hump Day Readers!

I hope you’re having a good week. Honestly, I’m ready for this week to be over, but with a medical procedure looming next week, I also want this week to slow down at the same time. How bizarre!

Anywho, today I’m sharing another book review. This time I read Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson.

I’ve been meaning to read this book for over a year, but due to time constraints, hadn’t found the time to get around to it. Luckily, when my book buddy Gigi and I were discussing other books to read, we discovered we hadn’t read this one and couldn’t resist.

This post will be my individual review of the book, soon to be followed by a Buddy Read & Rant conversation with Gigi and I.

Alright, on to the review!

Blurb:

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

The Review:

I gave this book four stars!

This was my first time reading a book by this author, and I’m glad I gave it a chance!

This book follows Elisabeth, a young woman who dreams of being a warden. An orphan, she’s lived her entire life convinced that sorcerers are evil and of the importance of keeping watch over the grimoires they create that can house immense power. One night, her world is turned upside down when a powerful grimoire turns into a Malefict and she is implicated in its release. Can Elisabeth clear her name, or is there more to this disaster than meets the eye?

This book had a lot of great elements, and I’m definitely going to keep my eye out for other works by this author.

The characters are the biggest pro for me. They really made the story intriguing, and I cared what happened to them. Elisabeth may be young, but she’s daring and bold in times of crisis. I loved how scrappy she was, and that when the time was right, she would speak up for herself when she knew something was afoot. Her heart is in the right place, and that made it easy to root for her.

Nathaniel is a sorcerer intertwined in Elisabeth’s struggle. While he appears standoffish at first, there’s a lot more depth to him than meets the eye. I also loved his powers!

But I think the real gem of this story is Silas. If the author wrote an entire book about Silas, I would read it! Silas is Nathaniel’s demon, and I just love how he was portrayed. Emotionally unavailable yet supportive demon who will serve you tea one minute and decimate hordes of your enemies the next? Sign me up! Oh, how I wish I had an awesome demon like him!

The plot drew me in immediately and kept me entertained. Elisabeth’s journey starts off simple, but there’s so much more to what happened, and I loved unraveling the mystery one step at a time. There’s also an element of horror present in this novel that I really enjoyed. I wasn’t expecting it since this is a fantasy book, but I was pleasantly surprised. I loved the concept of the great libraries, the system of magic, and especially the grimoires. Man, did each grimoire have character! I loved Elisabeth’s interactions with them and honestly could’ve read an entire book about her strolling down the halls talking to them.

This book wasn’t perfect, so I’ll point out a couple things. I did feel that here and there the pace slowed a bit much for my taste, and that sometimes Elisabeth would get too much inside her own head, though it didn’t happen frequently. I also felt the action scenes could’ve been pulled off just a smidgen better. Sometimes they felt a little clunky or I got a bit lost in all the details being thrown at me.

All this being said, this is definitely a book worth reading. If you like magic, adventure, and a sprinkling of horror, this book is for you!

That’s a Wrap!

Thanks for stopping by, and happy reading!

Have you read this book before? What did you think? Do you have a book recommendation similar to this one? Feel free to share in the comments!

If you’d like to see other reviews of mine, feel free to check out the book review section of my blog or my GoodReads. You can also follow my GoodReads reviews here. There are some great binge-worthy books on there!

Have a great day!

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