HELLO BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019!!!

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."

Elizabeth has grown up in a library, and has known for a long time that she wants to be a Warden - a special job that entails protecting the world from magical books, brought alive through magic given to sorcerers by demons. When Elizabeth ends up being accused of a terrible crime she didn't commit, she ends up unwittingly teaming up with sorcerer Nathaniel and his servant Silas (who is a lot more than he appears) and the trio may end up having to save humanity from one of the biggest threats it's ever faced.

You know when you find that book that you feel has been written just for you? The one that you feel like every time you start reading it, you've hiked up your skirts (or trousers) and stepped straight through the page and into the world. You see, you hear, you feel everything the characters are seeing and hearing and feeling. It's so magical, and it doesn't happen very often. Which is what makes it special. And Sorcery of Thorns gave me that. Thank you Margaret Rogerson.

This is a book that was written for book lovers. Not the people who pick up a book only now and again on holiday or people trying out reading just to see. But for people whose everyday life has something to do with reading - people who are always thinking of the next book they'll buy, read or get from the library. People who find the tiniest inch of space on an overflowing book to fit their latest purchase. People...readers whose books are not just entertainment - they're comfort, they're friends, they're as far as we're all concerned alive.

"Knowledge always has the potential to be dangerous. It is a more powerful weapon than any sword spell."

In Sorcery of Thorns, certain books called grimoires are for all intents and purposes alive. They seem to feel emotion, are attached to certain people who handle them, can be petty and rude and sometimes downright violent. A lot of them are also a little bit evil due to the magic that created them (demon magic) and are very, very dangerous.

I loved the magic in this, and how so much of it wasn't centred on the sorcerers' and how they learned their magic or honed it in any particular way, but how the magic was used to create such grimoires and why libraries such as Elizabeth's home are much needed in this land.

Elizabeth is a fantastic character. She's impulsive, and insecure sometimes, she's very tall but she's also smart, and strong, and brave, as well as containing a good sense of humour and a has a bit of a talent for swinging a sword around. Elizabeth's growth in this book from orphan of the library to warden of the people (not just the books) by the end was fascinating to watch and I loved the battles she had to go through in her own head about rethinking the plans she'd always had for her future, her feelings about Nathaniel, her trust in Silas. It was fascinating, I couldn't pull away.

The setting in this book was also really good for me. This book is set in a fantastical land but for me, the city a lot of this book is set in felt really like London which I loved. There were all the elements of Victorian society in it - the lords and ladies, and the balls and eligible bachelors but some of those attending could charm butterflies into appearing in thin air, and bring the statues to life with a flourish.

There was the perfect amount of chemistry in this book too, and it was perfectly drawn out for me. There was also a great nod at a character's bisexuality. It was stated and it was accepted, and sometimes that's all there needs to be.

"Her heart stopped. His eyes were as dark and turbulent as a river in midwinter, and very close. She felt as though she stood on a precipice, and that if she leaned forward, she would fall. She would fall, and drown with him; she would never resurface for air."

And SILAS. Oh Silas. What a fantastic character - such a tumble of non-emotion and cool cat judgement and selfless acts and you knew what he would do but also you weren't totally comfortable with that assumption because there was the chance he could do the terrible thing.

I really liked the ending of this. We didn't have just one massive battle in this book, there were a few which I appreciated. It wasn't all super clean cut. I really got the right amount of action, and sacrifice and emotional moments. Perfection.

Side note: Also really enjoyed the friendship between Elizabeth and Katrien and how they liked to team up to bring down the patriarchy, basically.

"She now understood that the world wasn't kind to young women, especially when they behaved in ways men didn't like, and spoke truths that men weren't ready to hear."

And anyone else have to swallow a lump of emotion when the books sacrificed themselves for the library or just me