Sorcery of Thorns

“A single decision by the Director could send her away for good. She had never felt so uncertain, so helpless, so small. It was then that she made her vow, crouched amid the dust and cobwebs, grasping for the only lifeline within reach. If the Director was not certain that the Great Library was the best place for Elisabeth, she would simply have to prove it. She would become a great and powerful warden, just like the Director.”

The start of the novel establishes Elisabeth’s determination to become a warden—a goal sparked at only eight years old when she realizes that she could be sent away from the only home she’s ever known. The author emphasizes the protagonist’s vulnerability and desperation to belong by describing her as “so uncertain, so helpless, so small.” Elisabeth’s determination to prove herself points to the theme of Growing Into a Heroine, propelling Elisabeth to perform mighty deeds, such as slaying a Malefict singlehandedly. By the end of the novel, Elisabeth is no longer interested in becoming a warden, and she’s found a home where she belongs unconditionally.

“When Finch discovered her out of bounds—out of bounds and speaking to a magister—he wouldn’t bother with the switch; he would cane her within an inch of her life. The welts would last for days. The magister’s gaze lingered on her for a moment, appraisingly, before he turned toward the door. ‘Perfectly all right,’ he replied. ‘I’d prefer not to be disturbed until the Director’s ready to take me to the vault, if you don’t mind. Sorcerer’s business. Very private.’”

During Elisabeth and Nathaniel’s first meeting, Nathaniel sees Elisabeth’s fear of the cruel and violent Finch and instinctually chooses to protect her, laying the groundwork for the bond of trust that eventually grows between them, pointing to the novel’s thematic interest in The Complexities of Trust and Betrayal in Relationships. Elisabeth has been taught all her life that sorcerers are evil, but Nathaniel’s kind actions signal that she can safely trust him from the beginning.

“If Elisabeth turned back, the monster would reach Summershall before anyone even had a chance to rise from bed. Countless people would die in the streets. It would be a slaughter. Officium adusque mortem. Duty unto death. She had passed beneath that inscription a thousand times. She might not be a warden yet, but she would never be able to call herself one if she turned away now. Protecting Summershall was her responsibility, even at the cost of her life.”

Rogerson’s fantasy novel contains many tense moments and suspenseful battles. Elisabeth’s first fight against a Malefict demonstrates her considerable courage and catalyzes the protagonist’s character arc toward Growing Into a Heroine. This scene also introduces the Maleficts, which serve as a motif for the theme of The Power of Knowledge and Its Potential for Both Good and Evil throughout the novel.

“‘It’s only that you’re young to be a magister,’ she ventured. His face grew unreadable. Then he smiled in a way that sent a chill down her spine. ‘The explanation is simple. Everyone standing between myself and the title is dead.’”

During Nathaniel and Elisabeth’s conversation at the inn on the road to Brassbridge, Rogerson highlights the influence of Elisabeth’s upbringing in the library on her worldview. She misinterprets Nathaniel’s words and suspects that he murdered his competition for the title of magister. In actuality, his dialogue foreshadows the revelation of the tragic backstory that left him as the last living member of House Thorn.

“‘To be fair, I didn’t think you would actually believe I drank orphan’s blood. Are all librarians like you, or is it only the feral ones who have been raised by booklice?’ Elisabeth wanted to object, but she suspected he had a point. Almost everything she knew, she had learned either from Master Hargrove, who hadn’t traveled farther than the privy in over a half a century, or from books, many of which were hundreds of years out of date. The rest—stories told to her by the senior librarians, their details so frightening that she behaved as a good apprentice ought and ceased asking about sorcerers altogether. Now she wondered how many of those stories had been lies. Her teeth ground at the betrayal.”

Elisabeth’s progressive interrogation of the prejudice instilled in her by the librarians highlights The Complexities of Trust and Betrayal in Relationships. Elisabeth realizes that her background in the Great Library has not prepared her for the realities of the modern world. Rogerson emphasizes the protagonist’s shifting perspective toward those she once trusted completely with the description that the protagonist’s “teeth gr[i]nd at the betrayal.” At the same time, Elisabeth begins to realize that Nathaniel is trustworthy—an important revelation since they’re about to enter Brassbridge and since she sorely needs an ally amid the capital’s web of sociopolitical and magical intrigue.

“‘I’ll lure it away,’ she said. He caught her arm. ‘That’s exactly what the fiend wants,’ he snapped. ‘To draw you out on your own so you’ll make an easier target. Don’t be an idiot, Scrivener.’ She looked at the boy, who would die if they did nothing, and back to Nathaniel. Don’t be an idiot. ‘Is that what you call it?’ she asked. Something unidentifiable passed across his face. He let go.”

As part of Elisabeth journey Growing Into a Heroine, she selflessly risks her life to save a child. This suspenseful scene also illustrates her growing trust in Nathaniel because she counts on the sorcerer to watch her back. Nathaniel’s “unidentifiable” expression offers a clue that he has already developed feelings for the protagonist. Elisabeth’s act of heroism wins the public’s favor and causes her trial to be canceled, but Rogerson later reveals that this was all part of the antagonist’s plan.

“‘I called this press meeting to make a brief announcement. Following the events of last night, and having reviewed certain discrepancies in the official report from Summershall, Miss Elisabeth Scrivener is no longer a suspect in our investigation.’ Shock jolted through Elisabeth. ‘She is, instead, to be commended by the Magisterium for her brave actions in Summershall, which saved countless lives […] I will be personally sending a letter of recommendation to the Collegium, advising the preceptors to consider her for warden’s training when she completes her apprenticeship.’”

Ashcroft’s announcement suggests a sudden and dramatic change in Elisabeth’s fortunes. Ostensibly, she is no longer a prisoner of the Magisterium, and her dream of becoming a warden feels once again attainable, but the Chancellor secretly plots to imprison her within his manor, raising the dramatic stakes of the plot. The fact that Ashcroft calls a press meeting to announce the news reflects the care with which the antagonist preserves his magnanimous and charismatic public image.

“‘You should have sent more fiends, master. You should have ended this instead of drawing it out. Now you can no longer kill her. There are too many humans involved.’ ‘The intention,’ said Ashcroft, ‘was never to kill her. I merely required an excuse to bring her here. We have only just begun, Lorelei. Whatever mistake occurred in Summershall, I can’t afford to make it again. There must be no more surviving witnesses.’”

Ashcroft’s conversation with his demonic servant, Lorelei, reveals that he is the mastermind behind the attacks on the Great Libraries. The disconnect between his benevolent public persona and his private ruthlessness signals him as the novel’s primary antagonist. Enhancing the scene’s suspense, Ashcroft’s motives remain a mystery.

“‘The Great Library had claimed you.’ Ashcroft shook his head in disgust and turned away. He gestured, and the shards began to disintegrate, crashing like a sheet of water toward the floor. ‘No!’ Elisabeth shouted. Too late, she remembered what Lorelei had said two days ago. Take the memory from her by force, and destroy the rest. ‘You belonged here.’”

Rogerson builds the tension of her plot as Ashcroft invades Elisabeth’s mind to learn what she witnessed on the night of the Director’s death. The juxtaposition of the Director’s loving words with the antagonist’s cruelty provides an impactful contrast. Ashcroft’s spell fails to destroy Elisabeth’s mind, which foreshadows the reveal that her lifelong exposure to grimoires grants her a unique resistance to magic.

“‘You didn’t trust me before. What changed your mind?’ Elisabeth picked at the dressing gown’s hem. ‘I was afraid of you at first. Now I understand that you helped me. And I believe…’ He turned and raised an inquiring eyebrow. ‘I believe there is kindness in you,’ she blurted out. ‘Even though you try to pretend otherwise.’ The eyebrow lifted higher. ‘So you’re hoping I might help you expose Ashcroft?’”

In an important development for Elisabeth and Nathaniel’s relationship, Elisabeth makes the choice to trust him with everything she knows about Ashcroft, despite her implicit prejudice against sorcerers. Although Nathaniel refuses to “help [her] expose Ashcroft” in this chapter, he later changes his mind, validating her confidence in him.

“We were distracted, Alistair and I, and the both of us failed to notice that Master Thorn had hidden himself behind the drapes. He had been there all morning, as quiet as a mouse. We understood that the spell might take Alistair’s life, for it was a dark and terrible magic, but I knew when I glimpsed those eyes watching us through the curtains that it would take his son’s as well. So I ended it at once, in the only way possible. Master Thorn saw everything: the bodies, the ritual, his father’s death at my hands. He sees it still, when he closes his eyes to rest.”

Rogerson’s revel of Nathaniel’s tragic backstory explains his magical night terrors, his fear of growing attached to other humans, and his certainty that his bloodline must be ended. This scene also reveals that Silas yearns to redeem himself for killing Alistair and bargaining for 20 years of Nathaniel’s life. Elisabeth offers the demon a chance at redemption by recruiting him in her fight against Ashcroft.

“‘He’s trying to finish what Cornelius started.’ ‘If you would only tell me what he’s planning. I know that whatever it is, it hinges upon the Great Library of Harrows—’ Prendergast’s voice lashed out like a whip. ‘Enough! Leave me be. It doesn’t matter what he’s planning, because’—he bent over, bracing his hands on his knees, and forced out the rest—‘without me—he cannot succeed.’”

Rogerson continues to establish the unique and signature qualities of her heroine with the reveal that Elisabeth possesses the ability to access the Codex. Elisabeth discovers that Aldous Prendergast imprisoned his consciousness inside the Codex, and her first conversation with him highlights an additional relationship from the past that involves an inherent tension between trust and betrayal. Prendergast took his drastic action to keep the dangerous knowledge he possesses from Cornelius the Wise, who used to be his best friend.

“‘Perhaps I haven’t seen what you can do,’ she said. ‘But I’ve seen what you choose to do.’ She looked up. ‘Isn’t that more important?’ The question slipped past Nathaniel’s guard. He gripped the rail, off-balance. ‘I chose not to help you fight Ashcroft.’ Her heart ached. She gazed at his shoulders, the line of his back, which expressed his unhappiness so plainly. ‘It isn’t too late to change your mind.’ Nathaniel bent and leaned his forehead on his arm. Silence reigned. The foyer stank of aetherial combustion, but beneath that, there was the faint scent of roses. ‘Fine,’ he said at last.”

This scene marks a turning point in Elisabeth and Nathaniel’s relationship because she finally convinces him to help her fight against Ashcroft despite his fear that doing so will put her in danger. Rogerson’s use of rose imagery, which symbolizes love, points to the growing affection between Elisabeth and Nathaniel. The flowers bring life and beauty to the once grim Thorn Manor just as Elisabeth brings life and love to Nathaniel’s desolate heart.

“Now came the moment he would discover that despite all he had done to her, he had failed to break her. The thought filled her with resolve, like a molten blade plunged seething into water.”

The sword named Demonslayer serves as a motif for the theme of Growing Into a Heroine, and the author emphasizes the protagonist’s heroic courage by comparing her resolve to “a molten blade plunged seething into water.” Elisabeth finds the courage to confront the man who imprisoned her, tried to destroy her memories, and sent her to a psychiatric hospital. As a result of the scene at the Royal Ball, Ashcroft is publicly discredited, but he remains a dangerous foe.

“‘My father was a good man. All his life, he was good, except for the very end.’ His expression said, So how can there be any hope for me? ‘You’re good, Nathaniel,’ she said quietly. She placed a hand on his cheek. ‘You are.’ […] Nothing could have prepared her for this: that she would experience her first kiss in moonlight, surrounded by roses, with a boy who summoned storms and commanded angels to spread their wings.”

Elisabeth’s words soothe a fear that Nathaniel has carried for years: his conviction that there’s something inherently evil in him because he is a descendant of Baltasar Thorn. Their first kiss represents a major development in their romantic relationship, and the roses that surround them continue Rogerson’s motif of roses to symbolize love. However, the narrative tone quickly shifts to one of suspense and danger with the reveal that Ashcroft has lured them to the beautiful, rose-covered pavilion.

“‘Had you let him die,’ Ashcroft said, ‘your bargain would have been fulfilled. The life he promised you—you would have received it. But now you’ve lost everything.’ ‘Yes,’ whispered Silas. ‘I feel it. It is gone.’”

The character of Silas allows Rogerson to explore the disconnect between self-perception and reality. As much as the demon insists that his true nature cannot be trusted, he freely chooses to save Nathaniel’s life, giving the demon a chance to atone for Alistair’s death as he has always wished and foreshadowing his sacrifice in Chapter 36.

“If she participated in a summoning, and a rumor somehow got out, even a whisper of speculation, every Great Library would be closed to her. No warden would speak to her. She would become an outcast from the only world in which she had ever belonged. But her oaths meant nothing if they asked her to forsake people she cared about in their greatest moment of need. If that was what being a warden required of her, then she wasn’t meant to become one. She would have to decide for herself what was right and what was wrong.”

For Elisabeth, Growing Into a Heroine means deciding for herself what she believes. At the beginning of the story, she believes that sorcerers and demons are pure evil because that’s what the wardens have taught her. However, she now sees Nathaniel and Silas as “people she care[s] about.” Elisabeth’s decision to think for herself resolves the inner conflict she’s wrestled with for most of the book and helps her see even Maleficts in a new light as the story continues.

“A ritual this size calls for more than wick and wax. When a Malefict is destroyed, it unleashes a vast amount of demonic energy. Position a sacrifice of that nature at each point of a pentagram, and one ends up with sufficient power to breach the veil for a greater summoning.”

Rogerson utilizes the consciousness of Aldous Prendergast as an expository device to explain the antagonist’s goal to summon the ruler of the Otherworld. This revelation significantly increases the story’s stakes because the world will end if Ashcroft succeeds. This information also has grave ramifications for the Great Libraries that Elisabeth has devoted her life to and means that she unknowingly advanced Ashcroft’s plan when she slew the Malefict that attacked Summershall.

“‘The last month has been the happiest time of my life that I can remember since I was twelve, the fiends and the blood drinking and the imminent threat of a demonic apocalypse notwithstanding. I think—I think I was a bit dead already, before you came along.’ He turned his head, taking her in. ‘It’s an honor to fight by your side, Elisabeth, for however long it lasts. You’ve reminded me to live. That’s worth having something to lose.’”

This passage illustrates all the ways in which Nathaniel’s love for Elisabeth has changed him, developing him as a character. Even though they are locked in Harrows’s dungeon and there is an “imminent threat of a demonic apocalypse,” he still feels grateful to her for giving him “the happiest time of [his] life” since he lost his parents and brother—a reference that suggests that his romantic connection to Elisabeth has allowed him to see her as family.

“Ashcroft had finished his work and relinquished his hold on the body, leaving Hyde at the mercy of the Chronicles of the Dead, just as he must have done to Irena after releasing the Book of Eyes.”

As Ashcroft unleashes the final Malefict that he needs for his plan to succeed, Rogerson ties together a number of plot threads. For example, she explains that Ashcroft cast a mind-control spell on Director Irena and forced her to sabotage Summershall just as he did to Hyde. In addition, Rogerson connects Ashcroft’s plot to Nathaniel’s family legacy because a Thorn ancestor created the last grimoire that Ashcroft releases.

“Trust me, he had said. She remembered the day that they had met, when he had offered her his hand, and she had hesitated, certain he would hurt her. But the horrors she had imagined, those evil deeds—he had never been capable of them. Not Nathaniel, her Nathaniel, who was tortured by the darkness within him only because he was so good. The Malefict’s words repeated in her mind. The girl you love. The truth of it rang through her like the tolling of a bell.”

Rogerson structures the reveal that Nathaniel loves Elisabeth by planting the information within the Chronicles of the Dead’s challenge to Nathaniel to kill her. The scene highlights The Complexities of Trust and Betrayal in Relationships because in the same moment that the Malefict encourages Nathaniel to betray her, it indirectly reveals his love for her, cementing her trust in him. In that moment, Elisabeth understands that “her Nathaniel” was always worthy of her trust, and she chooses to have faith in him despite their ominous circumstances.

“This was Elisabeth’s purpose. Not to become a warden in the hopes of proving herself to people who would never understand. She wasn’t a wielder of chains; she was a breaker of them. She was the library’s will made flesh.”

The protagonist completes her growth into a heroine with the discovery of her purpose. Rogerson structures the novel as building up to this moment from Chapter 1 by repeatedly showcasing Elisabeth’s kinship with books. Elisabeth’s decision to free even the library’s most dangerous grimoires so that they can fight against Ashcroft’s forces underscores The Power of Knowledge and Its Potential for Both Good and Evil.

“‘If you kill me, it’s all right.’ Silariathas froze. His fingers slackened. ‘You are a fool,’ he grated, through lips that barely moved. Nathaniel didn’t seem to have heard. He was losing consciousness too rapidly. ‘It’s all right,’ he repeated. ‘I know it hurts. I know.’ And as he slipped away, he mumbled, ‘I forgive you.’”

The theme of trust and betrayal reaches its climax when Elisabeth frees Silas. Although the demon doesn’t trust himself, he proves his faithfulness by protecting the humans he cherishes rather than succumbing to his hunger and devouring their life force. When Nathaniel says, “I forgive you,” he offers Silas the redemption that the demon has longed for and gives him the strength to control himself long enough to send the Archon back to the Otherworld.