Genre: YA Fantasy
Pages: 456
TIme To Read: 6 hours, 13 minutes
My Rating: 1 star
Why I picked It Up
I picked up this book because it was free on Kindle Unlimited. It had a cute cover and I believe that I had it save to my digital TBR for a year or so.
Synopsis
I erased all memories of this book from my memory, so I had to look a lot of stuff up here. Bear with me.
Sorcery of Thornes follows Elisabeth Scrivener, an orphan who has grown up in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries. But these aren’t ordinary libraries. They house magical grimoires. Living books capable of whispering, moving, and, if damaged or provoked, transforming into dangerous monsters.
Elisabeth has been raised to believe that sorcerers are dangerous and that her future lies in protecting the kingdom from the magical books in her care. But when an act of sabotage releases one of the library’s most dangerous grimoires, Elisabeth is blamed for the destruction.
Forced to leave the only home she has ever known, she becomes entangled with Nathaniel Thorn, a powerful younger sorcerer, and his mysterious demonic servant, Silas. As Elisabeth begins investigating what really happened at the library, she discovers that the attack may be part of a much larger threat, and that much of what she has been taught about magic, sorcerers, and the Great Libraries may not be entirely true.
My Thoughts
My original Goodreads review read:
Wow, two stinkers in a row…
Yeah…that was all.
Because despite giving it one star and apparently disliking it enough that I had to download the audiobook just to force myself to finish, I remember almost nothing about it.
And honestly? I think that tells you more about my experience with Sorcery of Thornes than any detailed critique could.
I remember the romance being bland and vaguely weird. I remember being bored. I remember reaching the point where physically reading the book felt like too much work, so I switched to the audiobook on x2 speed because apparently I was determined to finish it out of spite.
Do I remember the ending? No.
Could I tell you what the villain’s plan was? Maybe???
Could I explain why I apparently hated it enough to give it one star? No because I don’t plan on diving back into that miserable experience.
Who Would Enjoy This?
Despite my very low rating, I can definitely see this book working better for younger readers, particularly those on the younger end of the YA spectrum.
The romance if very clean, and from what I remember, there isn’t much content that would make me hesitate to recommend it to a young teen. The fantasy elements are also fairly approachable, so this could be a good option for someone starting to branch out from middle grade into YA fantasy.
If you’re looking for a clean fantasy with magical libraries, sentient books, demons, and a light romance, you might have a much better time with this than I did.
Probably best for: younger teens, readers newer to YA fantasy, and anyone who prefers their fantasy romances almost non-existent.