BOOKS | Review: Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson

Name: Mysteries of Thorn Manor (Sorcery of Thorns series #1.5)

Author: Margaret Rogerson

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

Date published: January 2023

Genre: Fiction, young adult, fantasy, romance

Pages: 186

Rating: 5/5

Elisabeth Scrivener is finally settling into her new life with sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn. Now that their demon companion Silas has returned, so has scrutiny from nosy reporters hungry for gossip about the city’s most powerful sorcerer and the librarian who stole his heart. But something strange is afoot at Thorn Manor: the estate’s wards, which are meant to keep their home safe, are acting up and forcibly trapping the Manor’s occupants inside. Surely it must be a coincidence that this happened just as Nathaniel and Elisabeth started getting closer to one another...?

With no access to the outside world, Elisabeth and Nathaniel have to work together to discover the source of the magic before they’re due to host the city’s Midwinter Ball. Faced with a house filled with unexpected secrets, the couple will have to lean on their connection like never before to set things right before it’s too late...

- From Goodreads.

The characters were still as delightful as ever in this and I loved them just as much as I did when I read Sorcery of Thorns. I really adore Nathaniel and Elisabeth's relationship and how good they are for each other, and I love how unique a character Silas is but how well he fits in with them, like a strange family. It was also wonderful to see Mercy again and to get to see more of her.

I loved that we got to see more of the house and how it came alive with magic. It was so inventive and had such a lot of personality and was a great way for the author to show off her skills with description. It really made the plot a lot of fun.

It was so sweet how part of the plot was so fairy tale influenced, it was perfect for the enchanting atmosphere of the story and was a lovely way to continue Elisabeth and Nathaniel's story and see how their relationship had progressed. They have such a wonderful dynamic together and I could read endless stories about them.

I also loved that the story made time for less light-hearted things, like their complicated but strangely endearing relationship with Silas and how they were all still recovering from what had happened to them in the first book. It was such a short story with a simple plot, but it still had a lot of depth to it.

I would definitely recommend reading this if you enjoyed Sorcery of Thorns, it is a perfect follow up and is such a quick, fun read.

BOOKS | Review: Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

 Name: Sorcery of Thorns

Author: Margaret Rogerson

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Date published: June 2019

Genre: Fiction, young adult, fantasy, romance

Pages: 456

Rating: 5/5

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.

- From Goodreads.

Sorcery of Thorns was an extraordinary story that felt like a gothic romance version of Howl's Moving Castle and I loved every moment of reading it, learning about the characters and the world and discovering the plot as it unravelled. 

Elisabeth was a truly wonderful main character and I fell in love with her from the very beginning. She was easy to believe in and relate to, and I really became emotionally attached to her. I really adored Nathaniel too, he was incredibly well written and I loved every moment he was on the page. The two of them together just worked so well and they were a really brilliant couple. Silas was a great addition, a very compelling character and always intriguing to read. I also liked the female friendships and relationships in the story and how they were important to Elisabeth and how she never forgot about them and they remained a presence throughout the story. Every character in this book was well-rounded and felt real and equally fascinating.

The world was so detailed and felt so real and vivid. The ideas that went into it were exciting and interesting to learn about, like the libraries and grimoires and sorcerers, and following Elisabeth in this world I really felt the emotions that the world evoked in her, whether it terrified her or overwhelmed her or made her feel in awe.

I felt the author dealt with the themes that came up in the book very well. Both Elisabeth and Nathaniel had to deal with grief and horrible situations that brought on things like panic and nightmares and it seemed like it was all addressed well and the characters were allowed to experience their emotions and support each other. It was strangely comforting to read because although the characters went through terrible things, they looked after each other and recovered and the end of the story felt very hopeful.

Overall, this was a really marvellous and well crafted book that I was absolutely enchanted by. Everything about it, the mystery, the romance, the magical atmosphere, was just done perfectly.

BOOKS ¦ Review: An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

Name: An Enchantment of Ravens

Author: Margaret Rogerson
Publisher: McElderry Books
Date Published: 2017
Rating: 5/5

A skilled painter must stand up to the ancient power of the faerie courts—even as she falls in love with a faerie prince—in this gorgeous debut novel.
Isobel is a prodigy portrait artist with a dangerous set of clients: the sinister fair folk, immortal creatures who cannot bake bread, weave cloth, or put a pen to paper without crumbling to dust. They crave human Craft with a terrible thirst, and Isobel’s paintings are highly prized. But when she receives her first royal patron—Rook, the autumn prince—she makes a terrible mistake. She paints mortal sorrow in his eyes—a weakness that could cost him his life.
Furious and devastated, Rook spirits her away to the autumnlands to stand trial for her crime. Waylaid by the Wild Hunt’s ghostly hounds, the tainted influence of the Alder King, and hideous monsters risen from barrow mounds, Isobel and Rook depend on one another for survival. Their alliance blossoms into trust, then love—and that love violates the fair folks’ ruthless laws. Now both of their lives are forfeit, unless Isobel can use her skill as an artist to fight the fairy courts. Because secretly, her Craft represents a threat the fair folk have never faced in all the millennia of their unchanging lives: for the first time, her portraits have the power to make them feel.

- From Goodreads.

This is the first book I have read in quite a while that I read in almost one day. I kept picking it up whenever I put it down because I kept wanting to know what happened next. And because I kept wanting to know what happened between the two main characters, Isobel and Rook. I really loved reading them, both as individual and together. They made very intriguing characters in their own rights and also worked well with each other, creating an enjoyable dynamic that kept me invested in the book.
I was also invested in the world of the story, it felt very creative and imaginative. The idea of the different seasonal faerie courts was made unique with the descriptions of each and both the settings and the magic system seemed very inventive. I would have liked to see the Autumn court, since that was the court Rook was prince of (and because Autumn is my favourite season) but I can see how that might have been difficult to fit into the story. I didn't know what the actual enchantment of ravens would be when I was going into the book, but I thought that was a very inventive detail too and I liked how it became involved in the story.
The writing style was very enjoyable to me, I don't always like the first person, but I found in this case it was well-written and I didn't really notice it most of the time. I also enjoyed that it was quite descriptive and almost poetic, which I know not everyone likes but I found it suited the story, and suited Isobel's narrative voice. I also found it quite a funny style, it was definitely and entertaining story and the humorous moments, especially those between Rook and Isobel, made it even more enjoyable.
I think it would have been nice to have a slightly longer ending to see how Isobel and Rook adjusted to everything after the events of the novel, but I think I mostly want that so I can see more of the characters together, as the ending itself is still good and the book did not necessarily need more to it to feel like a well-rounded story.