Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson. Favorite quotes and review.

Hi friends,

Today I have chosen to do something a little bit different than a “simple” review! I reread Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson this month and that reminded me how that bok is HIGHLY QUOTABLE!

So you will get my review but preceded by tons of quotes #sorrynotsorry 😉

I hope to make you WANT to read that favorite book of mine!

Synopsis

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.

Quotes

“Sending her away would be like placing a griloire among inanimate books that didn’t move or speak. The first time she had seen sucha book, she had thought it was dead.”

Now, one of the many banter between Elisabeth and Nathaniel (I adore the banter!): “Go on, I’m not going to turn you into a salamander.” “You can do that?” “Of course. But I only turn girls into salamanders on Tuesdays. Lucky for you, it’s a Wednesday, which is the day I drink a goblet of orphan’s blood for supper.”

“Why are you looking at me like that?” “You used a demonic incantation to pack my stockings!” “You’re reight, that doesn’t sound like something a proper evil sorcere would do. Next time, I won’t fold them.”

“Make yourself comfortable, Miss Scrivener. We have a long journey ahead of us. The Sooner we get started, the faster I can get back to tormenting widows and scandalizing the elderly with my nefarious black arts.”

When lowly demons are chasing Nathaniel and Elisabeth, they are rounding on Elisabeth and Nathaniel tells them:” She’s stringy, a bit gamey. Do you see all that hair? There’s practically nothing underneath it.”

Later when the demons are still chasing them and they escape in a carriage, Elisabeth tells him: “I thought you didn’t know how to drive a carriage.” “Nonsense, I’m a fast learner when properly motivated.”

And then, when Elisabeth is hitting a demon: “How many times do I have to hit them before they won’t get back up again?” “I think you’ll get the hang of it, Scrivener. You aren’t lacking in enthusiasm.”

“She is a feral librarian, you see-raised by booklice, very tragic…”

“You like this place?” “Of courseI do. It has books in it.” That one is pinned on my blog home page 😉

“A great library never slept…Some of the grimoires snored, while their neighbors made disgruntled noises at them for snoring too loudly; others whispered and laughed.”

“Charmed. If the two of you feel the need to destroy anything else, I’ve been meaning to get rid of Aunt Clothilde’s tapestry for years. You’ll know it when you see it. It’s mauve.”

“I’m ruining your reputation aren’t I?” “Don’t worry, I’ve been hard at work trying to ruin my reputation for years. Perhaps after this, influential families will stop trying to catapult their daughters over my garden fence. Which actuellay did happen once. I had to fend her off with a trowel.”

“What is it?” “I knew you talked to books. I didn’t realize they listened.” “They do more than just listen.”

“It was always wise to be polite to books, whether or not they could hear you.”

Review

First read: 5 flamboyant stars!

Reread: All the stars!

Oooh how I loved that story! It felt exhilarating!

I have so much to say and praise about that book that I might be bossy, sorry but not sorry, trying to MAKE you READ it!

I liked An Enchantment of Ravens but I adored Sorcery of Thorns!

Honestly this book is so many things!

First I bow low to Margaret’s imagination because I loved reading about a world where Great Libraries held grimoires who snored while sleeping, complained, laughed or had to have their spines massaged by apprentices when they got a special flu!

This was so original!

Not to forget gargoyle coming to life and stone angels awakened by sorcerers to join the battle and defend said libraries!

And I am not even mentioning the book lice being extra fat and hard to kill when they feasted on enchanted grimoires!

So the first thing to praise was the world building!

Imaginative, enchanting and so vivid!

Second I absolutely adored the balance between gravity and humor in this book!

Some of the first moments that made me smile was when the heroine, Elisabeth Scrivener, orphaned abandoned at the entrance of a Great Library and raised among very alive grimoires was retelling that the first time she had seen a normal book she thought he was dead because he made no noise nor movement! So delicious!!!

Then of course or sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn is a master at irony and sarcasm.

Always unruffled even in dire circumstances he had the best come backs! He reminded me of Jace Wayland or …….

What also added humor and comic moments was the knack of Elisabeth to always jump head first into compromising situations! Like making fall an entire book shelf on the sorcerer she covertly and discreetly tried to spy on just to end falling on him and grabbing his surprisingly soft hair to test a theory and make sure he had or had not pointed ears! It’s for science you see…

Third I fell hard for the magical battles, the heroics, the constant action and exhilarating acts of bravery! I felt emboldened and energized just reading about Elisabeth’s high feat and courageous actions. I barely kept myself from shouting something along “Take that evil monster!” in the midst of fellow commuters on the train. No doubt it would not have been welcomed to rouse them from their sleep while on our very early morning trip to work!

Fourth I loved the character’s growth and their evolution.

How Elisabeth, raised in a Great Library and sworn to protect grimoires, not to ever dabble in magic because sorcerers are evil came to realize through that story that not everything is clear cut. That all sorcerers are not evil, that not all magic is bad nor all demons are enemies. That maybe her purpose lies in something other than making sure that grimoires are trapped and well guarded.

Nathaniel too will learn to trust. He will learn to overcome his personal fears of what he might turn into one day.

And Silas…without spoiling your fun he will also change.

Honestly I can’t recall the last time that I read about a book with magic and sorcerers and had so much fun! Not since reading Harry Potter I dare say! I know JK Rowling is the queen but Margareth Rogertson did a dang fine job in entertaining me in the best sense of the word! I’ve been simply swept off my feet and catapulted in a heroic and magical world!

Thanks for reading!

Sophie