Sorcery of Thorns is a YA fantasy from Margaret Rogerson, author of the super popular (and extremely photogenic, if bookstagram is anything to go by) novel An Enchantment of Ravens. Sorcery of Thorns follows Elisabeth Scrivener (who, hello, has the coolest name ever), who has grown up in one of the Great Libraries of her kingdom, where she learns to care for grimoires, magical books who are very much alive, but so dangerous they must be imprisoned and watched over all the time. Elisabeth, who was orphaned as a baby, works in the library and is studying to become a warden, one of the people in charge of protecting the kingdom from the grimoires.
One night while the library and all of its employees and residents sleep, one of the grimoires mutates into a monster and sets out to attack the nearby town. Elisabeth, finding herself the only one awake, does the only thing she can think of: she goes after the grimoire and fights it in order to stop it and save as many people as she can. But it turns out the reason everyone slept through the attack is because they were under a sleeping spell, ad Elisabeth being the only one not under that spell looks very suspicious. In an unthinkable turn of events, she ends up being accused of setting the grimoire free and causing the attack. She is imprisoned while she waits to be taken to the city for judgment. When it’s time for her to be transported, sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn—who Elisabeth has had a run in with before—and his resident demon, Silas, arrive to escort her to the city. Even though Elisabeth has spent her whole life believing that sorcerers are evil, the more she gets to know Nathaniel, the more she starts to think he might not be so bad after all. In fact, he might be the only one who can help her out of this situation—and the whole situation goes much deeper and gets much darker than she expected.
I’d kind of been in a little slump with YA fantasy lately. Even though it’s a genere I love, nearly every YA fantasy I’d picked up recently I either didn’t like, couldn’t get into, or wasn’t even interested in the description of the book. Aside from finishing up series I’d been involved in and one ARC that really hit it out of the park, I just couldn’t find any new YA fantasy that I was really excited about. But when I got this book in the June OwlCrate, I was hopeful. The theme of that crate was “Libraries of Wonder”, which in and of itself was enough to draw me in. This book had magical libraries, living grimoires, an awkward, nerdy, main character, and demons. So it sounded right in my wheelhouse.
And I lucked out, because I actually really liked this book! I just had to wait for the right YA fantasy to come along and break the slump, and not go by what’s popular or what everyone else loves right this second. (I’m always the weirdo anyway, so that never works out for me.)
I really enjoyed the magic system and world building in this book, which is so important for a YA fantasy. I really liked the concept that the sorcerers had to have “their” demons in order to have their magic and that if the demon died, the magic died along with them. I thought that was an interesting and unique aspect of the magic system that we don’t see in a lot of YA. And of course, I really liked Nathaniel’s demon, Silas. He was one of he best characters and had a hell of a personality (pun intended) and a smartass response for nearly everything all the time.
But Silas wasn’t the only great character. All three of the main characters who got most of the focus—Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas—were really likable and I found that I got attached to all of them, to the point where it was difficult to choose one favorite. Elisabeth is this messy, frizzy, awkward, stumbling librarian who is more comfortable among books than people, which I think a lot of us can relate to. I liked that she wasn’t a warrior or a soldier or a Chosen One—she’s just a book nerd, who knows what matters to her, and is just trying to do what’s right. She seemed realistic and relatable and I didn’t mind following her on this epic journey at all.
Nathaniel was fantastic, too. He was kind of the quintessential “shuts people out due to a rough past/fear of getting hurt or hurting others” type of character. He’s mysterious and quick-witted and a perfect match for his demon, Silas, because they always have verbal barbs to toss at each other. I loved the moments where Silas would tease Nathaniel by bringing up things he’d done in his past and ways he’d gotten himself into trouble.
“What is this, master—the third time I’ve broken you out of a jail cell?”
“Minor misunderstandings, on both previous occasions,” he assured Elisabeth.
“At least you’re wearing clothes this time, master.”
“I’ll have you know,” Nathaniel said, “that that was an accident and the public certainly didn’t mind. One woman even sent me flowers.”
In fact, overall, the three main characters just worked really well together and were a great fit. I absolutely loved the “found family” aspect of this and the way a librarian, a sorcerer, and a demon ended up making up their own little unit who would do anything for each other.
We also had some awesome side characters in the form of Katrien and Parsifal, and I was especially fond of Mistress Wick, who easily has one of the best quotes in the book:
“There is always more than one way to see the world. Those who claim otherwise would have you dwell forever in the dark.”
Despite being really funny, sarcastic, and sharp-witted, there were definitely some more touching and sad moments, too. I can think of a couple off the top of my head that really pulled at the heart strings. And if you like fast-paced novels, there also a lot of action scenes, complete with demon cackling, sword fighting, collapsing buildings, and magical spells. So, you know. All the best elements of fantasy action. There’s never a shortage of something happening, including a blossoming romance that I thought was really cute.
Some other random observations/things I liked:
- I liked that we had a bi main character who was not defined entirely by his sexuality. He was a well-rounded and developed individual and his sexuality was a part of his identity—not the only thing that mattered about him or the only thing the author focused on.
- I liked that all the grimoires had their own individual personalities and they weren’t just generic monsters or magical creatures. I love the idea of books having their own identities. We had some that loved to sing, some that spat ink, some that were hungry. What would dour favorite books be like if they were alive?
- I think the OwlCrate version of the cover is beautiful and I love the change from green to purple!
- I like that thus far, this seems to be a standalone. While I don’t have anything against series, sometimes it seems like every single thing is the beginning of a series nowadays and I appreciate a book that can stand on its own, especially a standalone fantasy novel. Not that I wouldn’t love to see more of Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas—but I realize there is such a thing as “too much of a good thing”.
My overall final thoughts on this book are that it’s a fun read, it’s well-written with lots of really pretty descriptions, excellent world-building, and good character development. I’d recommend this one for any fans of YA fantasy. I liked it a lot and it made me think maybe I should check out Rogerson’s debut novel sometime, as well!
What did everyone else think? Did you read Sorcery of Thorns yet? Did you like it? Is Silas your new favorite demon? Let me know in the comments! You know I’d love to talk! <3