Margaret Rogerson (2019)

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.

Synopsis from Sorcery of Thorns Official Webpage

Review: Limited Audiences (L)

Elisabeth is a smart, well-written character who uses her wits to overcome overwhelming odds. Her relationship with Nathaniel Thorne becomes one of mutual trust and understanding. She is also able to overcome her own prejudices in order to see things from other viewpoints and she treats others with kindness and respect.

The reason why I put this under limited audience was because there are some topics that need to be discussed after the book is read, mainly the use of the occult and drawing of pentagrams in order to summon demons that is mentioned in this book. The demons are not worshipped, but used as bound servants that give the sorcerers their powers, but a more mature audience would be needed to understand those implications. There is also a brief mention of the main male character being bisexual, but there are no other same-sex relationships in this book. The two main characters also engage in some heavy petting, but it does not progress past that.

Overall, I enjoyed this book immensely and was surprised that it did not have a lot of the other tropes that seem to have trickled their way into YA fiction (mainly the demonizing of men in order to show the superiority of women). There are a lot of themes that would resonate with catholic audiences, the main one being the triumph of good over evil.