You had me at magical libraries with magical books and honestly this just kept me reading when I started it. It's almost like it's a book written for me. Elizabeth grew up in the one of Austermere's Great Libraries she is used to it's unusual properties. Some books on the shelves whisper but some are powerful and transform into ravening monsters of ink and paper. An act of sabotage releases one of the most powerful books which goes rogue and Elizabeth is blamed. In the custody of the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn and his demonic servant Silas she finds herself embroiled in politics that's completely new to her. And feelings that she doesn't really recognise. The investigation takes them in directions they didn't expect and builds an interesting relationship between the three of them.
One paragraph really haunts me with it's beauty:
"The library no more belonged to Ashcroft and his plot than Elizabeth belonged to the unknown parents who had brought her into this world. It possessed a life of its own, had become something greater than Cornelius had ever intended. For these were not ordinary books the libraries kept. They were knowledge, given life. Wisdom, given voice. They sang when starlight streamed through the library's windows. THey felt pain and suffered heartbreak. Sometimes they were sinister, grotesque - but so was the world outside. And that made the world no less worth fighting for, because wherever there was darkness, there was also so much light."
This book made me want more, more from the author and more from this world. ( )

Elisabeth grew up in the library and all she's ever wanted is to become a Warden there and watch over the grimoires that can become dangerous with their inherent magic or in the hands of the wrong sorcerer. One night, she wakes up to find everyone asleep, the Director dead, and a grimoire on the loose - only to be blamed for the attack herself. Banished from the library, Elisabeth is sent to the sorcerers, where she's escorted by Nathaniel to give an account of herself. But as she sees the wider world, Elisabeth realizes that what she was taught at the library may not be the whole truth about magic and sorcerers.

It took me a little while to get into the story, as Elisabeth starts out very naive and slowly begins to learn more about the world. But once it got going, I really enjoyed the world building, the libraries, the grimoires and magic. The romance of secondary, though I liked Nathaniel pretty well, and I'd love to read more books set in the world. ( )

4 ( )

bibliotecarie e maghi, grimori senzienti, evocatori folli, demoni sentimentali
molto carino ( )

I didn't particularly like Sorcery of Thorns, but I liked some of it.

Silas and the book-monsters were awesome, but Elizabeth was pretty obnoxious and Nathaniel was a stick in the mud (to be fair, they did get somewhat better). The friendships between Silas, Nathaniel, and Elizabeth were good, but the romance felt forced.

I didn't like the story's pacing or the overly-descriptive writing. If I wasn't reading this with a buddy then I wouldn't have finished the book. I don't think that I'll read more from this author. ( )